Six goals and 55 shots later, Red Wing advanced to the Section 1A semifinals with a 6-0 victory over Albert Lea.

“We generated a lot of offense, but we had a little trouble finishing,” said Red Wing head coach Scott Haley. “But, for the most part, I thought we played pretty well again tonight. We haven’t had a loss since December 20, so it’s a lot of credit to the kids. That’s an impressive streak, and they kept it going. Tonight was another positive night for us.”

Maddy Hardyman buried two goals in the first period, including a backhand-to-forehand deke that gave Red Wing a 2-0 lead 12 minutes, 26 seconds into the game. But the advantage could have been a lot more. Red Wing fired off 22 shots in the opening frame, but the Tigers dropped three defenders in front of their net, forcing the Wingers to shoot low and into a lot of bodies.

“They did a very good job creating traffic in front of the net,” said Red Wing defenseman Kayla Oberding. “I think the main thing we had to do was keep our shots low and make sure we didn’t hit up in the (upper body). Keep it low, and it has a better chance of making it through. And defensively, we did a good job of keeping our shots down and getting them deep.”

Even though the tactic eventually paid dividends, it was everything the Wingers could do to not start throwing the puck all over the place due to impatience.

“It’s hard when you work so hard, and you have all these chances and capitalize,” Oberding said, “but you just keep working hard and (goals) come eventually. And in the third, I think we did a better job capitalizing.”

Katelyn Hadler and Carly Marty both scored in the second, with Oberding assisting on both, and Jenna Gillund helping out on Marty’s tally. But, again, Red Wing had 22 shots, and held Albert Lea to zero, with only two more goals.

“We kind of weren’t ready in front of the net, I think,” said Hadler, who finished with the one goal, a rebound opportunity at 11:35 that came on the power play. “We did play the perimeter pretty good, the defense was phenomenal getting the shots from the point and that helped a lot for the forwards.”

The final period played out completely different as Taylor Heise, unassisted, and Oberding, from Kendal Thompson, scored in the first 2:25 to put the clock onto running time, and shorten the game.

Kayla and Nicole Oberding, Gillund, Heise and Hardyman all finished with two points in the game, while Ashley Corcoran made six saves to earn the shutout victory. Top-point scorer Reagan Haley missed the game due to illness, but is expected to return for the next game.

Faribault, the No. 4 seed, beat fifth-seeded Austin, 4-3, and will travel to Prairie Island Arena on Saturday to face the seventh-ranked and top-seeded Wingers in the semifinals. The winner will travel to Owatonna on Feb. 12 to face either second-seeded New Prague, who beat Waseca 15-0, or third-seeded Northfield, 3-0 victors over Winona.

Against the Falcons, Red Wing will square off against a team it defeated 6-0 in the regular season, and will likely face a defense that is aiming at clogging the slot once again.

“We’ll probably work on that,” Coach Haley said. “But what I like is that the kids kept bringing it back to the point and generating some offense off of that. And that will be a big point of emphasis the next couple days. And making sure that we’re creating some offense off of out defense.”