The Edina Junior Gold A team beat Wayzata in what will go down in history as one of the most bizarre and exciting youth games in our rich state history. On Sunday afternoon during the state championship of the title game, Plymouth Ice Arena lost power, postponing the game until Monday night. What happened next, nobody could have predicted.

The boys played a full regulation game to a tie and then SEVEN overtimes. The teams skated three 10-minute overtime periods, the ice was resurfaced, then three more 10-minute periods and a second resurfacing. Finally, with 6:03 left in the seventh overtime Edina defenseman Chris Bloom scored a power play goal to mercifully end the hockey marathon at 10:12 p.m!

The North American Hockey League is a great junior hockey league that has grown in size and in number of Division 1 players each year. The league is 40 years old this year and now has three teams in Minnesota. One in the Twin Cities (Minnesota Magicians), one in Cloquet (Minnesota Wilderness) and one in southern Minnesota (Austin Bruins). Last Spring, Austin and the Wilderness battled through a tough playoff run to meet each other in the playoffs. The Wilderness beat the Coulee Region Chill in the first round, the traditionally tough Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the second round and then the Jaynesville Jets in the semifinals to gain the finals. Austin beat Aberdeen in the first, Minot in the second round and then beat the Lone Star Brahmas to gain the finals. 

The Wilderness won an epic game one when Billy Exell scored in the fourth overtime to lift the visiting team to the win - a game that lasted over five hours. In game two, again at Austin, the Wilderness scored two late second period goals and then hung on to win the title in front of a capacity crowd at Riverside Arena in Austin. The first such Minnesota team to win an NAHL title. Future Gopher, Brock Kautz from Rochester, MN was voted the tournament outstanding player for his awesome 10-1 record and 1.43 GAA. 

it is rare to see an association win its first youth state championship - it is even more rare to see it happen in back to back games. First the Orono Spartan Bantam A team knocked off Edina at Heritage Arena in Duluth and then two hours later the Minnetonka Skippers won their association's first state title on the same rink. Both games had their share of dramatic flare...the Spartans used a relentless forecheck to free star forward George Grannis in the slot who scored the game winner. Evan Babekuhl finished with 24 saves including two point blank saves late for the Spartans in their win.

Minnetonka played error free hockey through regions and state - winning three straight in St. Cloud to win the west region. In the state tournament, they breezed past Wayzata and Centennial to the finals. In the finals, they took it to district rival Edina leading 2-0 going into the third period. The Hornets would fight back and make it interesting scoring with a minute and a half left. With just under a minute to go, the Skippers would make their first big post-season mistake. Two defenders collided at their blue line freeing Edina's Ben Brinkman on a breakaway to tie it. But Charlie Glockner came up big, saving the day and the game for the Skippers en route to their state title. 

Southwest Minnesota has had a lot of great athletes - New Ulm has produced a wealth of great baseball players including the Steinbach brothers, Trevor Winter from Slayton, played in the Final Four the Gophers in '97 and later had a cup of coffee in the NBA. Jeff, Nick and Nate Tow-Arnett from Redwood Falls all played for the Gopher football team in the recent past. But never has an athlete from that region of the state played for the Gopher Hockey team. 

Last Spring, Freshman sensation Jaxon Nelson gave his verbal commitment to play for Don Lucia. After scoring 41 goals and 42 assists for the Cardinals and wowing scouts last season, it was only a matter of time before the gifted skater would give his pledge to a big time college program.

The Minnesota state high school hockey tournament has produced some epic games over the past 60 years. Rochester John Marshall beating Edina East in 1977, Apple Valley over Duluth East in 1996 in the state semis, and Kyle Rau's "diving shot" in the 2011 triple overtime thriller that won Eden Prairie the state title. What made those games so special is the passion and something "different" happened. John Marshall represented a part of the state that had never done well in the state tourney - it was mesmerizing to see those Rockets skate past Edina and to see Scott Lecy tip-toe across the Civic Center ice celebrating their win. Apple Valley's win was as good as it will ever get - a clash of the titans - they beat Duluth East in a five overtime thriller. Karl Goehring had 65 saves in 8 periods...a record to this day. 

Fast forward to last year's tournament. Edina had won the past two state championships and were on a collision course to play Lakeville North or Eden Prairie in the championship. They just had to beat .500 Duluth East team to get a shot at the historic three-peat. It was tied after one, 1-1, which was a huge advantage to the Hounds. In the second, East grabbed the lead 2-1 and was headed into the third with a very wobbly one goal lead.

The tension in the rink grew, fans started to whisper, "Edina could get upset." As the game wore on in the third, Edina was pressuring and the Eden Prairie and Lakeville fans all dressed coincidentally in red and black, filed in. As Edina peppered East Goalie Gunner Howg, Freshman Ian Mageau fed Ash Altmann on a stretch pass for a breakaway. Altmann beat Kobi Boe with a backhand and the Xcel Energy Center exploded! Eden Prairie fans had just seen their biggest rival go down and Lakeville North fans had just seen their stiffest competition fall. It goes without saying, the Greyhound fans went berserk.

Each year YHH selects a Wiz Wyatt award winner. The winner is given out to a player of great skill, but also to a multi-sport player who is looked at as a leader both on the ice but also in the classroom. Wyatt, a former three sport star at Minneapolis West in the '70s went on to play hockey at Harvard.

Last year, Tyler Haskins won the Squirt award and to no one's surprise Matt Gleason won the PeeWee award. 

Gleason lead his team to the PeeWee A state championship over Warroad. But prior to that lead them to a few epic wins. Two over Alexandria. The first in the Founder's Cup in Hibbing he scored with one second on the clock to beat the Cardinals and then in the state tournament he helped lead his team on another late third period comeback win in the semifinals over Alex. Matt was named MVP of the YHH PeeWee Challenge, the Founder's Cup and the State Tournament. 

A hard working kid who is as humble as he is good on the ice. His name on the trophy in 2015 epitomizes what the award is all about.

For years select squirt-aged players from the state of Minnesota have travelled to Edmonton to play in The Brick Super Novice. The teams are comprised of players from certain states or provinces and a few wild card players for a great weeklong tournament.

Minnesota got into the act last Summer, hosting a similar event for top players in one birth year from all over North America. The tournament, covered by YHH, was called The Show - and the play was spectacular. 

Fourteen teams, with players born in 2004, seven from the US and Canada faced off at Bloomington Ice Garden for a week of great hockey played in front of hundreds of dedicated players, fans and thousands of viewers online. Ontario Black got a late goal from Charlie Gollob to beat Team Southeast -  team of mostly kids from Florida to win. 

The U16 national championship game was set to be an epic game between Honeybaked and Shattuck St. Mary's. Both were dominant at times throughout the season. Shattuck got out to an early lead after one period and just rolled after that, not allowing the Hams a chance to breath. Head Coach Ben Umhoefer said after the championship win that the Sabres played a perfect game. More like a perfect tournament, SSM outscored their opponents 40-4 en route to the national title in Amherst, NY.

Carsen Stokes lead Prior Lake to the State Championship this year. Leading the Lakers on a late season run that included two big wins over Edina, Rosemount and eventually a win over St. Cloud in the Semifinals and Minneapolis in the Championship. Stokes is a technician in the pipes who routinely faced and stopped over 30 shots per game.

Stokes was a YHH Goalie of the year finalist in 2014 and winner of the award in 2015.

YHH launched the Squirtacular in 2012 - the original concept was a Squirt B state tournament. Since then, it has become a destination for teams to see how they match up mid-season against the other top teams in the state and from around the US at both Squirt A and B. 

In 2013, it was held at both levels and the competition was awesome. Osseo Maple Grove knocked off previously unbeaten and number one Rosemount. In 2014, OMG swept the state and did not lose the entire season winning every game they played including the Squirtacular championship. 

In 2015, with no returners to their team from the undefeated 2014's...they plotted out another undefeated season winning their first two tournaments, setting up a chance at a three-peat. The Leafbirds won their pool and beat Rosemount in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals they needed a shootout to beat Rochester and in the championship they beat Chaska Chan to run the association's Squirt A unbeaten streak to 90+ games.