The Hastings Raiders boys hockey team earned its biggest win of the season with a 1-0 win over a previously undefeated New Prague team that brought its high powered offense and dynamic power play to Hastings Civic Arena, only to come up empty.
A slow first period saw the Trojans outshoot the Raiders 12-5 in the first period that remained scoreless.
In the second period, however, the Raiders would find the back of the net, when Andrew McGraw delivered a filthy pass to Michael Kennedy, who buried it to give the Raiders the lead. Or so they thought… because the officials quickly waved off the goal, determining that the net had become unintentionally dislodged, and the score reverted back to 0-0. Not long after though, a pair of Trojan penalties for holding and roughing within 30 seconds of each other gave the Raiders a 5-on-3, and Will Savage wasted no time, going top shelf on the Trojan goaltender from the slot on a pass from Jonas Schauer to make it 1-0 after 2.
The Raiders had to hold on tight in the third period, as New Prague outshot Hastings 18-4 in the frame. But Nick Smelser played arguably his best game in a Raider jersey, making several spectacular saves to keep the Trojans, who came in scoring nearly five goals a game, off the scoreboard completely.
Hastings wins despite being outshot 34-16. The Raiders went 1-5 on the power play and 1-1 on the penalty kill. 
The win improves Hastings to 4-3 on the year, and the Raiders remain perfect at Hastings Civic Arena. Away from home is a different story, where Hastings is 0-3 and has been outscored 14-1 in their three road games. The Raiders will try to exorcise those demons on Tuesday when they travel up to Chisago Lakes, in a game that could define the Raiders section fate, with Chisago Lakes expected to rival Mahtomedi as the class of the section.