The game matched two top lines in the state, New Ulm’s line of seniors Brandon Helget and Colin Huffman and junior Ethan Kraus (147 points/70 goals in their 25 regular season games) against Luverne’s line of ninth grader Jaxon Nelson, junior Chaz Smedsrud, and senior Andrew Verhey (139 points/98 goals in regular season play).  Nelson, a YHH top 50 peewee A pick in 2012, has grown this past year.  So has Smedsrud.  The two teams had played each other twice in conference games.  Luverne beat New Ulm at home 8-1 and lost to the Eagles 5-2 at New Ulm.

Nelson, a YHH top 50 peewee A pick in 2012, has grown this past year.  So has Smedsrud.  The two were among the biggest players on the ice Wednesday.

The game was defined by New Ulm’s ability to counter strike.  At key moments in the game, Luverne would score to tie or cut the Eagles lead to a single goal (1-1, 3-2, 5-4), only to have the Eagles quickly counter to build their lead again.  Both goaltenders had to make some tough stops. The shots on goal were fairly even, but with the trip to state on the line in the last minutes of the third period, Eagle’s goalie Matt Berkner made some great saves to preserve New Ulm’s victory.            

Period one-Eagles set the tone.

New Ulm set the tone for the game in the opening period by keeping the Cardinals from getting in a playing rhythm.  In the first minutes of the opening period, Luverne attacked the Eagles in their zone.  Luverne’s top line had the scoring chances early on, but they were just off their the puck handling and position.  The Eagles offense can be explosive and though Luverne controlled puck in the New Ulm zone, the defensemen were on edging back from the blue line.  Both teams made quick line changes and the opening minutes were going the Cardinal’s way until Luverne drew a penalty.  It took New Ulm’s power play ten seconds to score.  The Eagles won the face off to the right of the Cardinals’ net, moved the puck to the center blue line left.  A shot from the blue was tipped on the way to the net.  New Ulm’s Colin Huffman got credit for the power play goal.  Brandon Helget and Wyatt Peterson got the assists.  The Eagles led 1-0.

It did not take Luverne long to tie the game.  Less than a minute later, with the Cardinals top line on the attack, a Jaxon Nelson shot from the left faceoff circle ended up bouncing in the Eagles crease.  The Cards’ Andrew Verhey swept in from the left, pulled the puck away from the defense and fired a backhander into the net to tie the game 1-1.  Nelson and Chaz Smedsrud got the assists.

The two teams battled over the next few minutes, each having scoring opportunities; but with eight minutes left in the period, New Ulm top line pinned the Luverne defense and worked the puck low to the Cards’ net.  The puck bounced out of the resulting melee to New Ulm’s Ethan Kraus in the slot.  Krause scored.  Colin Huffman got the assist, New Ulm regained the lead 2-1.  A minute later, the Eagles scored again.  This time Brandon Helget beat the Luverne defense turning the play into a 2-on-1 rush.  Using his wing as a foil, Helget beat senior goalie Connor Crabtree.  Ethan Kraus got the assist.  New Ulm led 3-1.

Luverne scored with three minutes left in the first period.  The Cards’ Chaz Smedsrud scored on a hard shot from the top of the left faceoff circle beating Eagles’ goalie Berkner in the upper right corner to cut the lead to 3-2.  Nelson got the assist. 

The first period ended 3-2 New Ulm leading; the Eagles outshot Luverne 15-14 in the period.

Period two-A New Ulm mistake keeps Luverne in the game

Luverne opened the period by putting pressure on the New Ulm goal in the first five minutes of play.  The Cardinals’ top line of Nelson, Smedsrud, and Verhey had the Eagles defense scrambling in the New Ulm zone trying to protect the net.  Berkner made some good stops.  After that first five minutes of defensive hockey, New Ulm’s offensive rolled.  With ten minutes left on the clocke, the Eagles struck with two quick goals.  Ethan Kraus scored the goal, but the score was the result of hard work in the Luverne zone by the New Ulm offense.  Helget and Huffman got the assists.  New Ulm led 4-2.  Twenty seconds later, a Cardinal miscue in the Luverne’s zone led to senior Wyatt Peterson scoring unassisted putting the Eagles up 5-2.  At this point, Luverne looked ready to mail the rest of the game in and go home.  Two minutes later, an Eagle mistake, turned that around

With seven minutes left in the second period, Luverne scored on an unusual play.  It started with fierce rush by Luverne defenseman Sengvongxay.  The Cardinals were on a penalty kill when Sengvongxay took off beating the New Ulm defense crossing the blue line along the right boards.  Carrying the puck low into right faceoff circle, Sengvongxay cut to the top of the crease as the New Ulm defender dived at Toby taking his legs out.  The puck slid to a stop to the right of the Eagles goal and the ref raised his arm in a delayed penalty call.  The New Ulm defense never touched the puck, thinking the play was over.  But the ref never blew the whistle.  He just stood there arm up.  Luverne continued the play.  The Cardinals’ Chaz Smedsrud retrieved the puck and slid it into the net while the New Ulm defenders just watched.  Smedsrud got the short handed score; Toby Sengvongxay got the assist cutting New Ulm lead to 5-3.

One mistake and it was game on again for the next five minutes with Luverne getting some great pressure and New Ulm responding with rushes on the Cardinals’ goal.  Luverne drew a penalty as the period ended.  But the game was close 5-3, the New Ulm momentum slowed, and the shots on goal even 24 shots each.  

Period three-Luverne tires

As the first two did, the third period started well  for Luverne.  Less than a minute into the period, a Luverne rush found Nelson alone on the left side of the Eagles net.  Nelson one timed the puck past the Eagles’ Berkner’s high skate save attempt cutting the Eagles lead to 5-4.  Sengvongxay got the assist.  Game on?  No!  Twenty seconds later, New Ulm’s  Brandon Helget to put the Eagles up by two goals again 6-4;  Ethan Kraus and senior Lucas Heiderschidt got the assists.

The next shift, the Cardinals came out storming the net.  Nelson broke low to the right of the Eagles goal carrying the puck and teed up a nice 10 foot backhanded pass for Verhey.  Verhey one-timed the puck off the right post.  Later, on the same shift, a nice lead pass that would had led to a solo on Berkner inadvertently hit a skate breaking up a solo chance to score.  It was after that shift, that Luverne’s top line tired.

New Ulm’s top line kept coming and was doing the damage controlling play over the next few minutes.  With less than seven minutes left in the game, New Ulm junior defenseman Alex Sellner scored on a shot from the left faceoff circle to put New Ulm up 7-4.  Helge and Huffman got the assists.  New Ulm continued to control the game flow until Luverne’s Chaz Smedsrud scored from the left faceoff circle with three minutes left in the game to close the gap to 7-5.  Sengvongxay and Jaxon Nelson got the assists.  With 90 seconds left in the game, Berkner had to make one more big stop when Sengvongxay beat the Eagles defense into the slot and fired point blank on the the goalie.  The game ended.  New Ulm won 7-5 in a wild affair.  It was a great game that was played in a great setting in front of a packed house.  That is Minnesota hockey at its best.

What is next?

For New Ulm, it is this weekend when the seeds are announced.  The Eagles will head to the Xcel to play a quarterfinal game Wednesday, March 4th.  The guess here is that they will draw either Mahtomedi or Hermantown in a quarterfinal game (providing Mahtomedi wins the 4A title Thursday).  Congratulations to New Ulm, the 2015 Section 3A champions.

For the Luverne seniors, led by Verhey, Crabtree, and Sengvongxay; it has been a great six years following your play.  Your team has been fun to watch from peewees on up.  YHH gets to go back next year and cover more Luverne games as more Cardinal players come off the Luverne Association’s youth teams.  What maybe this group’s legacy is the Big South Conference.  The Big South Conference played its’ first regular season in 2014-2015.  Most would say the Big South needs to improve.  But how does that happen?  It starts with numbers, in this case eight teams.  Five of the eight Big South teams won 10 or more games this year, the other three had their moments of victory.  Next year, one of those eight teams will chase down either New Ulm or Luverne.  YHH saw the signs of that this season at Richfield before the New Year.

It is fitting that these two teams played in the Don Roberts Ice Arena.  Don Roberts coached the Gustavus Adolphus hockey team for 33 years retiring 18 years ago as the winningest hockey coach in Division III hockey (532-290-25).  He coached Gustavus in the MIAC starting the program in 1964-1965.  He coached hockey because he needed to coach a team in the winter (he was also the football coach).  Roberts could barely skate and used a book written by Edward Jeremiah in 1942 as a guide to coaching.  Couldn’t skate well and using a book to learn the sport on the job, Roberts became a hockey legend.  That is the path the Big South could be on.