Section 3A
No. 10 Luverne Cardinals
21-6-0
Coach: Todd Sandbulte
Players to Watch: #14 F Kamryn Van Batavia, #10 F Payton Behr, #11 F Ellisyn Van Batavia, #4 F Izzy Steensma, #9 D Mallory Nelson, #1 G Mallory Von Tersch
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5th Appearance
Last Appearance: 2022
0 State Championships
The first team to seal a state tournament berth, Luverne makes the trek to St. Paul with questions yet to be answered. How many points will Kamryn Van Batavia finish her high school career with and will Luverne get its first state tournament win?
If you haven’t been following southwestern Minnesota hockey for the past six years, you might have missed the story of “KVB.” Well, she’s only gone and scored 450-odd points while you were away. That earns her a spot in the ranks of Minnesota’s all-time great scorers. Van Batavia, a Minnesota State commit, scored a pair of goals and added an assist as the Cardinals blanked No. 17A New Ulm 4-0 in the Section 3A championship last week.
Van Batavia’s younger sister, Ellisyn, is a seventh-grader with 33 points this season and they’re joined offensively by high-scoring sophomore Payton Behr. Behr has played in the state tournament the last three years with Luverne and is ahead of KVB’s scoring pace with 149 points so far in her first three high school seasons.
Senior goalie Mallory Von Tersch has played nearly every game of the season for Luverne in net after playing mostly as a defender last year. She has a solid .916 save percentage and 1.49 goals-against average.
Luverne has consistently made the state tournament in recent years, but the Cardinals have yet to earn a win on the big stage. In four trips to St. Paul, Luverne is 0-7 and has faced extremely tough matchups. The Cardinals have lost to the eventual state champion in the quarterfinals of three of their four state tournament appearances.
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The Cardinals haven’t played a particularly strong schedule, but they can compete with some of the Class A tournament qualifiers, as evidenced by wins over New Ulm and No. 12A Dodge County, as well as one-goal losses to No. 13A Mankato East, twice, and No. 14A Albert Lea. Credit to Luverne for scheduling a game against No. 1A Warroad, even if it ended in a 10-0 defeat.
Whether or not the firepower against weaker opponents will translate to the quality of competition they’ll face in St. Paul is an open question. It will take a tremendous effort and, likely, a mammoth goaltending performance for Luverne to make noise at the X.
(Feb. 7 Let’s Play Hockey Rankings)
Ranked Wins: No. 17A New Ulm (4-1, Nov. 15; 4-1, Jan. 19; 4-0, Feb. 14), No. 12A Dodge County (3-2, Jan. 21)
Ranked Losses: No. 13A Mankato East (4-3, Dec. 10; 2-1, Dec. 28), No. 14A Albert Lea (3-2, Jan. 10), No. 1A Warroad (10-0, Jan. 14),
Ranked Ties: N/A
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