Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall forward Eme DeMuth, middle, is embraced by teammates Avery Kesteloot (5) and Kendal Beernaert after netting her first varsity goal during a girls hockey game against Hutchinson in Red Baron Arena on Tuesday night. 

MARSHALL — Seventh grader Emerson DeMuth gave the Marshall girls hockey team an early lead over Hutchinson with her first varsity goal on Tuesday. Marshall’s stellar defense and goaltending allowed the team to protect home ice and defeat Hutchinson 3-1 for its fifth consecutive win to start the season. It was also the first time all season that a team was within one goal of Marshall in the third period this year.

“You like to see [adversity] early on just so we can learn the lesson early on, so we’re ready when sections or state do come,” Marshall head coach Cassi Weiss said. “The girls just do a really good job of holding their poise and not getting too shaken up when things do get a little stressful. They do a great job, but they also learn in the moment, so it’s really fun to watch them grow through that in the last three minutes of the game.”

Hutchinson had been on a tear heading into Tuesday’s game, riding a 20-1 win over Hutchinson to its fourth consecutive win and a plus-33 goal margin through four games. Still, Marshall’s defense and goaltending limited Hutchinson’s looks and confined the visiting Tigers to fewer than three goals for the first time all season. 

While Hutchinson held the Tigers without a shot on goal for the first four minutes, Marshall made it count when it got one. DeMuth received a feed from Beernaert in the defensive zone and took it up to the left side of the crease. Just as the goaltender made a move on the puck, DeMuth pulled back and snuck it just inside the right post for a 1-0 Marshall lead.

DeMuth said that while on the fast break, she was just focusing on keeping her head up and looking for a teammate to pass it to.

“Eme is such a smooth player and she hasn’t gotten rewarded on the score sheet, so it was really nice,” Weiss said. “Sometimes kids are pretty hard on themselves if they don’t get that goal, so it was nice to see her get rewarded for that.”

The go-ahead goal marked the first time the seventh grader has found the back of the net at the varsity level. It was also her third varsity point after she earned an assist in Marshall’s road wins over Fergus Falls and Windom.

Brooklyn Mauch doubled Marshall’s lead with just under seven minutes remaining in the first period. The sophomore forward stole the puck from Hutchinson on the forecheck and skated circles through the defense before sending a wrist shot into the top shelf for her seventh goal of the season.

Lily Stelter posted her second outing of the season between the posts with a save percentage over .900. She saved 21 of the 22 shots she faced in the match, bringing her save percentage up to .910 on the season.

Three Marshall penalties in the second period put Hutchinson on the power play often. Hutchinson fired off 11 shots on goal in the period to Marshall’s nine. Kylie Neuberger scored on the first of those power plays four minutes into the period, recovering Hathaway Reiter’s rebound to cut Marshall’s lead down to 2-1.

After the second-period shot barrage from Hutchinson, Marshall’s defense returned to form to prevent Hutchinson from finding the back of the net. Marshall outshot Hutch 12-10 in the final frame with the defense forcing many of Hutchinson’s shots to come at tough angles. They also cleaned up the penalties to close out the game 5-on-5.

“We talked about the third period just being our period and really utilizing our speed and our depth and conditioning to dominate every team when they’re tired,” Weiss said, saying she felt her team was effective in forcing Hutchinson to skate the full length of the rink. “If they were going to try to score on Lily, they were going to have to skate it all the way. They were going to have to deal with our back-checkers.”

Marshall sealed the victory with 1:11 remaining in the first period when Ava Kolander took the puck down the right side of the ice before passing it back to Mauch. While Mauch wasn’t able to score off the centering pass, Peyton DeMuth was ready on the spot to slide the puck through the five-hole to secure the win. The goal was DeMuth’s eighth of the season, already putting her past her total of seven from last year.

Hutchinson fired off a pair of shots on goal in the game’s first few minutes, but Marshall held the visitors without a shot on goal in the final 13 minutes of the first period while finishing the period with five of their own. 

Kaiden Fitterer finished the night with 20 saves on 23 shots for Hutchinson. Fitterer had saved 93.4% of the shots she had faced on the season coming into the game.

Marshall, now 5-0 on the season, will go on the road to face Worthington on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Tigers demolished Worthington both times they faced the Trojans last year, winning 7-0 and 5-0. From there, Marshall will have some time to recover from having four games in six days with eight days off from competition before hosting Hopkins/Park on the first day of the Marshall Thanksgiving Tournament on Nov. 29. 

“It’s really hard, honestly, when you have this many games in a week,” Weiss said. “We get one practice, turn around, play again on Thursday. We’re going to try to have a pretty loose, fun, high-spirited practice. Just kind of get back to the basics, work on some of the simple skills and turn around and be ready to play again on Thursday.”