Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke New Ulm’s Malorie Anderson celebrates after scoring a goal as Luverne goalie Cheyenne Schultz looks on in the background. New Ulm defeated Luverne 6-0 at the New Ulm Civic Center on Thursday.

NEW ULM — While the New Ulm girls’ hockey team has been on a roll, winning five of the last six games, Thursday’s game against Big South Conference and Section 3A rival Luverne may have been the most important game of them all.

The Eagles and Cardinals have met many times in the Section 3A finals and this year may be no different. Luverne (19-2) came into the game winners of 18 straight, but for the second time this season, New Ulm had Luverne’s number as the Eagles skated to a 6-0 victory.

The win improved New Ulm’s record to 16-3 overall and 9-0 in the conference. Luverne’s conference record slipped to 10-2.

New Ulm seniors Maddie O’Connor and Julia Helget recently got their 100th career point. Both played well on Thursday’s game.

“We told the girls to come out firing and come out hard, we needed a whole team effort to win this game,” said Helget, who scored a goal in the second period and added an assist for New Ulm. “We just made an effort to start hard and get that first goal.”

The Eagles did just that, scoring three goals in the first period. Afton Hulke and Michelle Smith scored about 30 seconds apart to make it 2-0 and Mya Hornick added a goal almost 3 minutes later.

That lead, plus the fact that New Ulm shut out future Division I player Kamryn Van Batavia, was big for the Eagles.

“We knew that she was quick and she could move the puck and move her feet,” O’Connor said. “We really just went for her body, we just told the girls don’t try to take her stick, just take her body out.

While the Eagles came out firing offensively, they played well defensively, too.

“We know with playing good teams, we gotta focus on playing well defensively, not chasing and focusing on who we got,” Helget said.

New Ulm scored three more times in the second period and that forced running time for the third period. The Eagles got goals from Hulke, Helget and Malorie Anderson, with Helget’s goal coming on a power play.

Evie Sellner had three assists and O’Connor had two assists. Helget, Jada Rahe, and Ashley Schaefer also had an assist. Eva Brennan had a big game in the nets, stopping 22 shots.

The Eagles get back to action on Friday at Windom. There are six games left on the schedule for the regular season, so it’s important they play smart and stay healthy.

“I think we’re doing good as a team,” O’Connor said. “We’re a really close-knit team and help each other on the ice. We also need to stay healthy and stay safe, we just need to go hard because every game counts.”