Roseville Girls Hockey Opens Season At Grand Rapids/Greenway

ROSEVILLE PATCH GAME OF THE WEEK

Girl’s Hockey
Roseville (0-0, 0-0 Suburban East Conference) vs. Grand Rapids/Greenway Lightning (0-0, 0-0 Independent)

CHEAT SHEET
SITE: Grand Rapids/Greenway
TIME: 7:30 p.m. Friday
LAST MEETING: Roseville defeated Grand Rapids/Greenway 3-2 last season. 

ON THE LINE
The Raiders, who are ranked fourth in the Star Tribune preseason poll, won the Suburban East Conference last year with a 22-6 overall mark and 15-3 record in conference play. The 2010 state champions lost to Hill-Murray 4-3 in the Section 4AA finals.

The Raiders are an experienced team that returns eight players who were on the 2010 state championship team and 16 letter winners from last year’s squad. Grand Rapids/Greenway finished 14-10-4 last year.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Lee Stecklein – Roseville defender
The University of Minnesota signee is a team captain who spent time in the past in the USA Hockey development camps. She is one of three Raiders who signed with Division I schools last week, joining Hanna Brodt (St. Cloud State) and Lexi Slattery (Providence).

Molly Illikainen – Grand Rapids/Greenway forward
The senior led her team in scoring last season with 17 goals. She comes from a hockey family. Her father, Darin, is the team’s co-head coach and a former UMD standout and New York Islander draft pick. Her younger brother, Alex, is perhaps the state’s best basketball player in the Class of 2015.

RAIDERS WIN IF...
They can use getting upset in the section finals as a motivation to get back into the state tournament this season.

LIGHTNING WIN IF...
They can find a replacement for graduated senior Morgan Illikainen, who is at Dartmouth. She was the Rapids Herald-Review, Mesabi Daily News and Hibbing Daily Tribune Girls Hockey Player of the Year last season