Five years later, she's a starter and a success

Devon Alwin arrived in Hastings as a seventh-grader with a passion for hockey and about a year's worth of experience as a goaltender.

Fast forward five years and Alwin, a senior, now starts in goal for the Raiders, who entered the week allowing fewer goals (24) than Suburban East Conference heavyweights Stillwater (28) and Roseville (29). Last week she backstopped Hastings (11-4-1) to a 2-2 tie against defending Class 2A champion Stillwater.

"She has been playing better than we imagined for a first-year starter," coach Jeff Corkish said. "She basically stole the game from Stillwater after letting in a soft goal early. She got us into overtime and didn't let us lose."

She spoke with Star Tribune reporter David La Vaque about how tae kwon do helped her hockey development, how she deals with allowing soft goals and why she almost left the program before this season.

Q Why did you choose to play hockey?

A I tried pretty much every other sport, but hockey stuck. I loved the adrenaline rush. Two of my cousins who I lived with for a time also played, and they kind of got me interested.

Q How did tae kwon do help your hockey development?

A Until I started tae kwon do, I would not get in there and fight for the puck. I'd just be off on the other side of the ice by myself. Once I started tae kwon do, it really made hockey click for me.

Q You have been waiting pretty much your entire high school career to be the starting goalie. How did you prepare yourself to take the leading role?

A This summer I honestly didn't know if I was going to for sure do this. I think I was kind of intimidated. I didn't know what I wanted. But I ended up deciding to go with it. I figured, 'This is my last year, why not just give it my all?' I thought, 'I've been waiting for years to play. I don't know why I would stop now.' Don't ask me why I thought that. I'm a teenager [laughs]. But I am really happy I decided not to stop.

Q Have you surprised yourself with your performance?

A I kind of underestimated myself. I didn't know how much I was going to bring to the team this season because I was unsure about playing. But once I saw us at practice, I saw how good we could be. We've got three rookies on the defense, so that makes things kind of complicated, but we work through it.

Q Your coach said all goalies have to fight through the feelings that come with letting in a soft goal. What is your approach?

A It takes a lot of mental toughness because you're swearing at yourself in your head and you want to pound your stick and cry. You just want to take back that one second where you made that little mistake. For a minute there you beat yourself up, but then you've got to move past it so it doesn't hold you back. Against the really good teams like Stillwater, I'm in the zone to where I can work past that kind of stuff. I tell myself, 'I can't take it back, so why don't I work to keep it from happening again?'

Q With Stillwater and Roseville behind you, how do you feel about the final nine games of the season in terms of getting on a roll heading into the playoffs?

A I would be very disappointed if we don't do well from here on out. If we bring our best game every night, we could win eight of those games. If we keep from playing down to the level of weaker teams, we can do really well.