Section 2A Quarterfinals Thursday

Section 2A’s quarterfinals games were completed Thursday.  Willmar edged a tought Bulldog team (St. Peter/LSH/TCU) 2-1 and in the battle of Mankato, East beat West 7-1.  In the game played at Willmar, the Bulldogs were led by a “bulldog” goaltender.  Ninth grader Jordan Keeley stopped 47 of 49 Cardinal shots to keep the game close.  Keeley posted a remarkable 8-16-1 record giving up an average of 4.5 goals a game while stopping 90% of the shots on goal.  She saw 1,072 shots in 25 games.  Willmar’s senior captain, Shelby Schneider scored late in the first period to put Willmar up 1-0.  The Bulldogs’ ninth grader Emma Doherty-Bohn scored in the second to tie the game 1-1 only to have sophomore Cardinal Riley Schneider score the game winner three minutes later.  The Bulldogs brought pressure in the third period but could not beat Cardinal’s junior goalie Johnika Wodash.  Willmar advances to Section 2A’s semifinals and will play Hutchinson Saturday.

Someone once said to win, score early, score late, and score often.  Mankato East opened their quarterfinal game with a blitz that saw the Cougars score early, score halfway through the period and score late.  They outshot the Scarlets 20-2 in the opening period in beating Mankato West 7-1.  Senior Kylie Paulson scored thirty seconds into the game; sophomore Gina Stoner scored at the halfway mark; and sophomore Bailey Kanstrup scored with two minutes left in the first period.  East went on to score often adding four more goals.  Carissa Shank, Rebekah Kolstad, Taylor Kanstrup, and Camryn Steinberg each scored for the Cougars.  The Scarlets’ Marissa Swenson got the lone West goal.

Section 5A Quarterfinal Results

Totino-Grace pushed Breck hard in the early quarterfinal game played at Parade Thursday.  The Eagles battled Breck evenly in the first period, trailing the Mustangs 2-1 at the end of the first period.  Then T-G opened the second period with a strong attack, drew a penalty, and tied the game 2-2 on a power play goal.  All that happened in the first minutes of the second period.  For the remainder of the second period, Breck and Grace forwards exchanged rushes with neither team scoring.  Gradually Totino-Grace’s defense was getting worn down.  Breck’s forwards were getting more and more open space in the Eagles’ zone putting more and more pressure on Grace’s senior goalie Logan Knip.  A Eagle penalty with five minutes left in the period resulted in Breck scoring what proved to be the winning goal.  The Mustangs’ senior leading scorer Grace Zumwinkle found the open space in the middle of the Eagle’s penalty kill and buried a shot from the slot for the game winner.  The Eagle’s came out flat in the third period and Breck’s ninth grade Gabby Billing and Zumwinkle each added two goals to end the scoring 7-2.  Billing had a hat trick.  Zumwinkle had a hat trick plus one.  The two combined to score all seven Breck goals with each centering their own line.

Orono blew open a tight game with Holy Angels scoring three second period goals, two by Spartan junior Brianna Bren.  Added to a first period goal by Bren, she ended the game with a hat trick.  Orono senior Ellie Greiber scored the fourth Spartan goal.  Isabel Bianchi scored a goal in the third period to make the final score 4-1.  Orono outshot Holy Angels 19-5 in the second period.  Holy Angels senior goalie Maddie Schertler played well stopping 34 of Orono’s 38 shots.

Two more games are on tap at Parade Friday

St. Louis Park plays #1 seeded Blake in the early game tonight.  Blake was riding high in the YHH rankings until they lost three games in a row two weeks ago.  They came back to beat St. Paul United (#1 seed in 4A) 5-1 and Holy Angels 6-0.  Blake is a heavy favorite to beat St. Louis Park.  Park beat Minneapolis 4-3 Wednesday in Section 5A’s play-in game.  The Orioles will be used to facing tough opposition, their last six games of regular season were against Jefferson, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, and Chaska/Chanhassen.  The evening game at Parade matches Princeton/Big Lake/Becker against Mound/Westonka.  Mound/Westonka finished second this year in the Wright County Conference behind Orono.  They posted a winning record but had a tough January going 5-4-0.  The four losses were to Orono twice in conference play, Breck, and New Prague (Section 1A’s #2 seed).  Princeton finished second in the Mississippi 8 conference this past year behind Buffalo.  The posted a great record going 18-6-1 on the season.  Their one tie was a 3-3 tie with Mound/Westonka in early December.  Princeton has six players who scored twenty or points this season.  Their offense is led by sophomore Maggie Peterson (60 points/23 goals), senior Bridget Walter (57 points/29 goals), and junior Erica Schramel (47 points/18 goals).  This will be a tough game with no clear favorite.     

Section 7A Quarterfinals Thursday

International Falls took a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period, added two more in the second period and one in the third to beat North Shore 6-0 their quarterfinal game.  The Broncos got first period goals from their three top scorers-ninth grader Amber Tilander, sophomore Lexi Edwards, and sophomore Lexi Erickson.  Tilander scored in the second period to put the Broncos up 4-0.  Senior Kylie Skallman scored later in the second period to make it a 5-0 lead going into the third period.  Edwards got her second goal of the game in the third period to end the scoring 6-0.  The Falls goalie, ninth grader Kalaya McConnell, got the shutout stopping all 18 North Shore shots.  Moose Lake matched the Falls beat Eveleth-Gilbert 6-0.  The Golden Bears could not contain the Rebels’ scoring duo of sophomore Jessica Bird (75 points/34 goals) and freshman Asia Gobel (46 points/30 goals).  They slowed Bird, holding her to a single goal, but could not keep Gobel from scoring a hat trick.  Ninth grade goalie Maddy Gamst got the shutout for the Rebels.     

Section 8A Quarterfinals Thursday

Crookston took a three goal lead in the first period on goals by junior Annie Hajostek, sophomore Macy Strem, and junior Leah Trostad and went on to beat Park Rapids 6-2.  The Pirates added two more in the second period on scores by Hajostek and were cruising with a 5-0 lead when the third period started.  Park Rapids rallied when ninth grader Paige Myhre and sophomore Serena Aletto scored to cut the Pirates lead to 5-2.  Trostad scored a late third period goal to end the scoring 6-2.  Hajostek was involved in five of the six goals Crookston scored.       

Section 3A Friday games

Section 3A semifinal games are played Friday night when Fairmont travels to New Ulm and Luverne hosts Marshall.  The Fairmont/New Ulm game is the most interesting Class A game being played Friday.  The winner is likely to win the Class 3A Championship next Tuesday and be the first team to get a ticket to the Xcel.  New Ulm has beaten Fairmont twice this season 6-2 in December and 7-1 two weeks ago.  What throws everything off is that Fairmont beat Luverne 8-4 and Luverne beat New Ulm 5-4 in the past three weeks.  Marshall edged Luverne 5-4 three weeks ago, that also makes these two semifinal games tough to call and interesting to watch.