Double coverage, Card's win 3-1

The blog is suffering from an embarassment of riches today, with two blog reporters covering the same athletic function last night. John Herdan and the Cub Reporter converged in St. Cloud to watch the Cardinal girls take on the St. Cloud girls. Our girls won, of course, but it was a great game by both accounts. Above, the cub got a picture of John Herdan and Dave Harris, the voice of KXRA sports, apparently having their credentials checked before entering the arena. That's Stacey Paulzine's dad in the background.

Here's John's report:

The St. Cloud Icebreakers, riding their own 6-game winning streak, gave the Alexandria Cardinals all they could handle all the way into the third period Tuesday night in St. Cloud. The Icebreakers outshot the Cardinals 18-8 in the first two periods before Michelle Anez tipped in a Kathryn DelZoppo shot from the point with Abby Williams assisting 13:18 into the second period.

The Icebreakers quickly tied the game as World-18-and-under-champion, Annie Schleper, drew a Cardinal penalty near the end of the third period. As the third period opened, Annie found my next door neighbor, Michelle Bunnell, near the corner of the net and she slipped the puck past Danielle Justice at 1:06 of the period.

However, the Cardinals quickly put the game out of reach with back-to-back goals by Abby Williams (Holmes and DelZoppo) at 4:01 and by DelZoppo (Anez and Williams) at 6:02.

It was a great game and, according to Cardinal coach Mitch Loch, a good test for the Cardinals as they prepare for the playoffs. Icebreaker coach Mark Chamernick says the Cardinals have as good a chance as anybody to go all the way this year.

Good luck to a tremendous bunch of young ladies several of whom I had a chance to talk to at the concession stand after the game. They represent Alexandria well!

Photos: Ashley Holmes fires off a rocket; Cardinals celebrate first goal; Abby Williams, Annie Schleper, and Ashley Holmes pause for a picture after the game. All three girls attended tryouts for the under-18 national team in Lake Placid, New York. Annie made the team and helped win the world championship for the US earlier this month in Calgary.

Now here's the Cub's report: Note that he was kind enough to include the final score.
The Cards had one of those games that make you appreciate how good they are. Despite being off their game the entire night (they just seemed flat); despite playing against one of the best players in the state, Anne Schleper, a Gopher recruit, who was absolutely terrific; the Cards won the game 3 - 1 in their usual manner: Roadblock was great in goal, Abby, Michelle, and Del scored the goals (in that regard, it was a duplicate of the Bemidji (who also had a great player, Sarah Erickson, heading to the Gophers) game on Saturday). 20 - 1 - 2 now - next game at Fergus Falls on Thursday, and then the final regular season game, and senior night, is next Tuesday against Elk River.