That something came to Prairie Island Arena Saturday, and Red Wing was able to step up to the occasion with a 3-2 victory over visiting Breck.

“I think the good part about it is we’re learning a lot about ourselves as a team, as far as our strengths and our weaknesses,” said Red Wing head coach Scott Haley. “Our goal is to have good attitudes, work hard and play to see where we’re going to be in February, not necessarily caring so much about where we are in December.”

Even with the goal of peaking at tournament time, the Wingers showed an ability to compete with a team perennially in the state championship mix.

Red Wing got out to a 1-0 lead when Nicole Schammel placed a perfect pass on the stick of Maddy Hardyman, who flicked the puck past Mustangs goaltender Sydney Scobee. Schammel had come down the half-wall, swooped behind Scobee, and flipped the puck right to a waiting Hardyman for the power-play tally 13 minutes, 47 seconds into the game.

Schammel would again strike with her passing early in the second period when she hit a streaking Reagan Haley, who finished the play with a rocket over Scobee’s right shoulder for a 2-0 Red Wing lead. Then, at 4:52 of the second, Schammel scored her own goal after weaving through traffic for a backhand shot that Scobee had little chance of stopping. The three-goal lead would drop to one after Cheyenne Harris scored once late in the second period, then again at 6:21 of the third.

But the Wingers held on, taking Breck’s best shot as time wound down. Not only was it another win for Red Wing, it was that something that the Wingers have been looking for since losing their first game of the year on Dec. 12.

“I think we got back on track this game,” Schammel said. “It was a really important game for us after dropping three in the past week, to just get on track and get our confidence back. We kind of joked about getting our swagger, and I think that we kind of found that (Friday).”

Ashley Corcoran made 29 saves for the victory, facing 31 shots. Thirteen of those attempts came in the third period as the Wingers, visibly tired, had to fend off the Mustangs on several occasions. But the fatigue, and the opponent, made for a solid victory for Red Wing (9-3), who will travel to a tournament in New Hope Dec. 26-28.

“I thought we played really well the first half of the game. We sort of lost a little steam, but (it was the) third game this week,” Haley said. “But I thought the kids hung on and played well for the win. So, overall, (I’m) pretty happy. Breck’s a good team. They beat Blake and they beat some (other) good teams.”