Section 1AA Wednesday Results

In Section 1AA quarterfinal play, #1 seeded Lakeville South proved too quick for Rochester Mayo.  The Spartan’s opening the game with determination playing tough defense.  They were successful for most of the first period, but a freak goal five minutes into the period and another weird goal late in the period put Mayo down 3-0 at the start of the second period.  The Mayo defense spent most of the opening period focusing keeping the Cougars “at bay” in Mayo’s zone and it worked until Kelsey Olsen picked up the puck along the left end line and fired a hard pass to the top of the crease.  The puck hit a defender’s skate and caromed into the net to put South up 1-0.  With under two minutes left in the opening period, Morgan Morse took a hard high shot from the right slot and the puck “disappeared” into the Mayo net.  It took the ref a few seconds to determine the puck was lodged behind the upper center post.  South broke open the game early in the second period with three quick scores to take a 6-0 lead.  They cruised to an 11-0 win, but had to respect the Mayo defense.  They had the Cougars working hard in the opening period.  South spread the scoring, three (senior Morgan Morse, junior Maddie Nelson, and sophomore Ellie Lauderdale) each scored two goals.  Mayo ninth grade goalie Sophie Butterfass stopped 44 of South’s 55 shots on goal.

Dodge County rolled over Farmington at Kasson 6-0.  In the battle of the “cats”, the Wildcats scored three times in the second period to take a 4-0 lead into the third.  In the opening two periods the Wildcats outshot the Tigers 36-11.  The young Tigers had a good season going 12-12-1 playing in the tough South Suburban Conference for the first time.  Three Farmington players are seniors (Michaela Tonsager, Shelby Klotz, and Morgan Medved) this year.  The Tigers roster had 13 eighth and ninth graders for the sectional playoffs.

Rochester Century pulled the only upset in the Section 1AA quarterfinals beating #3 seeded (and 20 game winner) Rochester John Marshall/Lourdes 4-3 in overtime.  Sophomore Maddie Leqve got the winning overtime goal, but it was junior Frankie Mickelson and Marshall’s junior Rebecca Freiburger that did the damage.  Mickelson scored the hat trick and assisted Leqve on the winning goal.  Freiburger also got the hat trick as the two players traded goals through the first three periods.  The Century defense stiffened just enough to slow the Marshall attack.  Marshall still got 43 shots on net, stopping 40, to post a 93% save total for the game.  Hockey games are won or lost by inches, sometimes measured in effort.

In the final quarterfinal game played Wednesday, Lakeville North beat Owatonna 3-0.  Owatonna’s senior goalie Kacy Borwege kept the Huskies in the game shutting down the Panthers despite being outshot 23-3 in the first two periods.  North senior Riley Tousignant scored the game winner two minutes into the third period finally beating Borwege.  Senior Taylor Flaherty added the insurance goal and junior Morgan Manes scored an empty netter to seal Owatonna’s fate.      

Section 3AA Wednesday Results

Section 3AA’s #1 seed Eagan beat Woodbury 6-1 in their quarterfinal game Wednesday.  The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period on two goals by ninth grade defenseman Taylor Anderson.  Anderson went on to score the hat trick.  Seniors Alexia Wilson and Olivia Asta and junior Elise Lee each scored a goal.  Eagan outshot the Royals 52-6.  East Ridge beat Park/Cottage Grove 4-2.  Park took a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period on goals by senior Alyssa Wickenhouser and junior Maddy Jeske.  Junior Katie Scheibner tied the game 2-2 for East Ridge early in the second period; senior Jessie Anderson scored the game winner late in the second period.  Siobhan Claugherty got the third period insurance goal.

At Hastings, the Raiders got an early first period score from Abby Putnam and a late first period score from Sara Pevonka on a power play to give Hasting a 2-0 lead over Burnsville going into the second period.  The Hastings defense led by senior goalie Brooke Weber held on to that two goal lead to win 2-0 despite being outshot by the Blaze 21-16.  In a rivalry game between two teams that share ice facilities, Eastview beat Apple Valley 4-2 on home ice at the Apple Valley High School Ice Arena.  The Lightning took a two goal lead at the end of the first period on scores by Erika Geary and Brooke Pahlen.  Apple Valley’s Amy Breckner scored the only second period goal to cut Eastview’s lead to 2-1.  The Eagles Natalie Breckner tied the game with a goal in the first minute of the third period 2-2, but the Lightning’s Kati Quaintance got the game winner five minutes later.  Natalie Snodgrass scored an empty netter to make the final score 4-2.  Eastview outshot Apple Valley 27-14.          

Anoka beats Rogers 1-0 in Section 5AA play-in

In a battle of goaltenders, Wednesday night at the Roseville Ice Arena, Anoka edged Rodgers 1-0 on a goal scored by senior Haley Miller halfway through the game.  The Tornados’ senior goalie Molly Scarborough stopped all 19 Royal shots to win the game and earn the shutout.  The Royals junior goal tender, Ellie Anderson, saw 24 shots on net and stopped 96% of the shots.  In a game where most thought one goal would never stand up, this time it did.  Such is hockey.  Anoka will play Centennial in quarterfinal play at Roseville Saturday.          

Section 7AA play starts

Section 7AA quarterfinal games are played this Thursday, Feb 5th.  This year, the games are not “up north”.  Only Grand Rapids plays at home entertaining St. Francis.  Duluth and Cloquet travel to the “cities”.  Duluth plays Forest Lake and Cloquet plays Andover.  The fourth quarterfinal game has Cambridge-Isanti playing at Elk River.  Section 7AA is becoming “citified” this season.

Section 8AA play-in

Brainerd/Little Falls travels to Bemidji to play the #9 versus #8 seeded game.  The two teams have split their regular season games.  Brainerd won 3-2 in December and lost 4-2 in January.  The Flying Warriors had a nice season ending win beating St. Cloud 3-2.  Brainerd’s offense is led by Allyson Smith (30 points/23 goals) and Maddie Ellingson (20 points/9 goals).  Bemidji had a nice streak going after beating Brainerd in January tying or winning their next five games, but crashed last week at Roseau losing 7-1.  Bemidji’s offense is balanced with six players posting 10 or more points.  Ninth grader Jacie Lalli leads the team scoring.  The Lumberjack defense is anchored by junior goalie Leighton Rockensock (91% saves).  The winner plays #1 seed Roseau in Saturday's quarterfinals.