Staff photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Alexis Haycraft shoots the puck during the second period of Monday night's contest against Austin at Martin County Arena. Fairmont used a four goal third period to claw past the Packers 4-1.

FAIRMONT – The Cardinals needed a response.

With 16 minutes to play, the Fairmont girls hockey team found itself down 1-0 after a score from Austin’s Lauren Bowe broke the initial two-period deadlock in a contest where every goal mattered.

Mariel Parish and Joslyn Meyer gave Fairmont the perfect answer. Parish collected the puck on the left side of the ice, charging towards the net with all her might in hopes of jumpstarting the offense. She found Meyer on the same line towards center ice. After a quick pass to the middle, Meyer finished the rest with a goal that opened the floodgates for the Cardinals.

Fairmont continued the momentum with three more goals during the final six minutes of play, earning the 4-1 victory over Austin and pushing its record to 10-9-2.

“That was a really good test in overcoming adversity with resilience,” Haycraft said. “We certainly didn’t come out in those first two periods and play our best hockey. But they bounced back in the third by putting four pucks in the net.”

The equalizing goal charged the entire Fairmont team for the rest of the way. After failing to gather any real momentum in the first two periods, the Cardinals now had the puck in dominant control over their opponent. This control inevitably turned into more chances at the net.

Scoring got back on track after a couple high energy plays from Kynlee Beemer to extend the lead to 3-1.

With 6:39 to play, Beemer had an initial wrap-around attempt get stuffed by the padding of Austin netminder Lily Haedt on the right side of the net. The sophomore was determined to keep her shot, however, putting the rebound into the back of the net to break the tie.

Beemer struck again with yet another rebound score four minutes later. This time it was Meyer firing in the shot from the right. The puck bounced 10 feet away from Haedt’s padding towards the stick of Beemer on the opposite side, setting her up for an easy one-timer shot for her second score.

“Rebound goals are how you score in high school hockey,” Haycraft said. “You’ve got to put rebounds in the zone, and you have to go to those tough areas by the net to get those. It was great to see them do that.”

Lauren Bettin put the finishing touches on the contest with another score less than a minute later. A Kennedy Murphy extra pass towards center ice found its way into a slap shot chance for Bettin, who buried the opportunity.

Fairmont ended the third period outshooting Austin 14-9, almost equalizing the amount of shots on goal the team had in the combined periods prior.

Sundeen stays strong

Fairmont goaltender Alexis Sundeen had another strong outing for Haycraft and his team. The sophomore finished the night with 19 saves, eight of which came during a third period that saw Austin be even more aggressive after suddenly facing a deficit.

This is the 11th time this season that Sundeen and the Fairmont defense have held an opponent to one goal or less. Three of those games were shutouts against Morris/Benson Area, Windom Area and New Prague.

“That’s a confidence booster for us,” Haycraft said about having Sundeen as goalie. “We know we are always in it when she’s there. As I said before, wouldn’t have anyone else back there.”

Looking ahead

The playoffs are around the corner, and many teams are looking to gather some momentum before heading into the single-elimination postseason event starting next week. Haycraft is aiming to do the same.

After dropping four contests in a row, two of which in overtime, the Cardinals have rattled off wins against Morris/Benson Area and Austin to hopefully gain some steam. The remaining three games give Fairmont a chance to extend its winning streak even more.

The Cardinals open the final stretch with repeat matchups against Worthington/Fulda and Windom Area. Both of which were victories by a combined score of 17-1. Fairmont then wraps up the regular season with a matchup against Princeton/Big Lake/Becker this Saturday.

Fairmont (10-9-2) will travel to the Worthington Hockey Arena on Tuesday to take on the Trojans. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m.