Section 7AA Thursday Quarterfinal Results

Elk River, seeded #1 in Section 7AA, beat Cambridge-Isanti 9-0 Thursday in a game played at Elk River.  The Elks broke open the game with five second period goals to take a 7-0 lead into the third period.  Eight Elks scored goals Thursday.  Sophomore Annie Dalton scored twice.  Junior goalie Mikey Gould got the shutout.  The Elks outshot Cambridge 57-9.  Forest Lake’s defense was able to shut down the Duluth attack inside the Ranger’s zone in their 4-1 win.  The Northern Stars could get the puck low on their rushes, but could not set up once inside the Forest Lake zone.  The Ranger defense kept the Stars wide and consistently kept Duluth out of the slot in front of the Ranger goal.  Forest Lake scored three times in the opening period and once in the second period.  Junior Kaitlyn Van Tassel, ninth grader Kayla Kasel, and sophomores Maddie Kolbow and Madi Nolan scored for the Rangers.  Ninth grade defenseman Olyvia Opsahl got the lone Duluth goal.  Forest Lake had the edge in shots on goal 34-27.  Ranger goalie Kaylee Remington got the win for Forest Lake.  Remington, a junior this season, is one of the tallest players on the team.

Grand Rapids beat St. Francis on home ice 10-1 Thursday.  The Vikings’ ninth grader Holly Anderson scored nine seconds into the game to put St. Francis up 1-0.  Then Grand Rapids senior Jordan McLaughlin and sophomore Madison Illikainen went to work.  McLaughlin assisted on two first period goals and scored two to put the Rapids up 4-1 at the end of the first period.  Illikainen scored one of the goals and assisted on another.  Each scored a goal and assisted on another in the second period and each scored in the third period.  McLaughlin finished the game with seven points; Illikainen posted five points Thursday night.  Andover edged Cloquet 2-0 in their quarterfinal game.  It was a defensive battle.  Both teams together could manage only 27 shots on goal.  Andover’s had the edge in pressure often turning the puck in neutral ice and forcing the play in the defensive zone.  Junior Sidney Portner scored the game winner late in the first period.  The Huskies’ Morgan Czech worked the puck to the edge of the right crease and faked shooting the puck at Cloquet goalie Stacy Nelson.  Instead of shooting, the shot became a sharp pass through the top of the crease to Portner on the left side.  Portner one-timed the puck into the open net before Nelson could react.  It was a great play.  Andover made the one goal lead stand until Portner scored the insurance empty net goal late in the third period.  Forest Lakes’ eighth grade goalie Cassidy Stumo got the shutout.   

Bemidji beats Brainerd/Little Falls in 8AA play-in game

Bemidji held off Brainerd/Little Falls’ first period onslaught keeping the opening period a 0-0 tie and went on to score twice in the second period for a 2-0 win over the Flying Warriors.  Madison Schultz scored the game winning goal two minutes into the second period.  Heather Olson scored with two minutes left in the period to give the Lumberjacks a 2-0 lead going into the third period.  Brainerd outshot Bemidji 26-20 but just could not beat the Lumberjacks’ goalie Leighton Rockensock.  Brainerd advances to the 8AA quarterfinals playing the #1 seeded Roseau. 

Section 2AA Quarterfinals

Section 2AA opens play Friday with three quarterfinal games played at the highest seed.  Holy Family Catholic/Waconia travels to Bloomington to play Jefferson; Shakopee plays at Chaska/Chanhassen, and Prior Lake plays Edina at Braemar.  Chaska/Chanhassen edged Jefferson for the Metro West Conference title this past season; Shakopee finished fourth in the South Suburban, three spots ahead of Prior Lake.  Holy Family Catholic finished in a third place tie with New Prague in the Wright County Conference.  Edina tied Wayzata for fourth place in the Lake Conference.  All that will get set aside tonight.

Edina, the #2 seed won their last six regular season games and look prime to make the run to state.  Prior Lake struggled losing four of their last six regular season games.  The Prior Lake defense has been the strength of the team this year, but their offense has lacked scoring.  Prior Lake and Edina did not play each other this year.  Chaska/Chanhassen won five of their last six regular season games, splitting two games with Benilde-St. Margaret’s.  Shakopee has won four of their last six and has played tough.  The Storm Hawks should win tonight, but it will be a tough game.  These two teams have not met this past season.  At BIG, the Jags will find the Fire a tough team to beat.  The two teams met twice this season.  Jefferson lost an early season game 4-1 and beat the Fire 1-0 a week ago.

The intensity of the teams in this section has ratcheted up a couple of notches the past week.  The winner of the Holy Family Catholic/Jefferson game plays YHH #2 ranked Eden Prairie.  The winners of the other two games will meet in the second semifinal.  The semifinal matches at Richfield is shaping up to be two tough low scoring games.  

Section 4AA Quarterfinals Open Friday

Two Section 4AA quarterfinal games will be played tonight at the Roseville Arena.  North St. Paul plays Cretin-Derham Hall at 6:00 PM and Tartan plays Roseville Area in the 8:00 PM game.  North St. Paul lost an early season game to Cretin 6-1 and has lost eight of their last nine regular season games.  The Polar defense has played well at times, but Cretin is a team on a mission, beat Hill and go to the Xcel.  But CDH must know that the Polars can be more than just a nuisance tonight.  Tartan posted a 16-9-1 record this year and finished second in the Metro East behind Hill-Murray. The Titans have had a good season.  Roseville finished with a 14-7-4 record and finished third in the Suburban East Conference.  The Raiders also have had a good season, but the two District 2 rivals (at youth hockey) did not meet this season.  The two teams matchup well offensively and defensively.  The key difference in tonight’s game could be the Titan’s junior goalie, Madeline Campbell.  Campbell has been in the nets all season for the Titans and has given up an average of 1.7 goals a game while saving 94% of the shots on goal.