File photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm's Jackie Cowing makes a pass during a recent game at the New Ulm Civic Center.

NEW ULM — High school hockey games are 51 minutes long.

For 48 of those 51 minutes, the New Ulm girls’ hockey team played Rockford even.

But a three minute span late in the first period allowed the Tigers to score two goals as Delano/Rockford edged New Ulm 4-3 at the New Ulm Civic Center in an early season meeting between two of the top teams in Section 2A.

Jamie Byrne had two goals for the Tigers (3-0).

Ashtyn Wiltscheck matched that with two goals for the Eagles (2-1).

Ali Beltz added a goal for New Ulm. Beltz and Dani Weiss each had two assists with Madeline Gag adding a helper.

Eagles goalie Cassie Reed had 25 saves, while Tigers’ netminder Karly Schmidt stopped 44 New Um shots.

“We played very well at times in the game,” New Ulm coach Kristin Faber said. “But we also had some flat feet at times and it cost us.”

The Eagles, who play at Luverne Tuesday in a Big South Conference game, did everything but get the puck by Schmidt as they pressured the Tigers’ defense in their zone for the first seven minutes.

“We came out fast and that was something that we had talked about before the game,” Faber said. “In our previous two games, we have not been doing much of anything in the first period, so it was good to see that we came out fast.”

But Delano/Rockford’s Jamie Byrne got her first goal when she beat a sliding Reed to the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead at the 7:24 mark.

Byrne made it 2-0 less than three minutes later at the 10:21 mark.

Ashtyn Wiltscheck’s first goal of the game — a power play goal at the 14:36 mark — cut the lead to 2-1 after the first 17 minutes, despite New Ulm having out-shot the Tigers 21-6.

Chloe Kuechle’s goal on a wide open net at the 3:41 mark of the second period increased the Tigers’ lead to 3-1.

“It is hard to battle back against fast teams that control the puck,” Faber said. “On a couple of their goals, they had time out in front of our net and were wide open. We cannot give up those opportunities.”

Wiltscheck’s second goal coming off of a high wrist shot pulled the Eagles to within one goal at 3-2 at the 13:17 mark of the second period.

“She was at the right place at the right time for her first goal,” Faber said about Wiltscheck. “Her second goal came on an odd-man rush, so it is good to see her create some offense. But there is another gear that we want to see her in.”

But the Tigers’ Emily Olson’s goal, coming off of a face-off to Reed’s left, again gave the Tigers a two goal lead at 4-2 two minutes after Wiltscheck’s score.

Beltz’ goal from the slot at 4:20 of the third period saw the Eagles again back to within one at 4-3.

But the Eagles were unable to score as they pulled Reed for an extra attacker with less than a minute left in the game.

Faber said that this 4-3 loss may be a good one for the team.

“We were not sure where Delano was going to be at,” Faber said. “They beat us pretty good last year in the section semifinals 7-0 — so if anything — this game was a confidence booster for us.”