Staubers Hat Trick Sends PHM To State

Wes Vork-NSO

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Feb 18

Wes Vork-NSO

DULUTH – A year ago the Proctor-Hermantown-Marshall girls hockey team felt the sting of a Section 7AA championship loss. On Thursday night, however, the Mirage felt the exhilaration of winning the sectional championship as they defeated Elk River 4-0 behind the shut out goaltending of Anja Morris and the scoring of Emma Stauber.

“Emma is a great scoring defenseman,” said PHM coach Glen Gilderman following the game. “We played great team defense tonight.” Gilderman was also quick to give praise to defenseman Hanna Buchite, telling NSO, “Hanna doesn’t score a lot of goals, but defensively I will take her one on one against anyone in the state.”

Stauber pumped in three goals to lead the scoring barrage for the Mirage with the first goal coming at 11:49 of the first period on a power play with the assist going to Nichole Mathews. The first period ended with the Mirage up 1-0.

The Mirage went ahead 2-0 on another Stauber goal in the second period with Steph Strapple and Julia Gilbert picking up assists.

A big key to the game was the fact that the Mirage did a great job of not allowing shots through to their goal and pushing the Elks forwards wide, only allowing odd angle shots on Morris. Another huge factor was the ability of the Mirage to shut down Elk River sophomore forward Jonna Curtis, who had 61 points coming into the game.

“She is a super player,” mentioned Gilderman of Curtis. “She just was never able to get on track against us tonight.”

While the team played solid defense, and Stauber was scoring goals, the Mirage also received standout goaltending from Morris, who finished with 22 saves.

“Coach stressed all week the need to block shots and we did that,” Stauber commented on the total team defensive effort. Stauber also gave credit to the Mirage’s goaltending. “She played out of her mind tonight,” explained Stauber of Morris, who made great saves when the Elks were able to get the puck through the defense.

Stauber added the first goal of the third period, picking up the pure hat trick
at 13:07 to stretch the lead to 3-0 for the Mirage. Then PHM’s top scorer, Julia Gilbert, closed out the scoring with a goal at 15:07 to put the game away and send the Mirage to the state tournament for the first time in the programs history.

“I know what it is like on the other side,” said Gilbert of last year’s loss to CEC. “This side is so much better.”

Samantha Geissler finished with 22 saves on 26 shots for the Elks. The Mirage will find out who they play in the state tournament this Sunday night after the seedings for the tournament are announced.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com