Coaches Todd Gackstetter and Mike Larson described it as a great season.

It was that and more.

Albert Lea’s U-14 B girls’ hockey team made local history, ending an up-and-down season with a third-place finish in the state tournament.

Said Gackstetter, &uot;The girls really pulled together when they needed to.&uot;

And they did it short-handed.

With goalie Molly Yokiel sidelined with a broken hand, the locals opened the regional tournament at Cold Spring with one netminder and 11 skaters.

The first game in the round-robin tournament was against Owatonna, and Albert Lea started strong with four goals in the opening period, two by Brittany Osmundson and one apiece by Haley Habana and Amy Gackstetter. Ashton Larson and Abby Matheson added goals in the third period as Albert Lea cruised to victory.

Game two was against a physical team from New Ulm, which jumped to an early 1-0 lead.

Gackstetter got Albert Lea on the board with an assist from Osmundson and, at the start of the second period, Gackstetter made it 2-0 on an assist from Larson.

Lauren Klick, who applied a lot of offensive pressure on New Ulm the first two periods, left the game with a broken collarbone late in the second period. Abby Matheson, Chelsey Claassen, Morgan Walton and Habana stepped it up offensively in her absence and goalie Sage Fitzgerald-Prihoda, backed by a strong defense led by Laura Bledsoe, Kelsey Forman, Jacqui Jepson and Larson, was tough in the net as Albert Lea held off New Ulm.

New Ulm was again the opponent the next day and, in an evenly-matched contest, Albert Lea triumphed 2-1. Gackstetter scored both goals, the first on a breakaway and on an assist from Osmundson in overtime.

The win advanced Albert Lea to the state tournament at Buffalo, where Rosemount was the first-round foe. Osmundson scored a hat trick in a 3-1 victory, with assists by Jepson and Habana. Forman, Larson and Laura Bledsoe anchored a defense that allowed only 14 shots on Fitzgerald-Prihoda.

Cottage Grove, which beat Albert Lea twice in two regular-season meetings, was the semifinal opponent. It was close, but Cottage Grove scored two quick goals and held on for a 2-1 decision.

Osmundson scored for the locals, assisted by Jepson. The Tigers applied pressure to the end and had an apparent tying goal waived off in the third period because of a quick whistle.

Fitzgerald-Prihoda had 18 saves.

Gackstetter scored twice as Albert Lea shut out Lakeville 2-0 in the third-place game. Walton had an assist. Larson, Bledsoe, Forman and Jepson played strong defensively and Fitzgerald-Prihoda was again tough in the net.

&uot;These girls, through the ups and downs, came out defining the word team in teamwork,&uot; said Coach Gackstetter. &uot;The coaches, parents, family and friends are all very proud of the girls and congratulate them on a job well done.&uot;