Monday morning, the Colorado Arapahoe team came back to push Edina A deep into the third period before they lost 5-3.  Spring Lake Park rolled against Mounds View beating the Mustangs 11-1.  Minnetonka A beat Chaska/Chanhassen A 2-1 in Pool B play Monday morning.  The Skippers now lead in Pool B with three points (a tie and a win).  Mankato beat Andover A 5-2 scoring all five goals in the third period to overcome a 2-0 deficit.  Mankato and Chaska are tied in Pool B play with two points each (a win) and Andover A has a single (but very important) point.  All four teams (Minnetonka A, Chaska A, Andover A, and Mankato) can advance.

Monday Morning Games

As a result of Monday morning play, Edina A and Spring Lake Park have each locked up a seed in the championship round; those two teams will finish either #1 or #2.  Tuesday’s pool game between those two teams will decide the seed.  The second Tuesday game in Pool A between Colorado Arapahoe and Mounds View will be broadcast on YHH.  Game time is 11:45 AM Central time or 10:45 AM Mountain time.

Pool B is scrambled.  Minnetonka A and Mankato will play in the first game Tuesday.  A Minnetonka win puts the Skippers into the championship round, a tie puts the Skippers into the championship round, but a loss leaves them at 3 points and puts Mankato with 4 points into the championship round.  In the second game, Chaska/Chanhassen and Andover play.  A Chaska win puts the Hawks into the championship round; a Chaska tie leave the Hawks with a maybe (3 points); but a loss eliminates the Hawks.  An Andover win over Chaska and a Mankato win over the Skippers ties Minnetonka and Andover.  Since the two teams tied in pool play, trot out the tie breakers.

Edina beats Colorado Arapahoe AA 5-3

After getting beat 7-1 by Spring Lake Park Sunday, the Colorado Arapahoe came back against Edina A Monday morning and battled one of the top ranked peewee A teams in the state to a draw late in the game before giving up three goals to lose 5-3.  Arapahoe opened the scoring in the first period on Chase Jones’ unassisted goal to put the Warriors up 1-0.  Edina’s Will Soderling tied the game 1-1 scoring halfway through the first.  Each team scored in the second period.  The Hornets’ Sam Serod scored to put Edina ahead 2-1; The Warriors’ Lucas Gardner scored to tie the game 2-2 late in the second period.  A tripping call late in the second period put the Hornets on a power play as third period play opened.

On the power play as the third period opened, Edina A established puck control in the Warriors’ zone and worked the puck low to Sherod.  Sherod put the puck in the net beating the Warriors’ goalie with a high shot.  The Hornets led 3-2 with one minute gone in the third.  At the 10 minute mark of the third period, Edina A broke the game open scoring two goals 12 seconds apart.  Edina’s Thomas Waterloo picked up a loose puck at the Arapahoe’s left end boards, broke into the left crease area and passed to Brett Chorske on the weak side right for a quick one timer.  Chorske’s score put the Hornets up 4-2, but it was Trevon Couser’s shot from the blue line 12 seconds later that put the Hornets ahead 5-2 and on cruise control for the rest of the period.  Arapahoe scored later in the third to end the scoring 5-3.  Two Edina players, TJ Mahoney and Thomas Waterloo, got assists on all five Hornets goals (Mahoney got three and Waterloo got two.     

Minnetonka A Edges Chaska/Chanhassen A 2-1

In a well-played game, Minnetonka A beat Chaska/Chanhassen A 2-1 on a big rebound that ended up in the slot on the Skippers’ Jack Anderson’s stick.  His hard shot ended up sliding just inside the right goal post.  It was a quick play off a hard shot from the left point and caught Chaska’s goalie Zack Hansen just a little out of position.  It had   to be a quick play, Hansen had an outstanding game in the net.  The Skipper’s goalie Lucas Haugen did everything but stand on his head to keep Minnetonka in the game.  In the last two periods, Haugen stopped 27 of 27 shots on net (YHH count) and zeroed the Hawk rush time after time.

The Hawks got on the board first with a first period unassisted score by Jayce Hopia.  The 1-0 Hawk led held up until the 10 minute mark of the second period.  Minnetonka’s Teddy Lagerback picked up a loose puck in the top right crease area and scored a “between his legs” shot from the right crease edge popping the puck over the Chaska’s goalie Hansen’s save attempt.  It was a great play and only the third recorded by YHH’s camera in the past three years.  It tied the game 1-1.  Chaska came back to pressure the Skippers for long periods of time in the Minnetonka zone for the rest of the game, bit could not score.  Minnetonka A needed the win and they got it.

Spring Lake Park Rolls over Mounds View 11-1

The Panthers started out the game on the track to get a 5 goal lead over the Mustangs to assure themselves of an edge in case of needing the tiebreaker.  They scored 7 first period goals to put Mounds View in a deep hole.  The Mustangs had played well in the opening minutes.  They trailed 2-0 after the first 6+ minutes after the Panthers’ Creighton McMahon had scored twice.  But then Spring Lake Park’s Zack Zemlicka took over scoring twice in 90 seconds to put the Panthers up 5-1.  Mounds View’s Sam Mostad scored between Zemlicka’s two goals.  Sam Fritz added two more Panther goals; Jake Wacek scored one more and the first period ended with Spring Lake Park leading 7-1.  The Panthers had no more “5 goal worries”.  Zemlicka would score a second period goal and add two assists to finish the game with a hat trick and 5 points.  McMahon also scored his third goal for a hat trick and added one assist for 4 points.  Fritz added two assists to finish the game with 4 points.

Mankato Rallies to Beat Andover A 5-2

In a game that matched the Mankato passing attack against a stubborn well played Andover A defense, the Mavericks won scoring five unanswered third period goals after the Andover had patiently built a 2-0 lead after the first two plus periods.  Mankato was battling to avoid a second loss in pool play, Andover was battling to win and take the lead in pool play.  Both teams played aggressive, but the Mavericks defense, constantly pinching at the hash marks and playing low in the Andover zone, eventually provided enough third period pressure to set up the Mavericks five goals.

After a scoreless first period, Andover took a 1-0 lead when they caught the Mavericks changing lines and their defense coming off the benches.  The Huskies’ Hunter Jones broke down the right side of the Mavericks’ zone and drove a shot from the top of the right faceoff that skipped along the ice and bounced past the Mavericks’ goalie save attempt.  Andover led 1-0 and their tough defense continued to deny the Mavericks good shots on net.  The Huskies scored again four minutes into the third period.  This time, Nathan Bauer scored unassisted to Andover up 2-0.

The Huskies were in control of the game until they pulled a tripping penalty at the nine minute mark.  A minute into the power play, the Mavericks scored after a hard shot from the left blue line rebounded to the weak side to Gavin Gunderson.  Gunderson put the puck in the net to cut Andover’s lead to 2-1.  Mankato’s Parker Steindl took over after that goal.  With four minutes left on the clock, Steindl broke into the right face off circle and beat Andover’s goalie Alex Fuerst on a hard shot to the upper right side to tie the game.  Fuerst played a tough game stopping 43 shots (twenty in the third period, YHH count).  Steindl scored the game winner two minutes later on a hard shot from the sweet spot in the slot to put the Mavericks ahead 3-2 for good.  Mankato would later score an empty netter and add a goal in the last few seconds of the game to win 5-3.