The Burnsville Thanksgiving Tourney got going Friday with 20 games played on two sheets of ice.  The peewee A tourney saw drama as two pools completed two rounds of games.  A surprising Jefferson team emerged as a contender in Pool 1 and will battle the Minneapolis Storm for the pool title in a tourney life or death game.  The loser will likely go home.  After two rounds in Pool 2, three teams are in the battle for both the wild card and the pool championship (a surprising Alexandria, Eastview, and Rosemount).  As forcasted here, Pool 3 should be determined by the winner of the Lakeville South/Roseville game played Saturday evening with Pool 1 and 2 runner-up teams sitting in the stands.  But in the end, the real spoiler could be Minnetonka A.  Although out of the tourney after two losses, the Skippers could upset Rosemount and re-cast the whole championship scenario late Saturday night. 

Alexandria beat Minnetonka A 6-1; ties Rosemount 5-5

Alexandria must have felt like it’s namesake, Alexander “the great” who conquered most of the known world a few years ago.  The Cardinals played an excellent team game against Minnetonka, pinning the Skippers in the Tonka zone most of the game.  The Cardinals moved the puck well and played off each other.  They have size and talent this year and made an impact in this tourney Friday.

The Cardinals Ben Doherty and Jack Westlund each posted four points (both got two goals) and Caleb Strong posted three points (one goal) to lead the Cardinals to a 6-1 win over Minnetonka A.  The Skippers, as always, played a steady controlled game style; but Alex used their size and skill to beat the smaller players especially in the close in action.

In the big game Friday evening, Alexandria battled Rosemount to a 5-5 tie.  Rosemount won the shootout for the thirteenth pool point.  The game was tied 2-2 after the first period.  The Irish took the 1-0 lead on Jackson Sabo’s opening goal.  The Cardinals came back on two goals scored by Ben Doherty.  Rosemount’s Luke Levandowski tied the game with 30 seconds left on the first period clock.

Rosemount took their only lead of the game in the opening minutes of the second period on a goal by Tyler Linnerooth.  Alexandria scored three successive goals (Caleb Strong and Jack Westlund twice) to take a 5-3 lead early in the third period.  That set the drama for a hard fought finish.

That drama revolved around a tiring Alex team playing their second game of the day versus a fresh Irish team playing their only game of the day.  The Cardinal forwards were tired and to compound their troubles, they drew three third period penalties.  When two minutes into the period, the Irish's Max Carter put the puck in the net on a hard shot from the left blue line that beat Alex’s goalie, Rosemount's play became more intense.  Carter's goal was a power play goal and cut the Cardinals' lead to 5-4.

The two teams battled over the next seven minutes of the third period with Alex clinging to that 5-4 lead.  At the 4 minute mark, the Irish’s Mason Wheeler finally put the puck in the net on a power play to tie the game 5-5.  The Irish went on to win the shootout for the thirteenth point.  The shootout was anticlimatic.

Alexandria’s Dohery ended up with 5 points in the game; Westlund got 4 points.  The Irish scoring was spread across five players.

Alexandria plays Eastview Saturday morning.  Rosemount needs to beat those pesty Skippers Saturday.  The key game Saturday in this pool is the Eastview/Alexandria game with the winner most likely winning the pool.  That is not a guarantee, points matter and three teams (Alexandria, Eastview, and Rosemount) are separated by 2 points.  Rosemount can win the pool by sweeping Minnetonka A and taking 13 points while Eastview/Alexandria split their 13 points.

That makes Saturday's at Burnsville a lot of fun and gives the coaches ulcers.