Game 13 Red Pool: District 12 (royal blue) versus District 2 (black)

It was a black and royal blue game where the fans, refs, and players had a hard time figuring out who was the opposition and who were their team mates.  In the split second decision making that hockey demands, the team that figures that out quickest is likely the winner.  In this case, the Black figured it out quicker and won easily 6-3.

The Black took a 2-1 lead at the end of the first half on goals by Luke Ranallo/Mounds View and William Sonntag/White Bear Lake.  John Stampohar/Grand Rapids scored for D12.

Then D2 strung four goals together in the first ten minutes of the second half to put the game away.  Joey Anderson/Hill Murray scored in the first 30 seconds of the second half, Brock Larson/White Bear Lake scored twice and Brian Hurley/St. Thomas Academy scored the fourth goal.  That flurry put D2 up 6-1 and in control of the game.

D12 came back on goals by Jack Bowman/Grand Rapids and Jordan Tilander/International Falls to cut the Black’s lead to 6-3.  The game ended with D2 winning 6-3; it was the Black’s only Festival win.

Game 14 White Pool: District 11 (light blue) versus District 6 (red)
The two unbeaten White Pool teams clashed Sunday morning in their final game of the Festival.  It resembled the Bantam AA Championship game played last March with key players from Duluth East on the D11 team and key players from Edina on the D6 team playing each other in the same arena, but a smaller rink.

The result didn’t change, D6 (Edina) beat D11 (Duluth East) 7-4.  The Bantam AA championship game was won by Edina 4-3.  But it wasn’t an Edina/Duluth East match-up.

The first half was a see-saw game.  D11 scored first on a goal by Lane Krenzen/Duluth Marshall.  D6 came back with two goals.  Jake Theis/Chanhassen and Cade Borchard/Burnsville each scored to give D6 a 2-1 lead halfway through the opening half.

After D11 had tied the game 2-2 on a goal by Logan Judnick/Hermantown, D6 broke open the game with two quick goals at the 8 minute mark.   Kevin Fellows/Prior Lake and Kieffer Bellows/Edina scored to put the Red up 4-2 at halftime.

D6 outscored D11 3-1 in the first 10 minutes of the second half to put the game away taking a 7-2 lead.  Louis Roehl/Eden Prairie, Chase Gackle/Prior Lake, and Matt Denman/Prior Lake scored for the Red.  Jesse Jaques/Hermantown and Cole Koepke/Hermantown scored second half goals for D11 and to end the scoring, 7-4.

The Blues top scoring line led by Lucas Dow did not have a productive game.  In the end, the game belonged to the players from Prior Lake and Hermantown.  Such is hockey.

Game 15 (Blue Pool): Distict 16 (Gold) versus District 3 (White)
It was a tough game between two teams that were well matched.  District 16 played a physical game at times and D3 played a game of finess at times and in the end, D16 won 5-4 to take the Blue Pool Championship.

The White took an early 2-1 lead and held that lead for the first 15 minutes of play.  T J Moss/Wayzata and Bill Rooney/Armstrong Cooper scored the first two D3 goals; Brandon Lund/Roseau scored for the Gold.

At the five minute mark, D16′s Brady Tatro/Bemiidji ended up with  a rebounding puck in the lower right face off circle.  He one-timed the puck into the net.  A few minutes later, a collision just inside the D3 blue line resulted in the puck rolling loose into the left slot where D16′s Joshua Lusby/Bemidji picked up the loose puck and buried it into the right side of the net to put D16 up 3-2 at halftime.

It took the White two minutes of second half play to tie the game.  D3′s Mark Chase cut to the slot from the right face off dot and buried the puck to tie the game 3-3.  Thirty seconds later, D3′s Mark Senden broke down the D16 defense in center line but was taken down in the slot and given a penalty shot.  Senden scored on a bullet to the right side of the net, mid-height.  The D16 goalie never moved.  D3 led 4-3.

A minute later D16 scored when a pass headed for the top of the slot bounced low to Vladimere Olson/Roseau in the right side crease.  He beat the goalie high left to tie the game 4-4.

In the end, the game was decided on a penalty shot.  Jack Johnson/Bemidji took the shot but skated too close to the goalie.  Having no shot, he “rubber tired” the puck off the goalie’s pads, picked up his own rebound, circled the net and passed to a teammate, moved into the slot to score the winning goal 5-4.

Mark Senden’s/Wayzata line with Sam Huff/OMG and Ben Meyers/Crow River played had a good game, moving the puck well under pressure in the D16 zone, often getting shots on net.  Joshua Lusby and Jack Johnson had another good game for the Gold.

Game 16 (Red Pool): District 10 (Green) versus District 8 (Orange)
It was a most colorful game with the Green and Orange team whirling about the ice, but it was also the closest thing to a Festival Championship game as the two only unbeaten teams tangled at noon at Edina.  It was a good game that ended in a 5-5 tie crowning co-champions; Green and Orange.

The question at the start is how would Austen Long and company do against the Orange defense. Long’s line had a good game despite being often matched against the Orange’s top line centered by Henry Eneback and backed by Ryan Lindgren/Shattuck at defense.

The Green (and Long’s line) took an early lead on a goal scored by Cody Mclean to put D10 up 1-0 at the six minute mark. That lead stood up for most of the first half.  When D10 added two goals with 3 minutes left in the first half to take a 3-0 lead, the Orange look beaten.  Jax Murray/Elk River and Patrick Buck scored for the Green.  With three minutes left in the first half, D10 appeared to have control of the game.

A minute later, it was game on.  D8 scored twice.  The Orange caught the Green defense scrambling low in the Green zone with the goalie shifted right, the puck rotated left low in the crease where Charlie Monn/Rosemount banged it into the net to cut Green’s lead to 3-1.  Thirty seconds later Orange added a goal on a penalty shot by Clayton Geary/Lakeville.  In less than a minute, D8 had cut the lead to 3-2.

The halftime score was 3-2 and the game was wide open especially if Orange could stop Austen Long’s line.

Austen Long opened the second half scoring with a penalty shot to put the Green up 4-2.  Two minutes later, D8′s Charlie Monn/Rosemount scored two goals 30 seconds apart to to tie the game 4-4 eight minutes into the second half.  Monn had the hat trick in the “championship” game of the Minnesota Select 15 Festival.

With three minutes left on the clock, D8′s Max Rosenfield/Sibley scored to put the Orange up 5-4.

The Green pulled their goalie with a minute to go in the game.  The Orange put pressure on the Green forcing two face offs in the Green’s zone and forcing Green’s goalie back into the net.  With 20 seconds left on the clock, D10 finally got control of the puck in the Orange zone.  Long’s line was on the ice and winger Mclean scored with 10 seconds left in the game to tie the score 5-5.

There was no overtime, the game ended in a tie and D10 and D8 are co-champs this year.  Long, Mclean, Enebak, and Monn all played well; but Ryan Lindgren really stood out at defense.  Lindgren did not score, but ended up with two assists.

Game 17 (White Pool): District 5 (Purple) versus District 9 (Navy)

Another game from the “dark side” as the two select teams with matching jerseys struggled to find their teammates and the refs struggled to keep their calls straight.  That is what YHH thought the lead would be to this game, a hard game to watch between two evenly matched teams struggling at times to find their teammate.

But look at the picture.  Adding the Gold was a good move.  Unfortunately, YHH does not have a final score on this game and will update once we get the final results.

Game 18 (Blue Pool): District 15 (Maroon) versus District 4 (Grey)

This game was played later, YHH will update when we get the results.