Armstrong's Peewee A's Defense Does It Again!
Armstrong's goalie Nikki Harnett recorded her 10th shutout of the season at the Woodbury Rumble.
The YHH #2 ranked peewee A team in the state, the Armstrong Falcons, swept through the competition in pool play and came from behind to beat an improving Hastings team 5-4 in overtime in the Rumble Championship game Sunday.
A month ago, the YHH #2 ranked Armstrong peewee A team took third place at the Spring Lake Park Panther Classic Tourney played at Forgerty Arena in Blaine, MN. What was remarkable about their third place win is that the Falcons’ defense never gave up a goal in regulation and overtime at Panther Classic tourney, zeroing out all three opponents. A big part of the Falcons defense is the goal tending of Nikki Harnett.
Going into this past weekend’s Woodbury Rumble Tourney, Armstrong peewees have posted a 9-2-1 record giving up just seven goals. Their exceptional defensive play had continued. Harnett had zeroed seven of the 12 Falcons opponents. Armstrong is tied atop the D3 Peewee A league with Orono holding one game in hand and looking down at the Wayzata AA team in third place.
The Falcons are one of an amazing number of peewee A teams this year that have emerged as strong peewee teams (whether AA or A).
The Falcons did it again at the Rumble this past weekend. With Harnett in the nets, they beat Hastings 4-0 in this year’s tourney’s 5 team pool opener Friday, beat Andover A 4-0 Saturday Morning, and beat Elk River A 3-2 Saturday evening. Sunday morning, they beat Duluth East A 3-0.
The puck (can be seen flying by the blocker) misses the net on this Falcon shot, but the player hits the back of the net.
This trip went uncalled late in the game with the score tied 4-4. The refs were going to let the players decide the winner.
The Woodbury Rumble Championship Game
Sunday afternoon, Armstrong played Hastings for the Rumble Peewee A championship at Bielenberg Ice Arena in Woodbury. Hastings has opted to play peewee A this year and has struggled before playing in the Rumble. The Raiders had posted a 3-8 record beating Cottage Grove A twice and Hibbing A. At Woodbury this past weekend, they turned that around and took the #2 seed in pool play by beating Elk River A 7-2, Duluth East A 2-0, and Andover A 5-0 after losing to Armstrong in the opener.
In the Championship game, Hastings surprised everyone. Other teams entering or leaving Bielenberg (the temporary entrance causes people to walk behind the goal in the West Rink) were questioning the score. Armstrong was favored and when the Falcons’ Jonah Jangula scored early in the first period, it looked like Armstrong was on the way to the championship trophy. Parker Collins got the assist. A minute later, Hastings’ Logan Boogren spoiled the party scoring unassisted to tie the game 1-1.
With time running down in the first period, the Raiders’ struck twice more, this time scoring two goals in less than a minute. First, the Raider’s Joey Siewert scored a power play goal with Kyle Jones and Will Hausman getting the assists; forty seconds later, Ryan Duerkop scored with Alex Forster getting the assist. Suddenly the Raiders led 3-1.
Armstrong Starts Their Come Back
The second period opened with the Raiders’ Nolan Conzemius putting the puck in the net to give Hastings a 4-1 lead. Aiden Dooley and Duerkop got the assists.
Hasting held on to the three goal lead through much of the second period. Armstrong finally scored as the second period wound down. The Falcons’ Drew Eid got the got the goal; Mike Berns got the assist.
The third period opened with Hastings playing defensively. They were content to dump the puck into the Armstrong zone. Armstrong came out storming but could not sustain pressure in the Hastings’ zone to set up the score. An Armstrong penalty changed that.
Hastings did not attack aggressively on the power play and their defense was trapped at the end of the power play in the Raider’s zone. The Falcon forwards generated a melee in front of the Hasting’s net. Ian Bahr scored the Armstrong goal to cut the lead 4-3. Joe Campion got the assist.
The Armstrong player (left) bats the puck shot by the Armstrong player (far right) down while standing in the crease. The puck bounces off the player's body and into the net. The potential game winner was ruled no goal. Armstrong would score later.
Armstrong continued the attack, keeping the pressure on the Raiders’ goalie Parker Johnson. With the third period clock winding down, a quick pass from the left corner was tipped into the net by Matt Campion to tie the game 4-4. Bahr got the assist. Regulation ended in a 4-4 tie.
Four minutes into the overtime, Armstrong scored. The Spartans’ Berns broke free in the left slot area and tried to drive the puck through the Hastings’ defense. Instead of heading toward the net, the puck rebounded quickly to Carter Lucas trailing the play higher in the slot. Lucas one-timed the puck in the net. For a second, nobody reacted. Then Armstrong’s bench exploded. The Spartans won the Woodbury Rumble.
Armstrong's Carter Lucas's (far right in picture) has just scored the winning goal. It happened so fast, that nobody has reacted in this picture. A moment later everybody explodes.
Nikki Harnett blocks the Hasting's shot to the end boards in Armstrong's 5-4 overtime win
The Goalie
After giving up four goals early in the game, Nikki Harnett shutout the Raiders. The four goals she gave up brought her season total (14-2-1) to 13 goals against. She got three shutouts at Woodbury over the weekend and has 10 shutouts in 17 games.
Harnett has played extremely well in the Falcons net so far this season. It will be interesting to following her. There are no records kept, so none can be broken. But it would be reasonable to assume, that she is on track to turning in a remarkable performance this year.