Tigers advance to section semifinals on penalty shot goal

Published 3:22 am Saturday, February 13, 2010

Albert Lea senior Madi Passingham buried a penalty shot past New Prague goaltender Shyler Sletta with 2 minutes, 19 seconds left to play to give the Tigers a 2-1 victory over the Trojans in the quarterfinals of the Section 1A girls’ hockey playoffs in New Prague.

Passingham’s second goal of the game lifted Albert Lea (11-14-1) into the semifinals where they’ll face 13th-ranked Faribault (17-7) Tuesday at Owatonna.

“She had a great game,” said Tigers head coach Brian Blatti of Passingham. “It was fun to see her out there. Being her senior year I don’t think she’s ready to quit.”

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Passingham drew a penalty shot after New Prague’s Brooke Bartelt pulled her down from behind on a breakaway near the end of the game. Albert Lea went the entire season without a penalty shot, but Passingham put it away when the Tigers needed it.

Passingham’s second goal completed the Albert Lea comeback after the Tigers fell behind 1-0 early in the second period.

Bartelt scored a power-play goal at 2:47 in the second to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead but Passingham struck for the game-tying goal at 13:15 on an assist from Lauren Klick.

Albert Lea outshot New Prague 35-22 for the game and advances to the section semifinals for the second consecutive year.

Last season the Tigers upset No. 1 seed Northfield in the semifinals to advance to the title game for the first time since 2003. Albert Lea will need to pull off another upset to reach the title game once again against the Falcons.

“They were very excited about the game tonight,” Blatti said. “This is what they spent the last three months working for.”

Albert Lea 2, New Prague 1

Albert Lea 0 1 1 — 2

New Prague 0 1 0 — 0

First Period—None.

Second Period—1, New Prague, Brooke Bartelt (Hallie Paschke, Shannon Meyer), 2:47 (pp.). 2, Albert Lea, Madi Passingham (Lauren Klick), 13:15.

Third Period—3, Albert Lea, Passingham (unassisted), 14:41.

Shots on Goal—Albert Lea 9-14-12—35. New Prague 6-6-10—22.