With holiday tourneys history, race to March begins now for local teams

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The holidays are in the rearview mirror, local sports teams are looking straight ahead at the final two months of the winter regular winter season. Most teams are back in action Thursday or Friday.

Some Albert Lea teams are angling to keep their momentum going in the new year. Others are hoping for a new start in 2008.

Here&8217;s a quick synopsis of how some local teams have fared, roughly one-third of the way through the winter season.

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Girls&8217; hockey

The girls at City Arena have heated up in December. After a 3-3 start, the 10-4 Tigers have won seven of their past eight, including a dominant tournament performance in an Austin tournament last week in which the locals outscored their opponents 22-4 in three games to take the title.

In the conference title race, Rochester Mayo leads with 14 points, followed by a logjam of teams with 10 points, including the Tigers, Owatonna, Mankato West, Austin and Faribault.

In Section 1A, Albert Lea will likely battle with Faribault and Austin for the top seed at the end of the season.

Boys&8217; hockey

The boys&8217; hockey team, meanwhile, was busy turning heads in Rochester. The unranked Tigers (8-3) came within an overtime goal of upsetting the No. 2 team in Class A and did defeat the No. 9 team in Class A, Duluth Denfeld.

The boys also aren&8217;t far behind in the Big Nine race, trailing leader Rochester Mayo by four points, having played one less conference game.

Albert Lea gets to take its shot at the league&8217;s two top teams in its first games of the new year, hosting No. 10 Mankato West

on Jan. 8 and Mayo on Jan. 10.

West also stands in the way of a section title.

Boys&8217; basketball

Things haven&8217;t gone quite so smoothly on the hardwood for the Tigers. The boys&8217; basketball team has struggled to a 1-6 record, grabbing its first win over the holidays against Murray County Central in the Tiger Classic.

There is, however, a silver lining. Albert Lea took 8-0 Red Wing to overtime before falling. The Wingers, plus New Prague and Blue Earth, teams that have beaten the Tigers, have a combined record of 20-1.

Patience will be key in 2008 for Albert Lea as it strives to keep stride with the rest of the Big Nine and better its 4-21 record from last season.

Girls&8217; basketball

The Tiger girls have had a little more success after coming off one of the best seasons in recent memory. However, at 3-7, Albert Lea has some work to do. Coach Karol Hansen&8217;s team will be aided by the return of senior forward Hali Hendrickson in the new year and will look to bridge the gap between the conference&8217;s top teams.

Fortunately, the Tigers have already played arguably the league&8217;s top three teams in Austin, Mankato West and Owatonna and will play plenty of games against the bottom half of the Big Nine in the coming months.

Wrestling

This story seems to write itself every year. Albert Lea and Owatonna are dueling for the Big Nine and Section 1AAA title. No other team in the conference or section poses a big threat to the big two. No. 8 Albert Lea had a minor setback last Saturday with a loss to No. 6 Anoka, but several matches that resulted in one-point decisions went the other way, meaning the Tigers haven&8217;t lost any confidence.

The Big Nine champ will probably be decided in Owatonna on Feb. 2, with the winner the likely favorite to win the section.