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Girls off to Flying Start

By John Rittenhouse, 11/22/13, 11:15PM CST

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The Luverne girls’ hockey team started the 2013-14 season in impressive fashion by posting a pair of convincing wins at the Blue Mound Ice Arena late last week.

The Cardinals coasted to an 8-0 victory over Windom in Thursday’s opener before routing a Le Sueur-Henderson-St. Peter team by an 11-2 tally Saturday.

I took advantage of the situation to watch both games.

When I left the venue after Saturday’s conquest, the two major concerns I had about the team entering the season were completely erased from my mind.

Luverne is playing for its third different head coach in as many years, which led me to believe there might be an adjustment period needed for the players to get on the same page with first-year mentor Tony Sandbulte.

After watching LHS outscore two opponents 19-1 and outshoot the foes by an 83-20 margin in two games, it’s clear to me now no adjustment period is needed.

After hearing Sandbulte delivering instructions from my position at the end of the bench and seeing the players respond in a positive way on the ice, there’s no question in my mind the athletes and their coach already are on the same page.

The other concern I had before last week was how big an impact losing two key point-producers (Morgan Hohn and Monique Aanenson) from the 2012-13 would have on this year’s squad.

If the first two games are any indication, scoring points in bundles will not be a problem for this team.

One player in particular appears to be thriving under Sandbulte’s instruction.

Sophomore Makayla Sterrett has been one of the top scorers since breaking onto the varsity scene as a seventh-grader during the 2010-11 campaign.

I realized Sterrett was a unique talent four years ago, but I can’t recall seeing her dominate games the way she did against Windom and L-H-SP.

Sterrett was nothing less than sensational in the opener, scoring five goals during a seven-point performance.

She also came up big by scoring four goals and registering one assist against an L-H-SP team that defeated LHS when Sterrett was a seventh- and eighth-grader.

When the weekend ended, Sterrett tallied a total of 12 points in two impressive victories.

Only time will tell what the rest of the season has in store for the LHS girls’ hockey team.

If the first two home games are any indication, I firmly believe more good things are yet to come.