[This was the first game last Thursday, the girls were hosting the Brainerd/Little Falls Flying Warriors.  An overtime pants-wetter.  But a big conference win!  🙂  ]

[When we first arrived it appeared KXRA was breaking in a new broadcast team?  😉  ]

[Opening face-off, Cards in home whites.]

[Early game feeling out process.]

[Cards storm the zone with Kaitlin Leary (26), Alexis Heckert (20), and Nicole Bartels (23).]

[Micaela Swenson (34), a senior, her last RCC regular season game.]

[Here comes McKenzie Revering (29) – met and had a nice visit with her dad (and Parker’s) before the game.]

[McKenna Ellingson (24), mustering all the strength an 8th-grader can.]

[A shot . . . from Rev (looks like 29)?]

[Freshman Allison O’Kane (36) pinches in from her defense position.]

[I thought Allison had a particularly strong game, both offensively and defensively.]

[Oh my, looks like Kristin Trosvig (15) has an opening . . . ]

[Heckert and O’Kane, an 8th-grader and a freshman in the middle of things.]

[Karina Carlsen (31) pairs with O’Kane on defense.]

[Hanan Hansen (11) struggles to remain upright after winning the draw.]

[Mari Wosepka (18) tries to open the back door.]

[Name that Cardinal?  Right-handed, number starts with a ‘2’?  Go for it!]

[Swenson on the left, Mackenzie Abrahamson (17) on the right.]

[Looks like Ellingson with the puck popping up at the goalie’s eye level.]

[Despite all that action, the first period ended in a scoreless tie.]

[The defensive pair of Leary and Bartels (also playing her last regular season RCC game) ready for the 2nd period face-off.]

[A Cardinal behind the goal, a Cardinal in the goalie’s lap, Revering moving in, Leary protecting the right flank . . .]

[The Cards are buzzing with Trosvig and Sam Klimek (37).]

[Bartels unleashes a slap shot.]

[Rev and Sam are in again.]

[Ohhh, and another just missed.]

[McKenna chases it down, and yet somehow through all this, a really good period for the Cards, the Flying Warriors scored two goals early in the period?  There must have been a tear in the space-time continuum?]

[O’Kane continuing her fine game . . . ]

[And finally Heckert scored unassisted to pull the Cards within 1 – 2 after the 2nd period.]

[And now the 3rd period face-off?  I must have had a concentration lapse here . . . ]

[Because this my only other 3rd period photo, thereby missing Rev’s tying goal on an assist from Trosvig.]

[So, we went into OT.]

[I felt comfortable going into OT because I thought we were the better team . . . though anything can happen.  We got the only penalty of the game in the overtime period so I thought, “Oooops!”]

[But almost as soon as we completed the penalty kill, Hanah scored the game winner on assists from Kristin and Kaitlin.  Woo-woo!  Only one more road game left on the regular season schedule.]

[And then it was on to the boys’ game against Brainerd.  Brainerd and Little Falls fly solo on the boys’ side – in fact we would host Little Falls the following night, so stayed tuned.]

[The flag bearers from our all powerful bantam teams.]

[Split right, 44-Z square out, Omaha, on the deuce.  Ready.  Break!]

[Let’s play hockey!  We appear to be back to full strength, so the line of  Mack Strong (16), Zach Johnson (17), and Ryan Marciniak (20) has been re-united.]

[Eli Heckert (27) with a slapper from the blue line.  If the name sounds familiar, see game one.]

[Appears to be Parker Revering (3), with Strong in arrears.]

[Johnson and Strong on an offensive zone face-off.]

[After another strong push by the Johnson line, the first period ended in a scoreless tie despite a 19 – 6 shots-on-goal advantage for the Cards.]

[In the 2nd period, that line is on the attack again.]

[Alec Wospeka (8) circles the net while Jack Steffl (2) comes down the middle.]

[Micah Christenson (39) in full flight . . .]

[Yup, that’s Micah.]

[GOOOOAAAAALLLL!  Strong from Marciniak after the Warriors had scored earlier in the period.]

[Chris Canavati (11) providing protection for goalie Christian Reimers (31).]

[Despite total domination by the Cards, we remain tied after two periods.]

[GOOAAALLLL!  15 seconds into the 3rd period, Marciniak scored from Johnson . . . ]

[The congrats . . . ]

[A minute later Wosepka scored . . . ]

[From Revering and Canavati.]

[We were finally going to put this bad boy away!]

[Incredibly the Warriors scored two goals in the next two minutes to tie it up again?  Four goals in less than 4 minutes in the period!  What the . . . ?]

[So this game goes into overtime.  Uffda!  Did I mention the supervisor gave up the ghost after period one – the whole girls’ game and the first period of the boys’ hockeyed her out.  Super Fan Robo and I managed to last the entire night.]

[Into OT spoiler alert . . . we won!  Oh, you knew that already.]

[It was only fair because we dominated the whole game.]

[Canavati scored the winner from Steffl and Wosepka!  Impressive performance by the Cards.  And most amazing, I didn’t know till I checked the stats, we didn’t get a penalty the entire game.]

[Well done – now rest up for the Flyers on the following night.]

If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?  ~  George Carlin

Up next:  Yup, hockey.