Trojans top New Ulm to gain 2A finals

The New Prague Trojan girls hockey team is going into Thursday's Section 2A championship game with confidence as they seek to earn the schools fifth state tournament berth. +The Trojans will face Mound Westonka at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. The Trojans (16- 9-1) are the No. 1 seed while the Whitehawks (19-5-3) are the No. 2 seed. The teams are ranked No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, in the most recent Class A Let's Play Hockey poll. Mound Westonka tied with Holy Family Catholic for the Wright County Conference championship with a 7-2-1 record, one point ahead of third-place New Prague, which was 7-3-0.

Mound Westonka, the No. 2 seed, defeated St. Peter/Le Sueur-Henderson/TCU 7-0 in the first round and Orono 1-0 in the semifinals. New Prague was seeded first in the section and received a firstround bye. They defeated New Ulm 6-1 on Saturday, Feb. 6, in the section semifinals.

The Trojans and Whitehawks faced off twice during the regular season, with each team winning at home by two goals. Mound Westonka defeated New Prague 7-5 on January 5, while the Trojans downed Mound Westonka 4- 2 on January 26.

The Trojans were playing without their leading scorer, Catie Skaja, in the January 5 game. Skaja missed four games in early January while playing with Team USA in the IIHF 18U World Championships in Canada.

This is New Prague's ninth trip to a section championship game since the program started in the 1999- 2000 season. In 17 seasons, New Prague has reached the state tournament four times, in 2004, ‘05, ‘06 and ‘08. They were state runners-up in 2004 and placed third in 2005. They lost section championship games in 2007, ‘12, ‘13 and ‘14.

"We are ready for Mound," Coach Andrea Peterson said. "They are a good team and have had success this season, but so have we. We split with them, but feel like in the end, if we play our game, the outcome will be in our favor."

Peterson said the key will be for the Trojans to get off to a strong start, get on the board quickly, and for goaltender Sydney Culshaw to make a few big saves throughout the game.

Trojans 6, Eagles 1 "We had a tremendous turnout for the game," said Peterson, in her third year with the program. "It was easily the most.....

To see more on this story pick up the February 11, 2016 print edition of The New Prague Times.