Some may not understand what it means today, but to those who lived in the 60’s and 70’s, understand it.  The Hockey boosters in Cloquet built “the barn” in 1970.  The boosters did not hire a contractor to build it nor do an environmental impacts study.  They picked up hammer and nails and pounded wood together.  The result was an arena that held 900 Cloquet fans on any given night, more when the Lumberjacks’ high school team beat Hermantown.  The result is arena that speaks to hockey tradition and has the best ice in the area (perhaps the -20 degree temperatures outside that chills the inside to a +30 has something to do with that).  

Sixteen peewee AA/A teams opened tourney play Friday at 2:00 in the afternoon in the Cloquet Barn Burner.  Eight games were played in three different arenas ("the barn", Northwoods, and Carlton).  Saturday, each team played two games.  Sunday, the final 8 games were played split between the Barn and Northwoods.  Those two arenas are separated by a short walk and share the same parking lot.  Only two teams did not make it to the barn for a game, host Cloquet and Buffalo.

Upper Bracket A Play (Cloquet, Brainerd A, Eveleth-Gilbert/Mesabi East or EGME, and Eastview).

Cloquet and Eastview were the top teams in upper Bracket A play and both beat their opening round opponents; Cloquet beat Brainerd A 10-0 and Eastview beat EGME 7-0.  The Lumberjacks took charge of the game early, scoring in the first two minutes of the opening period and going on to add nine more goals to win 10-0.  Eastview also took an early lead in their game against EGME, scoring four times in the first period to take a 4-0 lead.  The Lightning’s Adam Kratz scored twice; Zach Anderson scored twice; and Lightning goalie Jonathan Singer got the shutout.

Saturday morning, Cloquet and Eastview met with the winner advancing to the Championship bracket.  The two teams had played the week before.  In that game, Eastview took a 4-0 lead only to have the Lumberjacks storm back to win 6-4.  Saturday morning, Cloquet jumped to a 4-0 lead at the end of the first period and never looked back beating Eastview 8-0.

The two teams were locked up in a defensive battle for the first five minutes of the opening period until Cloquet’s Aaron Moore beat the Lightning defense and soloed in for the score.  The host’s Kade Bender scored three minutes later; but it was two goals in the last minute of the first period that hurt the Lightning.  Cloquet went on to add three goals in the second and third periods to win 7-0.  The Lumberjacks’ Landon Langenbrunner got the hat trick.  The Lumberjacks advanced to the tourney’s championship bracket game Saturday afternoon.

Eastview beat Greenway 9-1 in the bracket for fourth place Saturday and lost 5-1 to Hermantown in the fourth place game.  EGME beat Brainerd A 7-2 to advance to the consolation semifinals.  Eveleth-Gilbert/Mesabi East lost to Superior AA 10-2 and they were edged by Anoka 5-4 in the Consolation third place game.  Brainerd A beat Chisago Lakes 3-1 and Hibbing 5-1 to win Consolation fourth place in the tourney.

Lower Bracket A Play (Superior AA, Buffalo AA, Greenway A, and Chisago Lakes)

Buffalo AA’s play produced the most excitement in the opening three rounds of the Barn Burner.  The Bison surprised and beat one of the top ranked teams in Minnesota (Superior AA) 3-1 in the opening game.  Superior’s Trevor Dalbec scored at the 9 minute mark of the first period to put the Spartans up 1-0.  With less than a minute left in the first period, Buffalo’s Treyton Welch tied the game on the power play, hitting the pipe and bouncing the puck in from the blue line.  The two teams battled to a scoreless tie through the second and most of the third periods.

With Superior on the power play and less than two minutes left in the game, the Bison scored two shorthanded goals to win 3-1.  The Spartans were pressuring the Buffalo’s goalie Nathan Mueller, forcing him to make some big stops, when a loose puck was picked up by Preston Perreault.  Perreault scored on a breakaway to put the Bison up 2-1.  The Spartans pulled their goalie and 30 seconds later, Bison defender Jake Braccini cleared the puck from Buffalo’s lower left faceoff circle.  The puck rolled the length of the ice into the net.  It was a good game by both teams and a tough loss for the Spartans.

Greenway beat Chisago Lakes 7-1 in the other bracket game.   The Raiders scored twice in the opening period to take a 2-0 lead.  Chisago Lake’s Thomas Overgaard scored unassisted to cut the lead to 2-1.  Greenway scored once more in the first, once in the second, and three times in the third period to win 7-1.  The Raiders’ defenseman Christian Miller had a four point game (2 goals/2assists); Ben Troumbly posted three points (2 goals/1 assist) and Casadonte Lawson had three assists.

Buffalo broke Greenway’s heart the next day, scoring a goal in the last 10 seconds to tie the game 4-4 and go onto win the game in a shootout.  After a scoreless first period, the two teams traded second period goals.  Greenway scored first on a Casadonte Lawson goal, Buffalo’s Treyton Welch countered with a Bison goal a minute later to tie the game 1-1.  The two teams traded two more goals.  The second period ended in a 3-3 tie.  Greenway’s Cameron Lantz scored halfway through the third period to give the Raiders a 4-3 lead.  That lead held up until the last minute of play and set up the last second drama.

With 10 seconds left in the game, a Buffalo shot beat Greenway’s goalie, but the puck ended up lying in the crease with the goalie losing track of the puck.  Buffalo’s Treyton Welch beat Greenway defense to the puck to score the tying goal.  After a scoreless 8 minute overtime, Buffalo won the shootout and advanced to the Championship bracket.

Greenway lost 9-1 to Eastview and 5-3 to the Omaha Jr. Lancers to end their Barn Burner tourney.  Superior AA went on to beat Chisago Lakes 8-1, EGME 10-2, and Mounds View to win the Consolation title.  Chisago Lakes closed their tourney losing 3-1 to Brainerd A and 2-1 to Denfeld A.

Upper Bracket B Play (Rochester AA, Denfeld A, Hermantown AA, and Mounds View A)

This bracket figured to be a battle between to NOW ranked top AA teams (Rochester AA and Hermantown AA).  It was.  Rochester beat Denfeld A 8-1 and Hermantown beat Mounds View A 7-0 in their opening games.  Denfeld just could not stop Rochester’s forwards Luke Newman and Dylan Schneider in the first period.  Newman scored three goals for a hat trick; Schneider assisted on all three goals.  Denfeld’s Payton Butisalovich scored in the first to keep the Reds lead to 3-1.  A key moment in the game came early in the second period.  Denfeld had a 5-on-3 power play and trailing 3-1, had an opportunity to get back into the game, but couldn’t beat the Red’s defense.  Rochester went on to win 8-1.

Hermantown and Mounds View battled to a 0-0 tie until late in the first period.  The Hawks’ Blake Biondi and Carter Sullivan scored 30 seconds apart in the last two minutes of the period to put Hermantown up 2-0 at the end of one.  Three minutes into the second period, Sullivan scored again and then busted the game open with two more goals to end the period and take a 5-0 lead into the third.  Hermantown won 7-0.

Hermantown took a 2-0 lead in the first period, but could not keep it.  Rochester came storming back to beat the Hawks 7-5 and move on to the championship bracket.    

Lower Bracket B Play (Hibbing/Chisholm AA, Omaha Jr. Lancers, Anoka A, and Moorhead AA)

Omaha scored three goals in the first to take a 3-0 lead into the second period against Hibbing.  The two teams played even for the remaining two periods, the Lancers won 4-1.  Moorhead AA scored two goals early in the first period to take a 2-0 lead in their game with Anoka.

The Tornadoes’ Parker Jaeger scored to cut the lead to 2-1 at the end of the opening period.  Moorhead started to roll in the second period, scoring four times to put the game away leading 6-1 going into the third period.  Moorhead won 7-1.  The Spuds’ Gavin Fullmer and Isaac Howe each scored two goals.  This game started at 8:30 PM Friday night with temperatures hovering around -20 degrees.  Inside the Carlton Arena, it was not much warmer.  Moorhead did not get their seventh goal until late in the period to put the game on running time.

Saturday’s game between Omaha and Moorhead was played in the warmer confines of Northwoods.  Moorhead scored twice in the first against the Lancers, added two more in the second and in the third periods to win 6-0.  The Spuds outshoot the smaller Lancers 39-10.  Isaac Howe led the Spuds scoring twice and posting one assist.

Omaha lost to Hermantown AA 10-2 Saturday evening and beat Greenway for seventh place 5-3 Sunday.  Anoka beat Hibbing 4-2 in the consolation quarterfinals, but lost to Mounds View 4-3 in the semifinals.  Anoka edged EGME 5-4 to finish third in the consolation round.  Hibbing AA beat Denfeld A 2-1, but lost to Brainerd 3-1 in the consolation game for fourth place.

Championship Bracket (Cloquet AA vs Buffalo AA; Rochester AA vs Moorhead AA)

All four teams in the championship bracket are district leaders in their peewee AA/A leagues (Cloquet in D12, Buffalo in D5, Rochester in D9, and Moorhead in D15).

Cloquet beat Buffalo 3-2 in the first semifinal game.  The “cardiac kids” from Buffalo almost pulled out their third last second victory in the tourney behind the goaltending of Nathan Mueller.  Mueller stopped 42 of Cloquet’s 45 shots on goal and held the Bison in the game until giving up the winning goal to Nick Baker in overtime.

The first period was a scoreless tie, ending 0-0.  Mueller stopped 15 Cloquet shots; the Bison failed to get a shot on net.  No goals were scored in the second period.  Cloquet’s Kade Bender scored first in the third period to put the ‘Jacks up 1-0.  Treyton Welch tied the game a minute later for the Bison.  Cloquet’s Andy Acres broke the tie with a goal putting Cloquet ahead 2-1.  Welch tied the game with less than a minute left in the game to force overtime.

Rochester beat Moorhead 5-2 in the other semifinal game behind the goal scoring of Dustin Sorensen.  Sorensen scored the opening goal in the first 3 minutes of the first period.  After Moorhead’s Wyatt Gunkel tied the game 1-1 at the end of the first period, Sorensen scored unassisted at the 9 minute mark of the second period to put the Red up 2-1.  He then assisted Zach Stewart and Sam Verkerke on their goals that put Rochester up 4-1 going into the third period.

In the Championship game Sunday afternoon, Rochester took an early 2-0 lead on a goal scored off a rush and on a Cloquet defensive mistake.  The first Rochester goal came off a melee in front of the Lumberjacks’ net.  The second came when an errant Cloquet clearing pass ended up on Red forward’s stick in the slot.  Cloquet came back early in the third period to cut the lead to 2-1 only to have Rochester score twice to take a 4-1 lead.  Each team added a goal in the last minutes of play.  Rochester Red won the tourney 5-2.

Moorhead AA beat Buffalo AA 9-2 in the third place game.

Tourney Notes

With the announcement by Minnesota Hockey that the state peewee A and AA championship teams will be sent the Midwest Regional Peewee Invite tourney to be played in Madison WI March 28-30, hockey focus shifts as Minnesota peewee AA/A teams will be playing champions from other Midwest states (Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, and North Dakota.  The Minnesota AA champion will be playing Tier 1 champions and the peewee A champion will be playing Tier II champions.  The Omaha Jr. Lancers who took seventh place (beating Hibbing AA 4-1, losing to Moorhead AA 6-0, losing to Hermantown AA 10-2, and beating Greenway A 5-3) are currently ranked in the mid-150’s (out of 900+) Tier II teams nationally.

The Rochester AA team played with confidence in most of their games (Hermantown pushed the Red in their game) and appears to be well organized and focused.  They are clearly making a run at the AA State Title this year and deserved their high ranking.

In the tourney final, the Red team coaches created mismatches with the Cloquet lines to gain an edge taking away the play of the better Cloquet forwards and generating scoring advantages with their better players.  It seemed like they had a game plan and executed it well.  

Cloquet AA has depth at forward (and some good younger players developing).  They will dominate most teams and should be one of the favorites to make the state out of the North Region.  Four of seven potential competitors, Grand Rapids, Bemidji, Roseau, and Hibbing are struggling this year.  Moorhead AA and Brainerd AA are potential threats, but the Lumberjacks big problem could be Hermantown and Duluth East.

Greenway A and Buffalo AA impressed at the tourney.  Greenway has one of the better peewee lines in the state and has some depth at defense and on their other lines.  Unfortunately, the Raiders will likely end up in a tough North Regional  could end up in the Peewee A State Tourney in Crookston in another five weeks.  Buffalo AA is leading District 5 and showed that D5 continues to improve overall at the peewee level.  The Bison are a balanced team that is playing good hockey at the right time of the season.

Eveleth-Gilbert/Mesabi East has improved this year.  Hibbing may have a down year for Hibbing, but they played a solid tourney.  Greenway, EGME, and Hibbing are all D12 teams.  So are Grand Rapids and Virginia.  District 12 has some good peewee A hockey teams this year.

The Barn

The Championship game was played in the Northwoods Arena at the same time that the Consolation Championship game between Superior AA and Mounds View A was being played in the Pine Valley Rink or “the barn”.   The Northwoods is a nice rink and has a magnificent wooden ceiling that is huge.  It would have made a Howard Hughes happy.

But the Barn with its old style wooden seating and unique places to sit or stand was just a good place to watch hockey being played.  It may have been built more on instinct than plan, but it all works for a hockey fan.