By Nick Gerhardt
Northfield rallied from a two-goal, fourth-quarter deficit Thursday to knock off Shakopee 8-7 at Memorial Field in Northfield.
The Raiders (1-3) trailed 6-4 just nine seconds into the final quarter before scoring the game’s next four goals to build an 8-6 lead. Northfield’s George Peterson scored the go-ahead goal with 4:06 to play and Cooper Rand added the eventual game-winning goal with 1:06 to play.
Shakopee’s Tanner Bachelor scored with 12 seconds left to pull the Sabers (0-2) within one but the Raiders closed out the game with lockdown defense to secure the first victory of the season. Northfield suffered three lopsided losses to start the season. Opponents outscored the Raiders 42-12 in that span.
Northfield goaltender Trey Shimota made several big saves and got an assist from defender Ty Frank on a shot. Frank moved in front of a shot on an open net in the fourth quarter to keep the game close.
Rand and Bridger Riley led Northfield with a pair of goals each. Riley scored once in the first quarter to halve the lead to 2-1. He scored again in the fourth quarter to make it a 6-5 deficit and started the 4-0 run for the Raiders.
Grant Selchow, Camden Waters and Will Downs also scored for Northfield in the win.
The Raiders trailed 1-0 after the first quarter. Shakopee’s Zach Docteaur scored 27 seconds into the game and the Sabers seemed content to play a possession game the rest of the quarter.
Carter Maliszewski put Shakopee up 2-0 in the second quarter with 10:17 to go in the half before the Raiders started a run. Northfield scored the next three goals of the quarter to build a 3-2 halftime lead. Waters scored the go-ahead goal on the man advantage with 47 seconds left in the half.
Selchow’s goal 26 seconds into the second half extended the lead to 4-2 before Shakopee rattled off three straight goals to take a 5-4 lead.
The Sabers’ lead grew to 6-4 just nine seconds into the fourth quarter after Kaden Gunnare scored. But another Raiders run led them to the victory.
Northfield moves on to face Mankato Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Field.