The Northland Pines girls hockey team is participating in the Culvers Cup high school hockey tournament down in Madison, Wisconsin December 27-29. Last year, Pines fell to Superior 3-2 in overtime during the championship game. 

In their first game of the tournament, the Eagles were set for a rematch of against the Spartans, both teams eager for a win. Northland Pines was victorious over Superior 6-3. 

The game started out with a Pines goal from freshman Gabby Herfindahl. Superior was quick to recover from the goal and scored their own goal shortly after. 

Superior had two penalties to round out the first period of the contest. Pines and Superior were tied with 1 goal apiece at the end of 1st period. 

The Eagles were quick and efficient with their control of the puck in the second period. Kali Ebert scored a goal to allow her team to take control of the game early in the period. 

Cali Sanborn set up Emily Saltenberger for a goal shortly after to bring the score to 3-1 in favor of the Eagles. In return, Sanborn slipped her own goal past Superior goalie Missy Walkowiak with assists credited to Allison Sauvola and Saltenberger. 

A tripping penalty was assessed to one of the Superior players, but it didn’t phase the Spartans. Superior managed to score a shorthanded goal against Jenna Paez to close in on the Eagles' lead 5-3. 

Kali Ebert went on to score her second goal of the night, assisted by Amanda Sergent, followed by a back handed goal from Sergent herself. After the Eagles’ sixth goal of the night, the Spartans called a timeout to allow their girls to regroup. 

The timeout proved to be successful, with the Spartans scoring their third goal of the night. The 2nd period ended with Pines leading 6-3 over Superior. 

The third period saw no goals scored by either team, but there was a single tripping penalty assessed to both teams. The Eagles outshot the Spartans 36-30 throughout the course of the game and Pines won 6-3. 

Northland Pines will take on University School of Milwaukee tomorrow night at 7:15. You can follow the team on twitter @NPHS_Hockey for updates throughout the remainder of the tournament.