Raiders Boys Hockey Hits Mid-Season with High Hopes

There’s a little bit of excitement happening at the this year as the Raiders boys hockey team looks to capitalize on some increased offensive firepower to boost their standing in the Missota Conference and Section 1A.

After a 9-14 regular season last year—and a 4-0 ouster in Section 1A at the hands of conference rival New Prague—the Northfield Raiders entered the 2011-12 campaign with a modest goal of finishing in the top four of Section 1A this year.

At 8-5 on the season, the Raiders look much improved and a more balanced scoring attack with more scoring options is part of the reason why.

After a quick 4-0 start in which the improved Northfield offense outscored their opponents 25-7, the Raiders stumbled in back-to-back games against section powers Lourdes, losing 5-2, and New Prague, losing 6-0. Northfield has won three of five games since, with a big 9-1 victory over the Dodge County Wildcats and a 2-6 loss on Tuesday night against Chanhassen.

Still, the ability to find the net more frequently this year has put the Raiders on track in what they hope will be a season that ends with a big step forward for the program.

“We started off the season pretty strong,” said assistant coach Cory Miller. “We had a couple of tough games the last couple of weeks against a couple of tough opponents in Lourdes and New Prague. Kind of character-building games. Lourdes has a high-skilled team. It was a good test to see where we were at playing both Lourdes and New Prague. We kind of got our butts kicked against New Prague, but I think it was good for the kids to get a little stronger mentally playing teams like that.”

Nemesis New Prague has blanked the Raiders the last three times they’ve played, but with the increased offensive production coming from multiple players on the Raiders, that trend may soon get reversed. They next meet Feb. 14.

Finding the net

Junior Andrew Scofield is still the most potent threat for the Raiders. 

Scofield accounted for about 37 percent of Northfield’s offensive output in 25 regular season games last year with his 22 goals. No other Raider reached double digits in goals scored.

This year, however, the puck is finding the net off of multiple sticks. As evidence, seven different Raiders found the net in the 9-1 victory over Dodge County.

Through 13 games, Scofield has 17 goals and seven assists, Taylor Freiermuth has 10 goals and 13 assists and Cody Colegrove, a newcomer from Faribault, has seven goals and five assists. Senior Colton Woodruff has also upped his totals with eight goals and nine assists through the 13 games compared to four goals and four assists all of last year.

“You definitely get the scoring punch from Andrew Scofield,” said Miller. “(Goalie) Isaak Tjaden has bailed us out a couple of games and he’s played really well this season. The new kid from Faribault has been a good addition to our team—Cody Colegrove—everyone’s been playing pretty well.”

Tjaden, a senior, had decreased his goals against average to 2.46 per game, but a couple bad outings as of late has raised it to 3.16, which is still down from a season ago. That, combined with a more than two-goal-per game increase in offensive output—Northfield has scored 59 goals through 13 games this year after scoring 59 through 24 games last year—has helped the Raiders get off to their fast start as they head into the bulk of their Missota conference schedule.

The Raiders will again have to face New Prague in conference play and possibly sections, as well as having to possibly contend with Rochester Lourdes again once sections roll around. But Miller says anything can happen in the Missota this year and the Raiders have a good shot at vastly improving their conference standing.

“It’s a pretty even conference,” he said. “All the teams kind of have the same skill level. It pretty much comes down to who works the hardest. Usually, if that happens, if you work hard you come up on top in those games.”

Northfield is currently 1-2 in conference play after finishing 5-9 in conference play last year. 

They next play Highway 3 and conference rival Farmington 7 p.m. tonight at the Northfield Ice Arena.