Mirage Prepare for Faceless Opponent in Mankato East at State Tourney

Puck drop is set for 11 AM on Wednesday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

HERMANTOWN, Minn.- In recent years it’s been an annual tradition for the Proctor/Hermantown girls hockey team to make it to the state tournament.

The Mirage will make their 3rd consecutive appearance on Wednesday, after they won the section 7A title last Wednesday.

Proctor/Hermantown will meet up with Mankato East in the quarterfinals, a team they haven’t seen at all this season.

Head Coach Emma Stauber admits it’s been interesting preparing for a team they have yet to play or even see in action but they’re confident they match up well against the Cougars.

“Yeah definitely taking a look at their film to see if there’s anything we need to be able to counter. We still want to focus on ourselves and our game and our systems to hopefully make them adjust to us. Sometimes it’s nice not seeing an opponent just so you’re ready and prepared. A lot of times when you see times over and over again you can be complacent. So I think it’s kind of nice that we have an opponent that we haven’t seen before,” said head coach Emma Stauber.

As for what the Mirage can do well against the Cougars:

“You know we have to play our game. We can’t play down to the other teams level. We just have to be the best we can be and be mentally tough against these teams. We may have not seen them during the season. But we’ll figure out how they play and counter against them,” said senior forward Reese Heitzman.

“”Nerves are going to be running high for both teams so we obiviously have to factor that in. I think we definently have the confidence. You know we’re controlling the puck the way that we want to right now. We’re having success offensively, which is what we worked on all year. So hopefully that’s not going to be an issue,” added Stauber.

Puck drop is set for 11 AM on Wednesday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.