Luverne embraces girls hockey underdog status in visit to the big city

Luverne is a small town in southwestern Minnesota with not quite 5,000 people. But its girls hockey team has reached the state tournament five times since 2016, including four years in a row.

Underdog is a role that Luverne plays well, coach Tony Sandbulte said. The school has 365 students in grades nine through 12.

"We're questionably the smallest school in the state that offers hockey," Sandbulte said. "We're proud that all of our girls are from Luverne. They probably were born miles away from the rink.

"So we always carry that on our back and we want to represent our small community as well as we can."

Despite stormy weather that likely kept some fans from making the trek to St. Paul, the Cardinals still had a send-off at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, with fire trucks waiting to escort them out of town, Sandbulte said.

Games against the bigger programs they meet in St. Paul haven't gone well. After Wednesday's 6-0 quarterfinal loss to No. 3 seed Orono, Luverne's state tournament record is 0-8.

The biggest hurdle is the Cardinals' depth compared to other teams. A huge chunk of Luverne's scoring comes from the state's leading goal scorer, Ms. Hockey finalist Kamryn Van Batavia (59 goals, 79 points).

"We can create a top line, but … we don't fill out a 20-man roster," Sandbulte said. "We don't have that JV team."

Mankato East is in its fifth state tournament, and after Wednesday's 4-3 loss to Proctor/Hermantown the Cougars take a 1-9 state record into the consolation bracket; they have yet to win a quarterfinal.

"We've prepared all season trying to mix in some of those more difficult teams, knowing that we're going to have to skate faster and make decisions quicker if we're going to be in this game," coach Amber Prange said.

"If we were going to lose, I wanted to leave it with no regrets. I think we are going to do that."

Warroad senior co-captain Talya Hendrickson is known in team circles as "Whacker," a nickname bestowed by Warriors coach David "Izzy" Marvin.

The inspiration isn't clear.

"I must have got too many slashing penalties," Hendrickson joked. "You can shorten it to 'Whack,' and that's what I've been called a lot this year. That and 'Tals.' "

Hendrickson, who signed with Bemidji State, tied the record shared by many players with five assists in a state tournament game. She has 60 helpers this season.

"She's a competitor, and you're seeing it," Marvin said. "She's been a tremendous leader for us. She's very unselfish. Our team is in good hands with her leading the way."

Staff writer David La Vaque contributed to this report.