Mankato West Scarlets-11  Minnehaha Academy-0

The Scarlets broke open a close game scoring six goals in the second period to take an 8-0 lead into the third period.  Nick Campbell and Tyler Loe scored in the first period to put Mankato West ahead 2-0; but it was two quick goals scored 20 seconds apart by Christian Klemme in the first two minutes of the second period that broke the game open giving the Scarlets a 4-0 lead.

Zach Erickson added a hat trick in the third period, he also got an assist to finish the game with 4 points.  Tyler Jutting, a St. Cloud select defenseman, scored twice.

Dylan Leivermann and Derek Frantz each scored for the Scarlets.

The Missouri River teams are from Bismarck ND.  The Muskrats are the more experienced, stronger team.  Against Austin, the Muskrats jumped to a 3-0 first period lead and cruised to a 4-0 win.  Keaton Leininger scored the first goal in the first minute of the period putting in a rebound from the left crease beating a sliding goalie.  Luke Johnson added a goal halfway through the period on a hard shot from the left slot.  Chris Brown scored late in the first period to put the Muskrats up 3-0.

Four penalties in the second period slowed the Missouri River attack.  Eric Schmidt scored late in the third period to end the scoring 4-0.  Goalie Max Barta got the shut out.  The Muskrats skated a solid game.

In one of two key match-up in American pool play, the Scarlets beat Kennedy 5-4 in overtime.  They had to come from behind to catch the Eagles scoring two third period goals in the minute of play.  Zach Erickson scored to cut the Eagles lead to 4-3 and then Christian Klemme scored the tying goal at the horn to put the game into overtime.

Three minutes into OT, Derek Frentz scored the game winning goal to put Mankato West into the championship game.  Max Mettler and Cole Filler scored the two earlier Scarlet goals in the second period to tie the game 2-2.

Kennedy’s Hank Roers and Noah Holmen scored two early first period goals a minute apart to build an early Eagle lead 2-0.  After being tied in the second period, Michael Jost and Roers scored to second period goals to put the Eagles up by two again, 4-2, going into the third period.  Four third period penalties hurt Kennedy.  The tying goal at the end of regulation time was a power play goal.

A power play goal by the Muskrats Jacob Huber with 5 minutes to go in the game proved to be the winning goal in Missouri River’s 5-4 win.  The Apollo team consisted of players who played for Apollo in the Class A Minnesota High School tourney in March.  They jumped off to a 3-0 lead in the first period and with Nick Althaus (varsity goalie and HP-15 St. Cloud attendee) in the nets, the Muskrats looked to be in trouble.

Jason Omann, Paul Kenney, and Hunter Simonson all scored in the first period for Apollo.  Simonson would later score a third period goal to tie the game 4-4.  Omann and Simonson played in the state tourney with Althaus.

Missouri River didn’t score until midway through the second period.  Alex Flicek got the Muskrats first score on a power play.  Chris Brown tied the game 2-2 two minutes later.  In the opening minutes of the third period, the Muskrats took the lead on goals by Sam Johnson and Keaton Leininger.

Sunday’s final round games opens with Minnehaha Academy playing Austin for fifth place; Kennedy playing Apollo for third place; and Mankato West and the Missouri River Muskrats playing for the American Championship.

Canadian Hockey Club-3  Missouri River Mud Dawgs-0

The CHC team put on quite a show Saturday morning, moving the puck with discipline constantly working the puck to the weak side for that quick one-timer.  For large blocks of game clock time, the would set up in the Dawg’s zone and moved the puck around the perimeter methodically, then attack quickly.  In the first period, it worked.  They put up three goals.

CHC’s Blake Miller scored in the first twenty seconds of the game to put CHC ahead 1-0; but it was Andrew Dudich’s power play goal in the last minute of the opening period that was the killer.  When CHC’s Kyle Stevens banged in a weak side rebound 30 seconds later, CHC seemed to be in charge of the game, leading 3-0 as the first period ended.

That is when the Dawg’s goalie Wyatt Bonnell took charge of the game.  When a good team is stymied time and time again by the good play of a goalie, it wears on them.  In some instances, it wears on them to the point where the goalie has beaten them.  The team then loses its belief that they can score.

It is like Mohammed Ali’s “rope-a-dope”.  Like Joe Frasier getting arm weary, only the good team gets “shot weary”.  In the second period, the CHC team pummeled Bonnell constantly forcing him to make good plays especially using the weak side, but they couldn’t beat Bonnell.  In the third, they became weary and the Mud Dawgs forwards attacked but were stopped by CHC goal tenders.  It was a good hockey game to watch.

Bonnell was given official credit for making 39 stops on 42 shots; but it was more like 57 stops in 60 shots.  A number of saves Bonnell made came on two or three shot flurries by the CHC forwards.  Still, the CHC goalies, Anton Zemba and Asael Orosco combined to shut down the Mud Dawgs making 23 saves between the two.  They earned the shutout, it was not given to them.

CHC was created by George Maris 7 years ago with the intent to take good character high school hockey players and give them an opportunity to learn to play the game of hockey at the professional level so they could continue hockey after high school into juniors and college programs.  CHC teaches the details of the game with some sophisticated systems so that the players can compete and prevail as they get older. As a result, CHC teams have won several summer championships and tournaments over the past 6 years.

CHC players are recruited from IL, RI, CT, MA, TX, WI and Canada.   Sportsmanship and ethics are taught, not just on ice technique.  But at the end of a season, the CHC coaches and staff want the players to have long lasting good memories of being on the team.

The Antigo Red Robins played the TBD Roseville team to a draw in the first period.  The TBD’s managed only a power play goal in the first period on a tipped shot from the blue line.  Drew Colvard got the score.  The Antigo team came out flat in the second period.  An early second period goal by Roseville off a 2-on-1 rush resulting in a nice weak side tip-in opened the door.  Roseville went on to add three goals by Ryan Novotny, Matt Anderson, and Chase Macklem.  Suddenly the Robins trailed 5-0 with more than half the game to play.

The Antigo team started to skate again and the defense toughened.  The rest of the second period was good hockey with both teams moving the puck, but neither could score.  Again the Roseville team caught the Antigo team playing slow at the start of the third period.  Colvard scored in the first minute of play.  Roseville would later add two goals to end the scoring 8-0.  Goalie Ryan Hoag earned the shutout facing a tough Antigo attack especially in the second period.

Minnesota Hockey always has these little quirks.  The Sauk Rapids girls are aligned with Sartell for high school hockey.  It makes sense, their rinks are less than a 15 minute drive apart.  The boys are aligned with Rice, about a 30 minute drive down Highway 10.  They quirk is that in the 2012-2013 season, the boys team played 26 games but had to leave St. Cloud for only seven of those games.

The Storm’s  Aaron Peckskamp scored the opening goal two minutes into the first period.  CHC’s Kyle Stevens came back to tie the game less than a minute later.  Sauk Rapids’ Ryan Rutar scored the game winner less than thirty seconds later.  The first period ended with the Rapids ahead 2-1.  Travis Kothenbeutel scored for the Storm five minutes into the second period.  It was the only second period goal scored and it was CHC’s first power play goal that they gave up in the tourney. Sauk Rapids led 3-1 at the end of two.  Five minutes into the third period, Sauk Rapids drew a 5 minute major; but CHC could not score during the penalty.  Late in the third period, Sauk Rapids’ Cole Vanhalbeck and Calvin Barthel each scored to end the game 5-1

In the final pool game for the boys, Roseville beat Detroit Lakes 10-3.  The Lakers took a 1-0 lead on an early power play goal by Ryan Deconcini.  Roseville came back to score twice to take a 2-1 lead.  The Lakers Wilson Lysford scored another power play goal late in the first period to tie the game 2-2.  Roseville scored four unanswered goals in the second period to lead 6-2 going into the third period and built an 8-2 lead before Lysford scored the final Laker’s goal, a shorthanded goal, to end the Lakers scoring.

Sunday’s National games open with the Missouri River Mud Dawgs playing Antigo (WI); Detroit Lakes plays Canadian Hockey Club for third place; and TBD Roseville plays the Sauk Rapids in the championship game.

Stormn Sabres-7  St. Francis Saints-0

Most of the Stormn Sabres players play high school for Sartell/Sauk Rapids.  Sartell teams are called the Sabres and the Rapids teams are called the Storm.  In either case, in the first game played Saturday morning the Stormn Sabres rattled the Saints halos.  Lexi Holman scored a hat trick and an assist to lead the Sabres.

The game was close for the first two periods.  The Saints trailed by three goals going into the final eight minutes of the game.  Then Holman went to work and put a hat trick on the board in two minutes to break open the game and put Stormn Sabres up 7-0.  Goals rained on the Saints in those two minutes, the Sabres’ Sarah Kaschmitter managed an unassisted goal among Holman’s three.

Goalie  Clare Minnerath shut down the Saints offense.

UWRF team consists of players who played varsity hockey in the Northwest Suburban league (Centennial, Rogers, Coon Rapids, and Anoka).  It was an evenly played game for most of the first half of play.  UWRF’s Jessica Boespflug/Centennial scored with six minutes left in the first period, but at the mid-point of the game, the Spartans started to tire.  The UWRF team started to dominate and it led to a goal by Karin Larson/Anoka.  That goal was the game winner.

UWRF continued the pressure until late in the second period.  At the start of a power, they gained control of the puck and set up in the Spartans zone only to have two holding calls two seconds apart with two and half minutes left in the period.  The Spartans’ could not generate an attack with the 4-on-3 and 5-on-3 advantage as the period ran out.

That was the turning point.  UWRF’s Boespflug scored early in the third period to put her team up 3-0.  The Spartan’s found their offense late in the third period and started to pressure the UWRF team in the UWRF’s zone.  Amanda Hinaus scored unassisted in the last minute of the game to cut the lead to 3-1.

Blaine’s Kiersten Falck left Tuesday noon from the U18 National Team Development Program Camp, a weeklong event held in St. Cloud and stepped on the ice for the Bengals team entered in the Walmart Tourney Friday.  Falck scored a goal and an assist in Blaine’s 4-1 win over St. Francis in Friday’s game and scored twice in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Stormn Sabres.  It has been a good week for Kiersten and she had a good camp in St. Cloud.  Breanna Mahoney scored the opening goal for the Bengals; Annie McKenzie scored the winner six minutes left in the game.

Monique Aanenson/Luverne scored two goals in the first two minutes of the opening period to put the Orange up 2-0.  Aanenson went on to add a second period goal and an assist to finish the game with a hat trick and four points.  Alex Pederson/Park Rapids led the Orange in scoring in pool play.  The Orange won the pool championship and took the #1 seed.  Superior’s Addie Young posted a goal and an assist to lead the Spartans in scoring.

Mari Beth Thayer/Brainerd-Little Falls, Micaela Mjoness/Moorhead, Amy Auran/International Falls,  Kendra Johnson/Fargo ND, and Rebekah Hakk/Moorhead all scored for the Orange.

Superior’s Addie Young posted a goal and an assist to lead the Spartans in scoring.   Alyssa Kolanczyk,  Kali Krivinchuk, and Emma Peterson scored goals for the Spartans.  Most of the players on the Spartan team play for the Superior Varsity team.

In Sunday’s games, the St. Francis Saints will play Superior Spartans for fifth place; the Stormn Sabres will play the UWRF in the third place game; and Blaine will play the Minnesota Mustangs Orange in the championship game.

Lake Superior Stars-9  Jackets-3

The Stars’ Savannah Holum went wild in this game scoring two goals and assisting on three others to post 5 points for the game.  The Stars built a 4-0 lead in the first period on goals by Mallory Iizzo, Megan Dulong, Megan Snyder, and Sam Mugge. Dulong and Mugge each scored in the second period.  Snyder scored a third period goal.  Holum scored her two goals in the third period.

The Jackets’ Kassidy Westrom scored once; Jordan Ramey scored twice.

The Huskies broke open the game with four goals in the second period.  The first period was evenly played.  The Huskies Abby Sawyer scored the first period goal to put Owatonna up 1-0.  She scored twice in the second period to complete the hat trick.  Payton Noble and Jessica Vonruden also scored for the Huskies.  The lone Black goal was scored by Haley Sawatzke.

Megan Dulong and Jordon Mc Glaughlin each scored a hat trick for the Stars in their second game of the day, beating a team from Litchfield-Dassel-Cokato 7-1.  The Stars showed balance scoring on the day; Savannah Holum scored the hat trick in their morning game.  Dulong matched Holum’s five points in the afternoon game, adding two assists to her three goals; Mc Glaughlin had one assist.  The Stars’ Madison Illlikainen had two goals and an assist.

Kait Ryynanen scored the lone LDC goal.

The final game Saturday ended in a shootout that went to a sudden death shootout situation with the Mustang’s Megan Hanson’s goal breaking the deadlock.  Regulation ended in a 3-3 tie.  The two teams traded goals to get there.  The Hazard took a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period.   Marissa McPeak scored for the Hazard.  Izzy Uhl-Chmiel scored in the first 30 seconds of the second period to put the Hazard up 2-0.  Three minutes later, the Mustangs’ Magan Hanson scored to cut the lead to 2-1.

A late second period goal by Uhl-Chmiel put the Hazard ahead 3-1 to end the second period scoring.  The Mustangs Valery Benson scored in the opening minutes of the third period to cut the Hazard’s lead to 3-2.  Hailey Nielsen scored the tying goal with two minutes left in the game.

LDC Girls Hockey plays the Minnsota Mustangs Black in Sunday’s opening game of the Girls National final round.  The Jackets meet Team Hazard in the third place game; Owatonna and the Lake Superior Stars will battle for the National Girl’s championship.

On the Boys side of the tourney, two tough championship games are on tap Sunday.  The American championship game matches the Missouri River Muskrats against Mankato West Scarlets.

North Dakota’s 2012 High School championship team from Bismarck makes up the bulk of the Missouri River Muskrats.  Mankato West came within one game of making the Class A state tourney last March, losing 6-1 to Rochester Lourdes.  This game could preview to two state tourney entrants next March; one in the North Dakota’s state tourney and one in Minnesota’s state tourney.

In the National championship game, TBD Roseville plays Sauk Rapids.  TBD Roseville played exceptional well on Saturday moving the puck and controlling the game against a tough Antigo WI team; but the TBD’s were not focused in their second pool win over Detroit Lakes.  Antigo plays a tough game and can skate.  In a longer series with the Roseville team, the Red Robins’ overall play would start to even out against the TBD’s.  The Sauk Rapids’ team is fairly mature and plays a rugged game of hockey.  It will be a game of TBD’s Minnesota Hockey (Twin Cities’ style) versus a style of play emerging in the St. Cloud area that combines skating and physical play with more emphasis on defense.

In the Girls American championship game, Blaine plays the Minnesota Mustangs Orange.  The Blaine team consists mostly of Bengal varsity players; the Orange has drawn players from International Falls (on the Canadian border) to Luverne (on the Iowa border).   The Orange team is centered around the Moorhead area.

Girls hockey is generally better team hockey than boys, focusing on moving the puck and positioning.  This championship game will match game styles of a widely drawn outstate team of top scorers against a focused Blaine varsity that was ranked in the top 20 last season.  Oddly enough in the past in this tourney, the team with players from all over often plays better team hockey.

The Lake Superior Stars plays Owatonna in the Girls National Championship.  On the surface, this would appear to be a game similar to the American Championship game.  But this game is likely to be decided by how well Owatonna can contain the firepower of a Stars team that been led by three players scoring hat tricks in the tourney (Savannah Holum, Megan Dulong, and Jordon Mc Glaughlin).  Owatonna has their hat trick scorers in Abby Sawyer (two hat tricks in two days) and Payton Noble but the Huskies defense will be the key.

The championship games start play at 11:40 AM Sunday at the Super Rink.  The games are played back to back on two of the Super Rink sheets.  It is easy to move from game to game.