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BHS: Rosemount sails past Minnetonka

By Peter Odney , 11/24/19, 12:00AM CST

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Luke Levandowski scored four goals to lead the Irish past the Skippers on the road at Pagel Activity Center.


Luke Levandowski goes down the line after scoring one of his four goals in Rosemount's 5-2 win over Minnetonka.

Irish Make Statement Against Lake Conf. Foe

One game into the 2019-2020 season and Rosemount is already proving to be a team littered with quirks. 

The head coach does calisthenics before game time. A senior assistant captain refuses to pull the tag off his new team-issued sweatpants out of superstition. 

Underneath those charming idiosyncrasies is a talented hockey team, one that sailed into Minnetonka’s Pagel Activity Center on Saturday night and trounced the host Skippers 5-2 in front of a packed house.

Junior forward and Wisconsin verbal commit Luke Levandowski tallied four of five Irish goals but said that it was his play in the Irish zone that helped power his offensive output. 

“I feel like I was moving my feet well. I was finding open areas and shooting the puck. Hitting bodies, which I usually don’t do,” Levandowski said. “Tonight, when I started hitting kids, I got more energetic, and I got more into the game.”

Rosemount head coach Ricky Saintey also pointed out Levandowski’s upped physical play. 

“I think what helped him so much tonight was the other side of the puck, hitting guys,” Saintey said. “Being physical, commitment in his own zone. It was pretty special to see him get four,” Saintey added. 

Levandowski scored twice in the first and twice in the third for his scoring total, with the other Rosemount goal coming from fellow junior forward Broten Sabo. 

Minnetonka (0-1) tied the game at 2-2 midway through the second period on a Braedon Lacomy goal from the Rosemount slot, but Sabo’s shorthanded marker put the Irish (1-0) ahead for good with 35 seconds remaining in the second.

Griffin Streeter scored the first goal for the Skippers, sandwiched between Levandowski’s first two scores of the night.  


Braedon Lacomy (11) of Minnetonka scores on Saturday night's loss to Rosemount.

From Sabo’s goal until the game's final buzzer, Rosemount emphasized blocking as many shots as possible, especially while killing three third-period penalties. The Irish, ranked No. 4 in the preseason Youth Hockey Hub Class 2A ratings, don’t block shots by standing on their feet. All over the ice in the Irish zone were bodies, sprawled in front of the No. 6-2A Skipper shooters. 

“We played the majority (of the game) with four defensemen,” senior Garrett Horsager said. “(The) legs get a little tired, so going down on the ice is pretty nice some times.”

Horsager earned the team’s “Michelin Man” award for most blocked shots in Saturday’s win. He’s also the character standing outside the locker room with the tag hanging out of his pants, much to the wry delight of the coaching staff. 

Also putting the coaches in a collective good mood was the team’s performance against not just another South Suburban Conference foe, but a perennial powerhouse from the vaunted Lake Conference. 

“It makes us so much better,” Saintey said of the Irish’s juiced nonconference schedule. “Playing a team like Minnetonka is going to make you better, and that’s our plan this year and every year,” Saintey continued while praising Minnetonka head coach Sean Goldsworthy and the Skipper program. 

“We wanna play good competition because it makes you better for the end.”


Garrett Horsager took home the "Michelin Man" on Saturday, the award given by the Rosmeount coaching staff to the player who blocks the most shots in a game.

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