The Burnsville girls hockey team has made big improvements since the start of the season.

But No. 9-ranked Lakeville South has ruled the South Suburban Conference this winter and that didn’t change Jan. 21 when the Blaze came to town. The Cougars scored two goals in each period en route to a 6-1 win to go 13-0-0 in league play.

Burnsville dropped its second straight SSC road game, falling to 2-10-1 in the conference (7-11-3 overall).

The Blaze has four regular season games left and they are league ones, starting Jan. 24 at home to Eagan at 7 p.m. The final three are: at Lakeville North (Jan. 28), versus Farmington (Jan. 31) and versus Prior Lake (Feb. 4).

Burnsville is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games. There are no teams ranked in the top 10 in Section 3AA, so the Blaze is more than capable of going on long playoff run.

The Blaze is looking like the 5 seed at this point. Eagan (11-7-3), East Ridge (13-7), Apple Valley (10-9-1) and Eastview (9-10-2) look to be the top-four seeds. Park (7-12-2), Rosemount (8-13-1) and Hastings (6-15-1) are also in the field.

Quarterfinal play starts Feb. 8. The semifinals and title game are Feb. 11 and 15, respectively at Veterans Memorial Community Center in Inver Grove Heights.

Meanwhile, in the loss to Lakeville South, sophomore Jenna Hartung scored the Blaze’s lone goal, her eighth of the year. Her goal cut the Cougars lead to 4-1 in the second period. Junior Kennedy Anderson had the assist, her 11th.

Sophomore Riley Pester started in goal for Burnsville and finished with 32 saves.

To see more photos of the Blaze’s game at Lakeville South, click here http://www.swnewsmedia.com/savage_pacer/girls-hockey-burnsville-at-lakeville-south/collection_5b3c8a59-4ea9-5d8b-9b56-fd638f9fcd3a.html.