Article and photos by Chuck McGill
In a game with multiple momentum shifts and scoring rallies, the Raiders failed to tie St. Paul in the final seconds and lost their first conference game 11-12 at Rivercrest on May 7.
The first quarter was all Hudson, and the Raiders led 3-0 with two goals from Sophomore Will Reece and one from Junior Joey Hernandez after the first.
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Penalties started to plague Hudson in the second quarter. St. Paul opened the quarter with a man-up powerplay goal for a score of 3-1. Hudson Senior McKay Potter scored off an assist from Junior Adam Lipps to go ahead 4-1. St. Paul scored two more powerplay goals in a row during Raider penalties to move within one point at halftime, 4-3.
Reece ripped in a goal to start the second half with Hudson up 5-3. St. Paul then shocked Hudson with five unanswered goals put Hudson behind 5-8. Reece ripped another outside shot to make the score 6-8. St. Paul scored 2 more goals to end the third quarter with Hudson trailing 6-10.
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Lipps opened the fourth quarter with a goal to pull within 3 at 7-10. Then St. Paul scored one goal on the powerplay and another at full strength to pull ahead by five at 7-12. Reece scored his fifth goal for a score of 8-12, starting a scoring run with 2 quick goals from Lipps, and Sophomore Stephen Tripicchio.
Hudson Coach Rich Grinstead called the team’s first timeout of the second half with 2 minutes and 55 seconds left to play. After play resumed, Junior Heinrich Wiesemeyer scored to pull within one point at 11-12. With 31 seconds left to play, St. Paul called their first timeout of the second half. Hudson repelled St. Paul’s offensive attack, got possession of the ball, and called their second timeout with 15 seconds left in the game. Each team is allowed two timeouts per half. However, the ref had mistakenly charged Hudson with two timeouts already, and wrongly said this timeout was the team’s third. He charged Hudson with delay of game and gave possession of the ball to St. Paul. St. Paul held the ball to end the game with Hudson losing 11-12.