Congratulations to the Northfield Squirt B team for taking third place at the tournament in Albert Lea this past weekend.
The weekend kicked off against Omaha Friday evening.  The favored Omaha team, a formidable foe, outskated our Northfield Squirts.  Omaha out shot Northfield 33 to 6, but a spectacular goalie performance by Jacob Kluzak, turning away 32 of 33 shots, gave our home team hope.  A late third period goal by Isaac Mahle netted a 1-1 tie Friday evening for our Raiders.
Early Saturday morning pitted Northfield against hometown Albert Lea Red.  Late into the third period with Northfield leading 2-1, it appeared a win was at hand, but a penalty with less than a minute to play and an empty net by Albert Lea gave them 6 to 4 skater advantage that proved to be too much. Albert Lea tied the game at 2 a piece with 17 seconds left in the game.
The pool play tournament continued Saturday afternoon facing Northfield against Mankato Purple.  Jacob Rezac provided the only offense getting the hat trick and it proved to be all the offense the Squirt B’s needed as our Raiders skated to a 3-1 win.
With Kansas City winning all three of their pool play games, Omaha having won two and tied once and Northfield tying twice and winning once put Northfield into the third place game Sunday morning.
The final game of the tournament against Albert Lea Blue, the entire team put all of the pieces together.  Early into the game Davis Royle crashed the net diving for a rebound putting himself and the puck into the back of the net.  The aggressive act proved to be the spark that got the team going.  Additional goals were scored by Davis, Ethan Severson and Jacob Rezac.  A solid defensive performance aided the shut out registered by Jacob Kluzak for a 4-0 win and the third place trophy brought home by the Squirt B team.