North Wright County Hockey Begins Defense of Section 8AA Title Tonight

Everything fell into place for  the North Wright County RiverHawks in 2010-2011, as the girls marched through the Section 8AA playoffs and held off the Roseau Rams for their first ever trip to the Xcel Energy Center and the Girls State AA Hockey Tournament.

But that was then, and this is now.

Gone are three leaders who were, for two seasons, the heart, soul and skate of a team destined to make a breakthrough and finally did.

Now, the girls must learn to live without the likes of Allie Olson and Kasey Blomberg (Monticello) and longtime leader Ashley McDonald (STMA).

"We kind of feel like it's our team, our time," said senior golatender Amanda Koep of .  "We [she and senior co-captain Sam Pitts] played with those three for our entire lives. But we're excited fo the chance to lead." 

Koep will be asked to shore up a young defense that has just one senior in Kathryn Backmann. Sophomores, including Maddi Young and Mackenzie Johnson, along with juniors like Beth Hinkemeyer and Halie Gudmonson, will be her main line of defense. 

"Amanda's going to be huge," said head coach Tim Hanson, in his seventh season with the Hawks. "She was outstanding last season, and she has a big job ahead of her. And she knows she's going to be challenged, not just by our opposition. She has two young goaltenders behind her pushing her for playing time as well." 

The other senior co-captain, Pitts, is a Monticello standout who has become a prolific scorer as Blomberg, who holds the team record in points, battled injury the last two seasons. 

She'll be helped by two juniors in Dani Sibley and Maddi Sjlein that have been contributing since they were freshmen.

"We're young in places, but those young players have a lot of experience, especially with the run we made last season," Hanson said. 

The new role for the Hawks? While they've been a perennial favorite in the Mississippi 8 Conference, they'd never won a section crown until last year. Now, they're favored to repeat. 

"I think we're ready for the pressure," Pitts said. "I think we play well with that, and we've become used to every game being big." 

The Hawks open against a Section 8AA foe–Sartell–tonight on the road. They'll be home against Centennial next Thursday for the home opener in St. Michael-Albertville. Centennial is just one traditional power of many-including Class A No. 1 ranked Warroad–on the schedule. 

"I think you have to look at those tough games and find out what you can learn about yourself," Koep said. "If you lose, what can you do better? If you won, what worked? We aren't going to get too down if we lose some games. It's how we respond."