It you drove from the Twin Cities the 300 miles or so to Crookston on the Northwestern Minnesota plaines, it was pleasant and dry until you hit the outskirts of Crookston.  Approaching the city of 8,000 was like driving into Minneapolis on a hazy winter day.  But this was not smog, it was light snow swirling around in strong gusting winds inside the Pirate City.  At the Crookston Sports Arena, the flags stood out in the winds and one could feel the bone chilling cold walking to the front entrance.  But once inside the three sheet arena, everything was calm.  Only then could you catch your breath and realize that this was a great hockey arena to hold a state tourney.  Let the fun began.

Sartell beats Spring Lake Park 2-1

It only took one game to change the tone of the Peewee A State Tourney.  The Sabres upset NOW #1 Spring Lake Park 2-1 and despite the close score, the Sabres controlled the game.  They kept Spring Lake Park out of their comfort zone constantly pressuring the Panther forwards.  The  first period opened with Sartell on the attack.  The Sabres kept the puck deep in the Spring Lake Park zone, turning it quick at the Panther blue line. But the Sabres' could not get their shots on the net.  The Panther's defense kept the puck wide or blocked the shots before they could hit the net.  The Sabre's defense turned the puck at their blue line on the Panthers' rushes forcing the Panthers to the boards and knocking the puct to neutral ice.

Five minutes into the period, Spriing Lake Park's Sam Fritz's shot resulted in a puck that climbed the Sartell goalie Devin Peterson's shoulder, dropping behind him in the crease.  Creighton McMahon banged the puck in the net.  Spring Lake Park led 1-0 at the end of the first period.  The Panthers out shot the Sabres 9-5.

The second period opened with Sartell on the power play.  The Sabres set up in the power play, moved the puck low to Maddux Hagy who one-timed the puck into the short side upper left corner to tie the game 1-1.  Hack Hennemann and Austinz Adelman got the assists.  After that score, the Sabres dominated play holding the Panthers in the Spring Lake Park zone for the next four minutes.  The Panthers could only ice the puck.

With eight minutes to go in the second period, the Panthers brought their best pressure of the game and came close to taking the lead, but at the six minute mark, the Panthers' defense gave up a lose puck that ended up with Sartell's Luke Schmidt taking a shot on net that rebounded into the slot to the Sabres' Talon Sigurdson.  Sigurdon's quick shot beat the Panther's goalie Blake Holm on the left side.  Sartell led 2-1.  Schmidt and Brock Boerger got the assists.

When Spring Lake Park drew two successive penalties, Sartell had a 5-on-3 power play for a 80 seconds, but couldn't score.  The period ended with Sartell in the lead 2-1.

The third period opened with a Sartell power play.  The Sabres aggessively went after the insurance goal, but could not beat the Panthers' penalty killers.  Once their power play ended, Sartell became more defensive.  They stopped forcing the puck deep and focused on taking the Panthers' forwards out of the play or off the puck for the remainder of the period.  It worked and it led to more Panther penalties.

Spring Lake Park could not get the good shot on net in the third period.  The Sartell defense kept them out of position.  The Panthers came close with two minutes left in the game.  They trapped the Sabres in the Sartell zone and worked the puck to the right side of the net eventually jamming the puck between the goalie's skate and the right pipe.  The puck was exposed and the refs let them hammer on it.  Sartell's goalie Devin Peterson held his ground.  It wasn't a save as much as it was Peterson clamping down on the post and refusing to let the tying goal into the net.

Highland beats Edina 2-0

Highland used its size advantage effectively to hand the Hornets a 2-0 loss in the second quarterfinal game.  But the smaller Hornets came to win and had significant pressure in the Caps zone in the first half of the game.  After a scoreless opening period, Highland broke loose with two goals less then 30 seconds apart in the middle of the period.  The Caps Matthew Gleason beat the Hornet defense along the right boards skating the puck down from inside the Caps blue line.  Gleason made neat pass off the boards to the Caps' Adam Zukowski in the slot.  Zukowski beat Edina's goalie Thomas Webert high in the upper right corner to put the Caps up 1-0.  Gleason got the assist.

Thirty seconds later, Gleason scored breaking down the slot to put Highland up 2-0.  The two teams battled to a scoreless tie the rest of the game.  Highland's Robert Christy played a hard aggressive game; Edina played one of their best games this season.  The A's hung in against a bigger team and have improved since the start of the season.  Those Hornets coming back from this year's team should do well next year. 

Armstrong beats Alexander 2-1 in OT

This game figured to be a battle between Armstrong's goalie and Alexandria's strong forrward line of Ben Doherty, Jack Westlund, and Caleb Strong.  It was.  The first period started well for the Cardinals.  All three lines on their first three shifts kept the Falcons bottled up in the Armstrong's zone.  The Falcons did not cross center ice until Alex drew a penalty.  The penalty ended with Armstrong's first shot on net.

Penalties were a problem for the Cardinals in the game, forcing them to play shorthanded.  It gave Armstrong relief and at this level of play, a strong team like the Falcons will take advantage.  The advantage is one that builds up during the game.  At the 5 minute mark of the opening period, Alex drew two successive penalties that overlapped.  They skated shorthanded three minute, one minute was 5-on-3.  Armstrong ended up outshooting Alex 8-5 in the period.  The period ended in a scoreless tie.

In the second period, Alexandria's forwards started to get pressure on the Armstrong net and Armstrong went into a defensive mode playing the majority of the second period in the Falcons' zone.  Armstrong's goalie Nikki Harnett played tough in the nets and was instrumental in controlling the puck, but strangely only got credit for one save in the period.

The third period opened with Alex again pressuring Armstrong in the Falcons' zone.  Halfway through the period, the Cardinals drew a penalty and it took the pressure off Armstrong.  Alex dodged a bullet, killing the power play, but gave up a score trying to transition back to normal play.  The Falcons' Nick Sticha got the goal, Parker Collins got the assist.

With only four minutes left to play, Alexandria upped the game pace.  At the two minute mark, they put a shot on goal and followed it up on a delay penalty call with the puck bouncing loose around the net.  In the melee, the goal line came on and the ref blew the whistle.  It was eventually called a no goal and Armstrong was given a penalty.  The Falcons were killing the penalty when Alex caught a break on a lucky bounce.  The puck ended up on the Cardinals' Derek Pesta's stick.  Pesta's quick shot beat Harnett through the 5-hole to tie the game and force overtime.

Forty seconds into the overtime, Alex drew a penalty.  It was a weak call.  The Cardinals killed the penalty, but again gave up a goal trying to transition back to normal play.  Armstrong won.