The pin trading was amazing
Osseo Maple Grove won four SQA Squirtaculars and two SQB Squirtaculars over the past four years. An amazing streak of wins at squirt hockey by the Leafbirds.
It took an amazing team to knock them from their proud perch atop the Squirt hockey world. The Hermantown Hawks have always had a good to above average group at the top end of Squirts, going to the quarters of '15 Squirtacular and winning the Moose Goheen in 2016. But last weekend they showed they had the best team in Minnesota beating OMG in a shootout and then taking care of Eden Prairie and Woodbury on Sunday.
The Hawks had a couple of stand out players up front in Evan Gunderson and Dallas Vieau and defenseman William Esterbrooks coming into the tournament. But after watching them play for six games you found that there isn't one weak link in this chain gang. D-men like Nolan Barker and Henry Peterson were solid on the blue line and made some great plays. Up front, unlike a lot of squirt teams - the Hawks have a bunch of weapons. Weston Bohlman and Holdyn Evjen had huge games Sunday in the championship. Burners Cody Kalkbrenner and Josh Kauppinen gave other teams fits all weekend long.
Who can forget goaltender Brody Mathews who stopped all three OMG shooters to win the shootout for his team Saturday night...he was a big key to the Hawks first title. We handed the MVP trophy to Vieau on Sunday for his clutch play in all six games, but the whole team was deserving in some capacity of most valuable.
Hermantown - Squirt A champs
FORWARD
Weston Bohlman (Hermantown), Holdyn Evjen (Hermantown), River Freeman (Hermantown), Evan Gunderson (Hermantown), Cody Kalkbrenner (Hermantown), Josh Kauppinen (Hermantown), Ford Skytta (Hermantown) and Gabe Sumbs (Hermantown)
DEFENSE
Nolan Barker (Hermantown), William Esterbrooks (Defense), William Nelson (Hermantown) and Henry Peterson (Hermantown)
GOALIE
Brody Mathews (Hermantown)
Brodie Ziemer, Chaska Chanhassen
FORWARD
Cole Jackson (Dallas), John Halverson (Edina Green), Kian Hannestad (Moorhead), Ben Miller (Woodbury), Danny Nelson (OMG), Teddy Townsend (Eden Prairie), Brodie Ziemer (Chaska Chan)
DEFENSE
Gavin Anderson (OMG), Carson Clark (Orono), Andy Earl (Eden Prairie), Sam Scheetz (Chaska Chan), Simon Seidl (Mahtomedi) and Will Skahan (Woodbury)
GOALIE
Mason McElroy (St. Michael Albertville)
MVP
Dallas Vieau (Hermantown)
HONORABLE MENTION
Joey Butter (Dallas), Dylan Curme (Edina Green), Brodie Dustin (Stillwater), Marcus Fechko (Eden Prairie), Parker Gast (Moorhead), Tre Peck (Orono), Michael Risteau (Lakeville North), Harper Searles (Blaine), Sam Spehar (Minnetonka), Mason Stenger (Roseville) and Tanner Zolnosky (Woodbury)
Cole Jackson, Dallas
When you host an event with 136 games, there are bound to be a few classics. In 2013, OMG beat Edina White in a semifinal shootout - Justin Janicke got the game winner. In '14 who could forget the Squirt C title game between Cottage Grove and Minnetonka...Tonka won in a shootout after an improbable last minute goal to tie it.
This year we had a few classic games - Hermantown beat four time champion OMG in a shootout and Woodbury beat Moorhead in the quarters in overtime after falling behind 3-1 in the third period.
But the game that will last the longest in this writer's memory bank was Woodbury's shootout win over Chaska Chanhassen in the semifinals. Trailing 3-1 heading into the third period, Woodbury clawed back with two goals. First tourney leading scorer Ben Miller scored and unlikely hero Blake Kohnen buried a snipe from the point to tie it with 3:20 to go.
After both teams traded body blows at the end of regulation and overtime, neither was able to land the knockout punch, it came down to a shootout. With pending games in three other attached rinks a short walk away, word grew quickly that there was a barnburner in rink 3. The stands were packed, the glass around the rink was full of faces watching how this would unfold.
Both goalies - Jett Strub (Woodbury) and Caleb Heil (Chaska Chan) - would stop the first two shooters to set up a do-or-die third round for both teams. Strub would stop Sam Scheetz and put his teammate Tanner Henricks on the stage to win it all for the Predators. The California move-in made a great shoulder fake and scored on the backhand to send Woodbury to the title game.
One coach from another team said to me afterward, "that game is why this is the best tourney in the state...that was incredible."
Tanner Henricks shot sends Woodbury to the title game
There were a lot of great uniforms this year on display. Edina, Eden Praire, Chaska Chan and Mahtomedi have had a very similar look for the past few years. There are other groups who put out a new look each year. Some of them are a great.
Rosemount seems to be the association that really pushes all boundaries and embraces their colors. In the past they have gone optic yellow with some cool stripes. They are the Oregon Ducks of MN youth hockey. This year their Squirt B Green team outdid all uniforms with the striped navy, green and white jersey-sock combo. The winning touch was the state of Minnesota shape on the back of the jersey to hold the number.
Others we liked were Dallas Stars Elite...green helmets are an amazing touch. We liked Omaha...the orange, black and white was awesome combined with the Lancer shield logo. Another tasty treat was the Madison Capitols baby blue uniform. Baby blue, red and white is a refreshing break on the eyes.
YHH says Yes to this uniform