Austin Packers girls’ hockey blitzes Red Wing 9-3 Thursday evening

The Austin Packers girls hockey team opened the 2022 portion of their schedule at Riverside Arena versus Red Wing in a Big 9 Conference tilt, and Izzy Hemann, Peyton Squire and Hailee Schaefer all scored two goals apeice as the Packers jumped out to a 4-0 lead on their way to a 9-3 victory.

Megan Schultz opened the scoring only :25 into the game, with assists to Hemann and Kate Holtz, and Squier tallied just over a minute later at 1:33 with assists to Kiah Rumsey and Schaefer.  Squire struck again at 8:22 of the period to increase the Austin lead to 3-0, with an assist to Schultz, and a goal from Hemann with an assist from Holtz at 10:34 increased Austin’s lead to 4-0.

Hemann’s second goal of the game at 9:17 of the second period expanded the Packer lead to 5-0, and a goal from Schaefer :50 later at 10:07 with assists from A.J. Barrera and Kiah Rumsey made the score 6-0.  Red Wing, though, tried to rally as they scored the next three goals to halve the Austin lead, but the Packers got back on the board at 5:50 of the third period when Kate Holtz scored, with assists to Megan Schultz  and Izzy Hemann to increase the lead to 7-3.  Schaefer’s second goal of the game, with an assist to Allie Davidson :43 later at 6:33 made the score 8-3, and the Packers made it 9-3 on an empty-net goal from Kiah Rumsey, with an assist to A.J. Barrera with only :02 seconds left in the contest.

Goaltender Kyia Radford-Garcia turned aside 21 of the 24 shots she faced in the game to pick up the win in net, and Red Wing goalie Allie Meyer made 17 saves in facing 25 shots in the game to take the loss.

With the win, Austin moves to 3-4 in the Big 9 Conference and back to the .500 mark at 6-6 overall.  The Packers return to action next Tuesday night at Riverside Arena in a non-conference matchup with the Windome Area Eagles, with face-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. that evening.