Orono's youth has its day in girls hockey state quarterfinal win over Luverne

Four Orono players scored a goal and six players recorded a point in the team's Class 1A state quarterfinal victory Wednesday. Of those six, four were underclassmen.

"One of the biggest assets for us is our depth," Orono first-year coach Larry Olimb said. "It was certainly an advantage for us today to roll three lines."

Those three lines helped the third-seeded Spartans roll to a 6-0 shutout over unseeded Luverne in the girls hockey state tournament at Xcel Energy Center.

Sophomore Zoe Lopez and senior Mae Grandy each scored a pair of goals, and sophomore Anika Fortin recorded a career-high three assists. Grandy kicked off the scoring for the Spartans (21-3-4) with a power-play goal at the 5:43 mark of the first period.

"After Mae got her goal, I think our team started to get really good momentum and get excited and pumped," said sophomore Macy Rasmussen, who scored her 17th goal of the season 1 minute, 24 seconds later for a 2-0 lead.

Lopez gave her team a 3-0 lead before the first intermission, then added a backhander in the second period for her team-leading 36th goal of the season. Freshman Maddy Kimbrel had a goal and two assists.

Luverne (21-7-0) couldn't match Orono's depth.

"They kind of caught us on our heels early," Luverne coach Tony Sandbulte said. "We panicked a little bit more than we'd like with the puck and had some unforced turnovers and didn't quite get back in the right spots, and they took advantage."