Six goals, nearly 40 shots, and a shutout are three ways to ensure your head coach can’t completely ridicule your play. 

Hermantown coach Pat Andrews said as much after his Hawks skated to a 6-0 win over International Falls in the Class 1A, Section 7 semifinals on Friday night at Amsoil Arena in Duluth. 

“I’d have to be pretty selfish to do that,” Andrews said when asked if there were any glaring holes in his team’s performance. 

“We played a complete game.”

The Hawks (18-6-2) tallied three goals in the first period, with senior forward Tyler Watkins notching two and junior Brady Baker adding one. 

International Falls held off the Hermantown attack for the bulk of the second period, upping the pressure on its forecheck and forcing the Hawks to rush their passes. 

“I-Falls came at us really hard,” Andrews said. “I thought they had a really good push in the second (and) we started to throw the puck around a little bit,” Andrews continued. 

“If they could’ve popped one there, it might’ve been a game.”

Senior forward Jacob Herter tacked on two goals late in the second, to make the score 5-0, and junior forward Justin Thomas added one more goal to send the game into running-time for the final minute. 

Senior goaltender Jake Klow finished the game with 29 saves for the Broncos (13-12-1), with Wyatt Amdahl polishing off the last six minutes in goal.  

Greenway relied on two things in its win over Virginia/Mt. Iron-Buhl on Friday night: depth, and trusting that depth. 

Down 1-0 at the end of the first period, the Raiders’ coaching staff opted to roll all three lines in succession instead of double-shifting their top six forwards. 

“The one adjustment we did make was (due to) poor coaching,” Greenway coach Grant Clafton said after the win. “We had to get more guys playing."

With the No. 2 seed Raiders (21-7) embracing their bench, they wore down Blue Devils, racking up five goals in the second and third periods to earn a 5-1 win and another date with Hermantown in Section 7A finals. 

They even got some scoring out of one of their role players. 

“Gavin Newton was inspirational in the way he played,” Clafton said, referring to the senior forward and scored in the third period helped push the Raider lead out of reach. 

“I know he doesn’t get a ton of ice time, but I thought he played outstanding.”

In addition to Newton’s goal, sophomore forward and St. Cloud State commit Ben Troumbly and senior Wes Johnson tallied single scores, and junior Nikolai Rajala scored twice.

Between the pipes, sophomore goaltender Ville Hyttinen finished the game with an impressive 29 saves, standing tall against the high-flying attack of the third-seeded Blue Devils (16-10-1). 

The lone Virginia/Mt. Iron-Buhl goal came from junior forward Cade Moreland.  

Rajala’s performance pushes his season total to at least 59 points, a far cry from his moderate 2016-2017 point total of 22. 

“Nikolai Rajala is a man,” Clafton said with a laugh. “He’s a winner. The kid wants to win and he wears his heart on his sleeve all over the ice,” Clafton continued. 

“We depend on him in every situation.”

Rajala praised Newton for his timely goal and inspired play, and added that his gaudy statistics are not solely his doing. 

“It’s obviously fun to have a lot of points, but the guys on my team help me out,” Rajala said. 

“I mean, they’re not all unassisted.”

Both Clafton and Rajala said that the Raiders are ready to dance with the Hawks, especially after having their season ended by Hermantown the past two seasons. 

Rajala put it succinctly when asked if the team wanted another shot at the reigning Class A state champions. 

“Oh yeah,” Rajala said

“Definitely.