Successful Season Comes To An End For PHM

Feb 12

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Expectations were high for the Proctor-Hermantown-Marshall girls hockey team entering the season. The Mirage were riding a wave of success, coming off their first ever state tournament appearance and they had a lot of talent returning. On Saturday the Mirage saw their season come to a halt in a 4-0 loss to top seeded Elk River in the Section 7AA semifinals.

The Elks outshot the Mirage 31-26 for the game, which was about as cleanly played as a game can get. Neither team took a penalty.

Madison Ellis gave the Elks the lead at 9:18 of the first period, but the real back breaker for the Mirage came with under a minute to play in the opening stanza when Jonna Curtis pumped in a goal to make it 2-0. The goal came with 54 seconds remaining in the period.

PHM was hoping to get some momentum with a goal in the second period, but it was Curtis who instead kept things flowing for the Elks with a goal at 11:28. Chelsey Petrich put the icing on the cake in the second period with a goal at 15:11 with Curtis assisting to make it 4-0 entering the final period.

Tori Herrmann made all 26 saves in goal for the Elks to pick up not only the win, but a shutout as well. Anya Morris made 27 saves on 31 shots for the Mirage.

The game not only marked the end of the season for the Mirage, but it could also be the final game played as PHM since it appears Duluth Marshall may withdraw from the cooperative due to lack of participation in the program by players from that school. PHM finished the season with a record of 15-10-2.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com