ROCHESTER &045; About a year ago at this time, the Albert Lea and Rochester John Marshall girls’ hockey teams skated to a scoreless tie.

This time it was a shootout.

The squads combined for six first-period goals and the Tigers went on to win 6-4 in a key Big Nine game at Rochester Saturday night.

It kept the Tigers in the race for the conference title, tying them with the Rockets at 10-2 in the Big Nine, and next up for Albert Lea is a clash at 9-0 first-place Owatonna on Tuesday.

&uot;This was a big win in a very important game,&uot; said ALHS coach Mike Miller, whose team improved to 13-6 overall. &uot;We pulled ourselves back in the hunt.&uot;

Miller said the Tigers did well to survive a first period, in which they were outshot 12-5. But the goals were back and forth.

Tessa Christensen put Albert Lea up 1-0 at 1:25, with Laura Hillman and Amy Leach assisting, and JM answered 18 seconds later. Hillman scored at 3:54, assisted by Christine Tubbs and Leach, and the Rockets &045; skating with a 5-on-3 advantage &045; knotted it again at 4:52.

The Tigers, again skating shorthanded, regained the lead at 13:56 on an unassisted goal by Hillman. The Rockets scored 40 seconds later.

Christensen scored the lone goal of the second period. Hillman and Brittany Arendt assisted.

The Tigers made it 5-3 at 6:25 of the third, when Lindsey Sorenson scored on assists from Frances O’Donnell and Arendt.

JM kept it interesting, pulling within a goal at 13:51 and then pulling their goalie, but Hillman put the puck in the empty net with six seconds left; O’Donnell got an assist.

Danika Porter was the goalie for the Tigers, who were outshot 32-20. Albert Lea had six of the game’s 11 penalties.

Miller praised the play of Christensen and Leach, and said the Tigers did a great job defensively to hold JM’s top two lines to four goals.

The key for the Tigers at Owatonna, according to Miller, is to stay out of the penalty box.