Having taken on two tough teams, one the defending state champion and the other a state participant, the New Prague floor hockey team knows it will need to play a little better to return to the top of the mountain.
The Trojans opened the season Jan. 9 with a win over Dakota United, a team they topped at the state tournament a year ago. They fell in the second game, a rematch of the last two state championship games against Burnsville/Farmington/Lakeville. The Trojans won the 2022 game and the Blazing Cats enjoyed revenge in 2023.
“For the past few years, it seems like it has been us and them at the end of the season,” said NPHS coach Jeremy Kalal. “We’ve taken them down and they’ve taken us down. It’s a lot of fun playing at such a high level. Our kids will regroup and be ready to go again if we see them later in the season.”
Tuesday, Jan. 16, after The New Prague Times went to press, the Trojans hit the road to face Mankato. Tuesday, Jan. 23, 4:30 p.m., the Trojans will be back home to take on Owatonna.
Burnsville/Farmington/Lakeville 12, New Prague 5 The Cats used a high-powered offense to jump out to a big lead before the Trojans got rolling.
“The Blazing Cats are the defending state champions for a reason and they are as advertised,” Kalal said. “They came out strong against us in what we knew was going to probably be our toughest game of the season and we struggled staying in it from the get-go.”
The Cats ended the first period up, 7-1, and never looked back.
“We struggled shutting down their very talented offense all game, but I did like seeing our kids battle the entire 45 minutes,” he said. “They are a very good team and we know we have to improve to hopefully meet up with them again at the state tournament.”
Elliot Soukup (three goals, one assist) led the Trojans. Lorelai Hamre (one goal, two assists) and Tryston Seger (one goal, one assist) contributed to the scoring sheet. Carter Tupy and Brady Nelson also had assists in the game.
Trojans 7, Dakota United 1 New Prague busted a close game open with five tallies in the third period of the Jan. 9 game. The score was tied, 1-1, after one period and New Prague held a 2-1 lead after two periods at Hope Field House in Rosemount.
Dakota United scored first with about a minute left in the opening period. NPHS’s Trystan Seger tied the score with 15 seconds left in the first period. Seger added his second goal three minutes into the second period.
“We played a great game defensively,” Kalal said. “Trystan Seger and Lorelai Hamre were in complete control on the defensive side of the floor and forced the puck into our offensive zone constantly. We had a crazy amount of scoring chances throughout the entire game, but it took us a while to connect on a few of them. Our forwards, Carter Tupy, Elliot Soukup, Ryan Swenson, and our center Logan Bremel played really well and were all very busy on the offensive side of the floor.”
The Trojans enjoyed two goals apiece from Carter Tupy, Tryston Seger and Elliot Soukup plus one goal from Logan Bremel. Bobbi Starr, Seger and Logan Bremel (2) had assists for New Prague.
New Prague goalie Landon Malecha stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced.
“Dakota United is a very good team with plenty of depth but we handled them very well and dominated the game all around. We never let them get anything going offensively and forced their defense into plenty of mistakes,” Kalal said. “This was a great start for us against a very strong team.”
Floor hockey team splits first two games with old state friends
