The Minnesota White team, an all-Minnesota team consisting of players from the Upper Midwest High School Elite League, beat the Northwood School prep team from Lake Placid, NY in the championship game of the CCM IIT tourney played this weekend at New Hope. The game ended the White team players elite fall season. The players return to their high schools and will play a regular 25 game high school schedule during the winter season starting in two weeks.
The White team players were drawn from the 150 or so Minnesota High Schools that play hockey. Northwood School is an exclusive prep school with a student body of 170 students in grades 9-12. The school has a hockey focus and draws students and hockey players from all over the world.
The Minnesota team won 2-1, scoring the winning goal in the first two minutes of the third period. This game was a battle of the Whites speed and skill versus Northwood School’s size and power. Both teams could skate, but the Minnesota team could move the puck faster and with more skill.
It was a game where the two goal tenders were the insurance as the forwards flew around the ice for three periods. Eighty three shots were taken on the net, 48 by the Whites.
The Northwood team could not out maneuver the quicker and faster Minnesota forwards. That was the deciding factor. When the Blue attacked the Whites’ net, the Blue could not power their way past the Whites’ goalie, Kevin Driscoll/Eastview. That was the insurance.
Northwood School’s goalie, Aidan Pelino/Oakville, ON, had a great game, especially in the first period when he stopped 19 of his 48 shots on net. One thing was clear from the onset of the first period, both teams wanted to win.