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Eagles fly back to state after 5-2 win

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm’s Lauren Klein (8), Madeline Gag (17), Dani Weiss (7), Ashtyn Wiltscheck (center) and Ali Beltz celebrate after Weiss scored a goal in the second period of the Eagles’ win against Delan/Rockford in the Section 2A Championship game Thursday at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.

ST. PETER — And they’re back.

After a three-year drought, the New Ulm girls’ hockey team will travel to familiar territory and will now represent Section 2A after defeating Delano/Rockford 5-2 in the Section 2A girls’ hockey finals on Thursday at Gustavus Adolphus College.

The Eagles (22-4-1) will play at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday and they await their first-round opponent, which will be determined this weekend.

Ali Beltz scored a hat trick for New Ulm. Ashtyn Wiltscheck and Dani Weiss also scored and goalie Cassie Reed made 16 saves.

New Ulm outshot Delano 23-18.

Ali Beltz tallied New Ulm’s first goal after she put back Dani Weiss’ rebound to make it 1-0 at the 5:40 mark, but the Tigers answered less than a minute later when Jamie Byrne tied it with a shot over the left shoulder of New Ulm goalie Cassie Reed.

The Eagles came into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed. They emerged No. 1.

“Not everyone thought we could do it, but we proved them wrong,” Beltz said. “We knew as a team that we could do it and we had all the skills. We played our best game and it paid off.”

The Eagles once again got good play from Reed. She shook off some early jitters and she turned in another solid performance in the net.

“I told myself I can play much better than I am right now,” Reed said. “Sitting there and just thinking about it, it actually happened.”

The Eagles went ahead when Ashtyn Wiltscheck found a loose puck in front of the net and knocked it in at 3:52. The goal was assisted by Beltz and Weiss.

But the Tigers were quick to respond again and tied it less than a minute later, this time on a goal by Chloe Kuechle.

It was a wild first period, but the Eagles remained calm.

“We talked about what we did good and what we did bad,” Beltz said. “We just overall calmed down and enjoyed the moment.”

Beltz gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead when she faked a shot and went high over Delano goalie Grace Glasrud’s shoulder with 10:34 left in the second. Lauren Klein was credited with the assist on Beltz’s second goal.

Then with 4:03 left, Weiss got into the act when she took a one-timer from Beltz and found the back of the net to put the Eagles ahead 4-2. The power-play goal was also assisted by Klein.

Beltz added an empty-net goal in the third period to compete the hat trick. The Eagles now set their sights to Xcel on Wednesday.

Beltz has been to the state tournament twice as an eighth-grader and a freshman. But there’s no doubt that this one feels the best as a senior.

“It feels incredible,” she said. “It used to be kind of an easier ride [after emerging from Section 3 in previous years] but it feels even better this time around because our section is so much better and we worked so much harder to get there.

While the section had some strong teams, it was the underdogs who came through.

“We definitely were the underdogs here,” Reed said. “I was just amazed because everyone in the section can win anything. It’s quite amazing.”

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