Game 1: Section 2 versus Section 4

Section 2, loaded with players from Minnesota Hockey District 6, beat a Section 4 team loaded with players from the northeast side of the Twin Cities led by players from Spring Lake Park 3-1.  With the score tied 1-1 halfway through the second period on goals by John Ferguson for Section 2 and Jack Becker for Section 4.  At that point, Section 2′s Justin Paulson scored on a penalty shot to put the Orange up 2-1.  Late in the third period, the Orange’s Brock Boeser scored from the left faceoff to end the scoring 3-1.

Game 2: Section 3 versus Section 6

The Section 3 team led by players from three high schools in school district 196 (Eagan, Eastview, and Rosemount) lost of a juggernaut Section 6 dominated by Wayzata and Benilde-St. Margaret.  The two Section 6AA rival schools “rivaled” with each other to score the most goals.  Benilde players posted six goals and won.  Jungels scored twice; Duda, Heimbold, Kaske, and Newhouse scored once.  Wayzata got two goals, both by Freytag.  Kaske had three assists.

The real story is that this game is a sort of repeat of the Select 15 championship game between District 8 and District 3.  That game was won by District 8,  Most of the District 8 selects ended up on the Section 3 team, but as YHH said before, top players from District 3 and District 6 ended up on the Section 6 team.  The result is that the Section 3 team faced line combinations that will be the core of next year’s Wayazata and Benilde-St. Maragret’s high school team.  The only combo players on Section 3 were Woodbury Association players that had gone in different directions after peewee (Woodbury and Eagle Ridge to name two).  Section 6 won 11-0; without goalie Zach Driscoll’s play in the first half, the score would have been larger.

Kaske, Jungels, and Freytag all had outstanding games on a team that has outstanding players.

Game 3: Section 1 versus Section 8

Section 1 led by six Minnesota players from the Shattuck-St, Mary’s U16 team beat a predominately Class A high school team from Section 8 led by three players from Class A State Tourney fourth place finisher East Grand Forks 5-4.  Section 1 ‘s Sam Wenner scored in the first two minutes of the game; but Section 8′s Jared Bethune scored a minute later to tie the game 1-1.  Kobe Roth scored five minutes later to put Section 8 up 2-1 only to have Red’s Lawrence Jungwirth score on a penalty shot a minute later.  The first half ended in a 2-2 tie.

Jungwirth put Section 1 up 4-3 with a goal 7 minutes into the second half.  Bethune tied it 5 minutes later 4-4 and forced an over time shootout.  Red’s Drew Gustavson/Winona got the winning shootout goal.

Game 4: Section 5 versus Section 7

Section 5, a predominantly Class AA team that drew players from Minnesota Hockey District 10 plus Hermantown, beat Section 7, a predominantly Class AA team that drew players from Minnesota Hockey District 11 plus Elk River.  Section 5 blitzed the Gold team 7-3 in a game delayed an hour by a shattered plexi-glass panel.  The Elk Riiver Association is an affiliate of District 10; the Hermantown Association is an affiliate of District 11.  Looks like Section 5 got the better of the trade.

Section 5 took a 3-1 at the end of the first half on goals by Wyatt Aamodt/Hermantown, Connor Lovick/Centennial, and Trevor Cornelius/St. Cloud Cathedral.  Oliver Trachsel/Duluth East got the lone Gold goal.  Four minutes into the second period, Aamodt scored a neat trailing backhanded shot while cutting across the top of the crease beating the Section 7 goalie low left just inside the pipe to put Section 7 up 4-1.  In the next five minutes, Section 5 added two more goals by Lovick and Blake Nuemann/Anoka to take a 6-1 lead.  Then the plexi-glass was shattered.  An hour later the game resumed with Section 7′s Kobe Bender/Cloquet scoring twice and Section 5′s David Brumm/Maple Grove scoring once.

Aamodt and Lovick had a good game for Section 5; Kobe Bender and the Jack Kuhlman both from Cloquet had good games for Section 7.

Game 5: Section 4 versus Section 3

Section 4 beat Section 3 4-3 in an overtime shootout game played Sate urday afternoon at the PIC.  The two teams were evenly matched as were their jerseys  It confused the refs are more than one occasion and resulted more then one pass to an opponent on the opposite team.

Section 3 opened the scoring with five minutes left in  the second half on a penalty shot goal by Spencer Roth/Eagan.  Players were still relaxing after the penalty shot not realizing the puck was still in play.  Roth was hooked down going for a rebound off a missed penalty shot.  Section 4 tied the game a minute later on a goal by Devon Sunell/Spring Lake Park and then went ahead on a penalty shot scored by Cristiano Versich/St. Thomas Academy after time expired.  First half ended with Section 4 leading 2-1.

Section 3 tied the game in the opening minutes on a penalty shot score by Blake Storholm/Rosemount 2-2; but a minute later Section 4 took the lead 3-2 on a goal by Dylan McDonald. Section 3 tied the game when Derek Hammer drove the net from the right boards drawing Section 4′s defenseman Nick Hied to him.  Heid took out Hammer but not before he got the puck to a wing behind the net.  The wing made a quick pass to Jared Markeson/Woodbury in the slot to bury the puck in the Section 4 net and tie the game.  A 5 minute, 4 on 4 overtime period, failed to produce the winner.  Section 4 won 4-3 in a three player shootout.

Game 6: Section 7 versus Section 8

In a wild scoring game, Section 8 beat Section 7 10-7.  Both teams scored goals in the opening 4 minutes of the first half.  At the 15 minute mark, a first penalty shot by Gunnar Harris/Grand Rapids failed, but resulted in a second penalty. Harris went top shelf left on the second shot, scoring to put the Gold up 2-1.  A minute later, Oliver Trachsel/Duluth East broke down the left side and made a nice pass to the weak side, but the goalie made a sprawling save and the puck rebounded hard to Trachsel now in the lower left face off circle.  Trachsel buried the puck to put the gold up 3-1.  The Gold held the lead until late in the half.  White scored two quick goals in the last minute to tie the game 3-3.

The second half was all scoring.  Both teams put up 11 goals.  Halfway through the second period, Section 8 scored three goals to take a 6-3 lead that they never relinquished.  With four minutes to go in the game, Section 8 had a dime store leading 10-5.  Section 7 cut the lead to 10-7 with two goals in the last minute.  Five of the 17 goals scored were scored on a penalty shot, at least three additional goals were scored in the 30 seconds of follow-up play by the team taking the penalty shot.

Nine Section 8 players scored in the game; only Kobe Roth/Warroad scored more then a single goal.  Roth scored twice.  Section 7 scattered their scoring also with 6 players getting the 7 goals.  Dylan Holt/Andover scored twice for Section 7.

Tanner Tweten/East Grand Forks had an outstanding game at wing for the White; Kobe Roth and Jared Bethune, both Warroad Varsity, had good games at forward.  Jack Kuhlman had a great game at defense fro Section 7; Holt, Gunnar Harris/Grand Rapids, and Cody Budisalovich/Denfeld played well at forwards for Section 7.

Game 7: Section 2 versus Section 6

The first semifinal game matched Section 2 and Section 6.  In one of the better games of the tourney, Section 6 won 5-2.   The Section 6 lines were changed, but the results matched their first half of Friday’s qquarterfinal game.  They posted four first half goals to take a 4-2 lead at halftime.  This time the Wayzata contingent outscored the Benilde-St. Margaret players 3-1.  Billy Duma and Freytag got first period goals for Section 6.  Kaske and Garin scored the other two goals.

Both goalies, Section 6′s Jacob Berger and Section 2′s Conor Klaers shut down the high powered offense of the grey and orange teams.  The lone section half goal was scored by Zimmer with a minute left in the game.  Section 2 won 5-2.  Mark Kaske’s goal was the game winner, Billy Duma got the clencher on a rebound shot from the left faceoff circle.  It was the best skated game of the tournament so far.  Section 6 will play in the 3:45 pm Sunday at the PIC in the Championship game.  Section 2 plays for third place at 1:45 pm.

Game 8: Section 1 versus Section 5

District 1 jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period.  Lakeville South’s Nick Swaney added two more goals to put the Red up 4-0 at the end of the first half.  Section 1, loaded with Shattuck U16 players, put tremendous pressure on the D10 plus Hermantown dominate Section 5 Blue.  The game had a “first” first for YHH hockey, a “double minor penalty shot” that Blue goalie Zach St. John stopped twice and then covered up to get a face off.  Evan Roberts from Shattuck shut the Blue down in the nets for Section 1 and returned late in the game goalie Pierce Wilson/Lakeville North had to leave the ice injured.

A penalty shot by Blake Neumann/Anoka cut Section 1′s lead to 4-1 early in the second half.  Swaney came back five minutes later to beat the goalie on a hard slider through the 5-hole to put Section 1 up 5-1.  The final score was 7-3.  The game went physical late in the second half, but did little to slow the game down.