Hopkins at New Prague
7:15 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10

Hopkins kicked off its schedule with two challenging games. The Royals recorded a 5-3 win over No. 6-1A Red Wing in the season opener and lost to Eagan 5-4 in overtime two days later.

Hopkins faces another test with No. 9-1A New Prague.

The Royals started 9-3-1 last year before falling into a tailspin in the second half of the season. They finished 3-9 in their final 12 games, including a 7-3 loss to Minnetonka in the Class 2A, Section 6 semifinals.

No. 18-2A Hopkins graduated Cobin Boyd (11G, 35A) and Grace Bizal (25G, 9A) and will look to sophomore Kylie Hanley (15G, 23A) and junior Stella Haberman (9G, 4A), along with several others, to pick up the scoring load.

The Trojans feature one of the state’s best skaters in sophomore Catie Skaja, who scored 33 goals and had 31 assists last season.

New Prague is out to erase the memory of a 2-0 upset by Northfield in the Section 1 semifinals last year. With Skaja, who played with the U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team for three games against Canada this summer, New Prague will have a chance to do so, although it has moved to Class 1A, Section 2 this year.

The Trojans graduated just three players and return several other pieces, including second-leading scorer Jordan Anderson (29G, 23A), Haley Dietz (10G, 18A) and goaltender Sydney Culshaw (15-8-3, 2.01 GAA, .905 save percentage).

New Prague dropped its season opener against Proctor/Hermantown 3-1 on Nov. 7.

The Royals won last season’s meeting 5-2.