After starting off the season 1-1 with a loss against Woodbury 2-3 and a win against Chisago Lakes 6-0, the Royals boys hockey team played their first home game of the season Friday night against the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton Lumberjacks.

The first period began with an early goal scored by the Lumberjacks. But the Lumberjacks’ lead only lasted for a few minutes until Nathan Nelson, senior, scored on a play assisted by Jack Sweeney, senior, leaving the first period with a tie.

Moments after the puck dropped to start the second, Nelson recorded his second goal of the game. This time his goal was assisted by Alex Hoffman, junior, and Nik Solberg, senior. Later on in period number two, the Lumberjacks scored their second goal of the night on a power play, evening up the game at twos to end the second period.

Similar to periods one and two, the third period started with an early goal, this time from the Lumberjacks who reclaimed the lead 2-3. The rest of the period, the Royals looked to erase the one goal deficit but were unable to as the final stood in the favor of the Lumberjacks, 2-3.

After the loss to Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, the Royals attempted to bounce back quickly as they faced-off against the Hermantown Hawks on Saturday, Dec. 5. The Hawks have been the runner-up in each of the last six Class A State Tournaments.

The game began with a quick goal for the Royals as Nelson was once again assisted by Sweeney. A minute later, the Royals were awarded with a power play and took advantage of it. Once again, Nelson scored with helpers from Ryan Greeley and Peyton Bolstad, seniors. The Royals continued to dominate the first period, but with less than three minutes to go in the period, the Hawks capitalized on their own power play opportunity, shortening the point margin to only one goal.

Throughout the second period, the Royals and the Hawks took turns visiting the penalty box as the teams combined for 14 second period penalty minutes. As the second period approached the one minute mark, Nelson completed his quest for a hat trick when he scored a goal assisted by Ryan St. Clair, junior, giving the Royals a 3-1 lead as the horn sounded to end the second period.

Less than a minute into the third period, the Hawks scored their second goal of the game. The Royals were only able to hold their lead for a little while longer as the Hawks tied the game up at threes with about ten minutes remaining in regular time. Neither offenses were able to score for the remainder of the third period as the game was all evened up 3-3 going into overtime.

During overtime, both teams fought hard during the intense eight minutes of play, but neither team was able to score, resulting the game at a tie.

The Hopkins Royals have their next game this Thursday, Dec. 10. at 7 pm as they host Minneapolis.