Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Village is no stranger when it comes to playing shutout hockey games.

The Panthers posted recent back-to-back shutout wins this month over St. Francis and St. Louis Park. Their most recent shutout came last Tuesday in a 3-0 loss at Irondale. It was the sixth time this season the girls co-op hockey team was involved in a shutout.

After a successful showing at the Austin Tournament, the Panthers have since gone 3-2-1, including wins over Totino-Grace, St. Francis and St. Louis Park. Their only hiccup came in a 12-1 loss Jan. 7 at No. 1-ranked Benilde-St. Margaret's.

Head coach Tom Kulenkamp said he wasn't disappointed with the lopsided loss to the Red Knights, especially considering they were on the better end of an 18-0 victory earlier this season over Windom Area.

"We played a lot of junior varsity kids against Benilde," Kulenkamp said. "When things aren't going your way you have to stay positive and just continue to play the game."

The Panthers struggled for offense in the team's last game against No. 12-ranked Irondale, but Kulenkamp said it wasn't for lack of effort.

The Knights grabbed a 1-0 first-period lead off the stick of Samantha Donovan. Neither team could find offense after that until late in the third period when Donovan scored two more goals giving her the hat trick and putting the game out of reach 3-0.

"Donovan made a move and had a real nice goal on that first one, but I thought we played an excellent game after that," Kulenkamp said. "We shot our self in the foot in the third period going to the penalty box way too many times."

The Knights outshot Spring Lake Park 33-18 for the game and sophomore goalie Mackensay Kelly stopped 30 shots keeping the Panthers close. They also killed all eight power play attempts for Irondale.

"We killed all the penalties but it was hard to get any offense when the game was on the line." Kulenkamp said.

Offense was not lacking in a Jan. 14 victory over St. Louis Park. The Panthers scored their second highest goal total of the season in a 7-0 win over the Orioles.

Freshman Maddy Kelly finished with a career-high goal and three assists and sophomore Maggie Ronning added two goals and an assist in the win.

It was Ronning's ninth goal of the season which ties her with senior Miranda Mulvihill for second on the team in goals. Senior Karissa Thomson scored her team-leading 13th goal and 19th point in the victory.

Kulenkamp said he is happy with the play of his young team, but there still is room for improvements, especially with sophomore Kim Patterson not playing due to mononucleosis.

"Patterson's loss is big because she offers a lot of offense," Kulenkamp said. "We have shown steady improvement this year, but have some team goals we want to accomplish yet. We have a young team, but I have to credit our four seniors who have done a great job meshing with the younger girls."

Spring Lake Park was at No. 9-ranked Chisago Lakes Tuesday night and Thursday night they host the Minneapolis Novas. The Panthers defeated the Novas Dec. 28 in a 5-0 victory at the Austin Tournament.