For Andover, Saturday's game with Duluth East is the start of a battle for the Section 7AA title this season and a trip to the Xcel.  The Class AA team played the perennial Section 7AA winner in a game that will help determine Section 7AA seeding next March at Andover Community Center Saturday afternoon.  Senior Maddie Rooney was in the nets for the Andover.  Rooney stopped 41 of 43 Duluth East shots on goal to lead the Huskies to a 2-2 overtime tie.

After stopping all 9 Greyhound shots in the 8 minute overtime period to preserve the tie, Andover hockey fans loudly applauded her performance.  Many were pinning their hopes for an Andover trip to the Xcel on her this season.

Friday night, Ely/Tower Sudan came from just south of the Canoe Boundary Waters to play St. Paul Como at Highland with Lori Huseby in the nets against a resurgent, unbeaten, veteran St. Paul Como team bent on making its own run in Section 4A.  The young Timberwolves (only one senior on its roster), playing in Section 7A with Hermantown and Duluth Marshall, is struggling this year.  The Timberwolves lost 12-1 to Como despite the great play of their goaltender.  Sophomore goalie Lori Huseby was in the nets for the Timberwolves stopping 24 of 26 Cougar shots in the first period before her team fell apart in front of her drawing two successive major penalties in the second period.  She ended up facing 52 shots in the first two periods of the game as her team played shorthanded for 15 minutes of 17 minute second period.  Huseby and Rooney share the same skills.  Senior Rooney has demonstrated she can play hockey with the boys and is bent on leading the Huskies to the Class AA tourney at the Xcel in March; sophomore Huseby demonstrated she can play with the boys and has to remain steady in the nets until her teammates mature.  Huseby has demonstrated she can play hockey with the boys and eventually she will find recognition as Ely matures and contends for a Section 7A title.

St. Paul Como beats Ely/Tower Sudan 12-1

Period 1-Huseby plays tough

The opening period of the game played at Highland Park Arena in St. Paul was fun to watch.  The game had a David and Goliath drama occurring on a couple of different levels.  When the top line for the Wolves hit the ice, the puck ended up in the Cougars’ zone.  When the Ely went to their second or third lines or their younger defensemen, Husby was the whole Ely defense.

The Cougars scored in the first minute of play.  A breakdown in the Timberwolves’ defense led to a two on one rush with Como junior Ian Tully scoring from the slot beating Huseby with a hard shot to the upper right hand corner.  The Cougar’s George Neisewander got the assist.

Como’s offense continued to pressure Ely in the Timberwolves’ zone after that opening goal.  Huseby in one sequence had to make an initial save on a hard shot from the lower left faceoff circle.  The hard shot rebounded on Huseby to the right slot to a Cougar forward who one-timed the puck with a hard shot to the open right side.  Huseby, realizing she could not block the shot with her pads, turned and batted the puck into the right corner using her goalie stick like a baseball bat.  It was a remarkable sequence.  Ely, led by forward Andy Krunkkala, came back to pressure Como in their zone.  Their play resulted in Como scrambling for a minute and losing focus.  The pressure resulted in Como drawing a penalty for too many men on the ice.  On the power play, Ely established puck control in the Cougars’ zone and kept some pressure on the Como net for the first minute of the penalty until a Timberwolves’ defenseman got caught pinching.  A quick Como breakout pass hit Tully again.  Tully scored the shorthanded on the resulting 2-on-1 rush to put Como up 2-0.

Como pressure resumed after their second goal and did not break until Como drew tripping penalty with seven minutes to go in the period.  Ely got a second chance on the power play.  Ninety seconds into the power play, the puck got tied up in the Como zone forcing a faceoff.  The Timberwolves’ Joe Wenzel took the break from the faceoff and beat Como’s goalie Carter McCoy to cut the Cougars’ lead to 2-1.  Jon Wenzel got the assist.

Penalties on both teams in the last five minutes of the opening period turned the game into a scramble inside Ely’s zone.  It resulted in a number of good shots for the Cougars from around the Timberwolves’ net, but the Cougars could not beat Huseby.  A late tripping call put the Cougars on the power play the last thirty seconds of the first period, but there was no more scoring.  The first period ended 2-1, Como leading.  The Cougars outshot Ely 26-6.

Period 2-Timberwolves penalties

Como’s Ian Tully scored his third goal of the game on the power play in the first minute of the second period.  Tully would go on to score two more goals, five total for the game.  Trailing 3-1 and the game still in doubt, the refs stepped in and turned the game into a rout.  It was simple call, an Ely player and a Cougar collided near the Ely blue line resulting in the Cougar falling to the ice.  The collision was a slow motion version of the reenactment of the slow motion video Minnesota State High School League uses to demonstrate checking from behind.  The ref judged that it was worthy of a 5-minute major.

That was all Como needed.  Over the next two minutes, the Cougars set up in the Ely zone and peppered Huseby while trapping the Ely defense preventing any Ely line change until they scored to go up 4-1.  Como added another goal ten seconds after scoring the fourth goal to go up 5-1.  Trapping the Ely defense again in the Timberwolves’ zone, they scored a sixth goal two minutes later on a tip-in.  On the ensuing faceoff, a Ely player lost his cool and delivered a hard hit along the boards.  The Cougar hit the ice and didn’t get up right away.  The ref issued another 5 minute major and a game misconduct.

It created a game situation that is very rare and seldom seen-a second period 5-on-3 for two minutes with both penalties being majors.  The Cougars could only manage two more scores through the 5-0n-3 and 5-on-4 over the next five minutes to take an 8-1 lead.  Como added two more power play goals on Ely minor penalties at the end of the period to build a 10-1 lead.  Ely skated 15 minutes of the second period shorthanded.  Como outshot Ely 26-1; Huseby faced 49 tough shots on goal in the first two periods and did not return for the third period.

Period 3-the game ends

Ely scrambled less in the third period and played some defense.  Sophomore Goalie Mark Killoran stopped 16 of 18 shots in the period.  The Cougars Ian Tully finished the game with 6 points/5 goals; Eliot Berven had a hat trick; and Charlie Kray posted 3 points/2 goals in the game.           

Andover ties Duluth East 2-2

It was great to see Luke Dow line up with Ash Altmann again.  The two, with Shay Donovan, was the outstanding line in the Bantam AA State Tourney played at Edina in March 2013.  Donovan plays defense on the Greyhounds varsity this year; Ryan Peterson, Dow, and Altmann started the game for the Greyhounds and tended to dominate play on their shifts in the second and third periods.

Duluth East and Andover opened the game playing cautiously.  The top lines (Andover’s line of Reece Tullbane, Zach Sitarz, and Anthony Banack and Duluth East’s Dow, Ash Altmann, and Ryan Peterson) took the opening shift.  Neither could do much with the puck.  As the opening period progressed Andover brought pressure gaining control and moving the puck in the Hounds’ zone.  A Duluth East tripping penalty brought additional pressure.  Andover, on the power play, got caught low in the Hounds’ zone.  East turned the mistake into a 2-on-0 rush with Ash Altmann beating Rooney on the left side to put Duluth East up 1-0.  Nick Altmann and Reed Hill assisted on the shorthanded goal.

After that score, East started to gain control of the game, using their size effectively.  By the end of the period, the Hounds were controlling the puck moving into the Andover zone; but a tenacious Husky defense kept Duluth East out of the middle.  Still the Hounds’ forwards would slip through and end up with good shots on Rooney.  She held her ground against the larger East forwards.  The period ended 1-0.  East outshot Andover 10-5 in the period.

Period 2-East dominates but Andover ties the game

Duluth East opened the second period with strong play.  They had started to dominate at the end of the first period.  It the second period they did dominate play and it resulted in some good scoring chances but they could not beat Rooney despite outshooting Andover 17-5 in the period.  The Hounds did score, but it was a either a great play or a lucky play.  Here, it was a great play.  It started with an Andover slashing penalty with nine minutes left to play.  East brought pressure to Andover setting up in the Huskies’ zone.  A minute into the penalty, the puck was tied.

With nine minutes left and the face off to the right of Rooney, Duluth East’s Dow ended up with the puck in the right faceoff circle. He made a sharp pass (or a hard shot) to the left crease to Ian Mageau.  Mageau managed to get his stick on the fast moving puck as it barely cleared a Andover defenseman, tipping the puck into the net.  It was a nice goal.  Low and Nick Altmann got the assists.  The Greyhounds led 2-0 and they continued to dominate play until Tyler Vold ended up with puck with less than four minutes remaining.  The Andover defenseman beat the Duluth East defense soloing down the left boards.  He made a slashing cut across the top of the crease and beat Hounds’ goal Howg to cut the score to 2-1.

Until that point in the game, with the way East was dominating play, most fans there were already thinking of packing up and leaving.  Now it was a 2-1 game and nobody left.  When Zach Sitarz, a minute later, stole the puck and beat Howg for Andover’s second goal to tie the game 2-2, the place erupted.  Banack and Dylan Holt got the assists.

Period 3 and OT-Rooney stops East

In the third period, play even out.  Both teams had their chances, neither could beat the goalie.  In the last four minutes of regulation time, East dominated and controlled the play in Andover’s zone.  The Huskies defense would not let them set up and Rooney cleaned up on what the defense didn’t stop.  In the eight minute, five on five, overtime that changed.  East remained on the attack and were starting to beat the defense, but now Rooney came though.  She stopped all nine East shots in the overtime.  Andover did not get a shot on goal in the overtime.  The game ended 2-2.  Section 7AA is going to be tough this year.

What is next?

This corner of YHH grew up in the middle of Minnesota’s Arrowhead Country south of Ely/Tower Sudan.  Going in any direction from home meant walking through miles of forests devoid of people.  One learns how to hunt, how to fish, and how to stop and listen to the forest come alive.  That is because there is little else to do.  Someone growing up in that country does not easily learn to play hockey and to become skilled playing the sport.  For Husby to play on a girls team, she would have to travel three hours each day just to get to and from practice.  The Ely/Tower Sudan boys team is her only real choice and summer hockey, especially games, are out.  Husby has talent and quickness to play goalie.  She also has courage to stand up to 80 mph plus shots from less than 10 feet, something she had to do often against St. Paul Como.  A sophomore this season, she will get better.

Ely/Tower Sudan has a young team this year with only one senior, Jared Spector, on the roster.  The Timberwolves varsity and junior varsity rosters have six juniors and 21 sophomores, freshmen, and younger players.  Both Timberwolves goalies, Husby and Mark Killoran, are sophomores and have split the playing time.  The Timberwolves played the Cougars fairly evenly until they lost their cool after the ref’s calls in the second period.  They should mature and get better.  After losing 12-1 to Como Friday night, the Timberwolves lost 4-1 to St. Paul Highland Park Saturday afternoon.  Ely returns home to play three home games in the next two weeks, Eveleth-Gilbert, unbeaten Chaska, and Pine City/Rush City.  The Timberwolves play 21 games this season before playing in Section 7A tourney dominated by Hermantown and Duluth Marshall.

St. Paul Como has won their first four games.  They are favorites in the rest of their December games.  At the start of January, the Cougars should be 12-0, but will have played only one Section 4A games (St. Paul Highland Park).  Totino-Grace, last year’s Class A State Tourney consolation champs, usually dominate Section 4A.  The Eagles are 1-3 in the early going and how strong the Grace will be this year is yet to be determined.  Mahtomedi, with an opening win over Cretin-Derham Hall 7-5 looks to be the early favorite in Section 4A. Como may have to wait till Section 4A play to find out just how strong they really are.      

Andover put a “shot across the bow of Duluth East, Grand Rapids, Elk River, and St. Michael-Albertville”, all Section 7AA foes vying to be one of four teams to make the trip to AMSOIL Arena next March for the Section 7AA semifinals.  Andover would like nothing better to play Duluth East on their community center ice in the lead up game to that trip, but this week have to re-focus on Wayazata and then returning to the Northwestern Suburb Conference playing Maple Grove, Centennial, and Elk River in the next two weeks.

Maddie Rooney was first noticed by YHH at a Burnsville Peewee A 2009 Thanksgiving Classic.  She had played well on a Husky peewee A team that had Tyler Vold, Reece Tullbane, Anthony Banack, Zach Sitarz, Dylan Holt, Byron Gunderson, Colton Hughes, and Matt Decowski on their roster.  All are on the varsity roster and playing in front of her.  The Andover peewees lost Edina team that had Dylan Malmquist, Casey Dornbach, Matt Masterman, Kieffer Bellows, Ryan Zuhlsdorf, Ben Newhouse, Chase Jungels, and Mark Kaske on their roster in the semifinals 5-0.  Andover will not play Edina this season unless both teams meet in the Class AA State Tourney.

Duluth East continues their independent schedule playing Cloquet, St. Michael-Albertville, Centennial, and Cambridge-Isanti before taking a Christmas holiday break.  After Christmas, Duluth East plays St. Thomas Academy in the Schwan Cup Gold Tourney quarterfinals at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.  They are bracketed with Edina and Minnetonka.  Eden Prairie plays Hill-Murray and Eastview plays Burnsville in other quarterfinal games.