Austin Packers girls hockey team winds up regular season with 3-0 shutout of Winona

The Austin Packers girls’ hockey team played host to the Winona Winhawks in a Big 9 and Section 1A matchup to wind up the regular season Monday evening, and it was the Packers scoring three third period goals, and goaltender Kyia Radford/Garcia earning her fifth shutout of the season in a 3-0 win.

The game was scoreless for two periods Monday evening as Winona netminder Aliya Gricius turned away all 33 shots she faced through the first two periods, but the Packers finally broke through with the eventual game-winner at 2:32 of the third period when senior forward Kate Holtz, who recently committed to play next season at Northland College, a Division III school in Ashland, Wisconsin tallied shorthanded for her 32nd goal of the season, with assists from Izzy Hemann and Sarah Wangen.  Camille Dunlap added some insurance for the Packers with a power-play goal at 7:52, with assists to Holtz and Megan Schultz to give Austin a 2-0 lead, and Sarah Wangen rounded out the scoring at 16:03 of the period with an assist to Schultz for the 3-0 final.

Austin wound up outshooting Winona 53-15 for the game, and they were 1 for 5 on the power play, while Winona was 0 for 2.  Neminder Kyia Radford-Garcia turned away all 15 shots she faced for her fifth shutout of the season, while Winhawks goalie Aliya Gricius wound up making 50 saves in the losing effort.

The Packers wind up the regular season on a four-game winning streak to finish at 14-10, and they will be the No. 2 seed in the Section 1A girls’ hockey playoffs, which will start for Austin on Saturday afternoon at Riverside Arena versus the Waseca Bluejays.  You’ll hear the game live on AM 1480 KAUS, with the Austin Packers pre-game show coming your way at 2:45 p.m., and face-off at 3:00 p.m.