NEW ULM — The New Ulm, Eagles girls’ hockey team got put in a tough situation Saturday before its Section 2A championship game against Mound-Westonka when starting goalie Ava Brennan — who had started all 19 games before the title game — was scratched due to a concussion.

That meant that Brooke Gramentz, who had played only 17 minutes (or one period the entire year), had to make the start.

“I thought that the girls battled hard and made the most of the opportunity,” New Ulm coach Kristin Faber said as the Eagles lost 8-2 to finish 16-4 (the same record as the Eagles boys’ hockey team). “And Brooke did a heck of a job in the nets. Overall pleased with the effort but obviously not the results you want in a section final game but I was proud of the girls to the way that we responded.”

Faber said that Gramentz’s 17 minutes played before her unscheduled start were not high pressured.

“I think that the 17 minutes she played were against Waseca and she saw maybe two shots (both saves),” Faber said.

On Saturday, Gramentz faced 41 shots and made 33 saves against the top seed in the section and the fifth-ranked Class A team in the state.

“It was a big change of pace for her and she made some unbelievable saves for us and a couple of those shots I do not know if there was a goalie in the state of Minnesota that would have made them. Overall it should be a confidence-builder for her for next year. I was glad in the way that she responded in the situation she was put in.”

New Ulm may have been leg-weary for the Mound game as their game against Delano two days before went two overtimes in a 3-2 win.

“That game did take a lot out of the girls,” Faber said. “Delano and Mound both had byes in their first round games. We had a lot of hockey in the span of five days but the girls played hard to the end of the game. A lot of heart shown and a lot of hard work went into it.”

And New Ulm could well be back in the section title game again next season as they graduate just two seniors in McKenna Strong and Morgan Klein.

“We have a lot of our scoring back and both of our goalies back,” Faber said. “We will get stronger and develop more over the off-season. And we have some players coming up from the JV who could help.”

Faber thinks that playing tougher competition would improve the team.

“The games we played against tougher teams were our most complete games and played the best in,” Faber said. “So hopefully next year we can get all of our nonconference games in.”