Chisago Lakes Area High School and Ice Arena are located in an unique area of Minnesota, they are built on what could pass as an island with multiple land bridges surrounded by lakes.  The Chisago Lakes Area Association's teams skate in District 10 and typically play in the middle of "thier island" in the middle of the D10 pack occassionally beating a Blaine or Elk River or Centennial youth team.  Despite the middle of the pack finishes at the youth level, the High Schoolers have always skated well.

In the past two seasons, the Wildcats have posted a 38-17-1 record, but like Hermantown, they had to beat a St. Thomas Academy to get to state.  Not this year.  STA is gone and the Wildcats were #1.  They made the state.

New Prague came out of Section 1A and battled Farmington for the last Missota Conference title.  They lost the Missota title to Farmington but beat Big 9 champions Mankato West 3-2 in an exciting Section 1A championship behind the strong goal tending of Conner Wagner.  New Prague, like Luverne, are becoming hockey power and are getting great community support.  The fans for the two teams filled the lower stands of the Xcel.  That is a good sign for Southern Minnesota hockey.

Period One

New Prague applied pressure on the Wildcats defense from the start.  In the opening minutes, it was clear that New Pragues wings could beat the Chisago Lakes defense on the rush and put the puck on the net.  It was also clear that the Chisago Lakes defense tended to over shift to the point of attack leaving itself vulnerable to a weakside attack.

The two teams traded goals in the first 10 minutes of the period.  Chisago Lakes scored first on a power play goal by William Knaak.  Zacha Lambrecht got the assist.  Four minutes later, New Prague's Seth Kriha batted in a rebounding puck beating the Wildcats goalie Jacob Dubose.  Austin Isaacson and Alex Gregor got the assists.  Gregor would go on to have a 5 point game (2 goals/3 assists).  The first period ended in a 1-1 tie. Neither team got a shot on net in the first 5 minutes of the game.

Period Two

New Prague took over in the second period.  They controlled the game and in the first three plus minutes of the period, put three goals on the scoreboard.  The Trojans' Alex Gregor scored in the first minute with Austin Isaacson and Ryan Drazan getting the assists.  Twenty seconds later, Isaacson scored with Alex Gregor getting the assist.  Isaacson, like Gregor, had a 5 point game (1 goal/4assists).  Two minutes later, Gregor and Isaacson combined again to score New Prague's fourth goal giving the Trojans a 4-1 lead.  Seth Kriha got the assist in addition to Isaacson.

That three minute flurry of scoring by New Prague took Chisago Lakes out of the game.  New Prague continued to control the game thoughout the second period, but neither team could score.  The period ended with New Prague leading 4-1.  The Trojans outshot the Wildcats 9-1 in the period.

Period Three

New Prague continued to dominate in the third period.  The Trojans' Kriha scored two minutes into the period to take a 5-1 lead.  Gregor and Isaacson got the assists.  New Prague penalties slowed the play in the middle part of the period.  Chisago Lakes Area's Blake Lizotte scored unassisted to cut the Trojan lead to 5-2 at the 10 minute mark.  The Trojans outshot the Wildcats 10-3 in the period. The Trojans were just too strong for the Wildcats.

What is Next?

Chisago Lakes moves to Mariucci to play Luverne in the consolation semifinals. Things will not get easier for the Wildcats.  New Prague gets the Hawks of Hermantown in a re-match that the Trojans hope to reverse the outcome.