The Northland Group has hosted the Mt. Dew Blast in St. Cloud for the past six years.  Northland has developed a network of AAA Hockey teams geared to kids who want to play hockey and other sports in the summer.  The Northland Hockey Group launched its first seven teams six years ago.  The seven AAA teams were located in north and central Minnesota.  Northland has expanded since and today has teams south into Iowa and Nebraska, west into North and South Dakota, north into Canada and east into Wisconsin.  Each AAA Hockey organization can have multiple teams at different age levels that play under the same name.  Teams from AAA organizations outside of the Northland Group were entered in the Bernick's Mt. Dew Blast, but Northland gears their tourneys around teams that compete at the same level.  In last weekend’s tourney, the Ice Edge (program is run out of the southwestern Twin Cities area), had four teams (one 2003, two 2002, and one 2001 team) entered.  Note that the scores for the tourney can be found at nhgtournaments.com.   

1. 2003 American Tourney

1A. 2003 American Pool Play: (Pool A finish-#1 Bakken Oilers, #2 Rapid Fire, and #3 Red River Pike; Pool B finish-#1 Thunder Bay Rage, #2 Northwest Stars, and #3 Wolverines)

The Bakken Oilers proved unbeatable in Pool A play and the Thunder Bay Rage recovered from an opening game loss to win the Pool B championship.  In Friday’s opening pool game at the National Hockey Center (used by USA hockey to evaluate hockey players for USA National teams), the Rapid Fire, led by Jack Eckholm, beat the Red River Pike 4-3.  Eckholm was involved in three of the four Fire goals, scoring one and assisting on two.  With five minutes left in the game, Eckholm scored the game winner unassisted.  Mason Erickson, Preston Hansen, and Cameron Pietrusa each scored for the Rapid Fire.  Thomas Bienek scored twice for the Pike.  Finley Lizakowski scored the first Pike goal.  In Friday’s second game, the Thunder Bay Rage and the Wolverines got into a scoring “rage” in the first period of their opening pool game.  The two teams scored 6 goals in nine minutes of play with the Wolverines coming out on top with a 4-2 lead.  The Wolverines went on to win the game 6-3.  The Wolverines’ Baron Stibbe got the hat trick; Brendan Richards scored twice and added an assist; and Easton Rerick scored in the win.   Kaylan Campbell, Kalvin Biniaris, and Drew Caddio scored for the Rage.

The Bakken Oilers beat the Northwest Stars (from the Thief River Falls/Roseau area) 7-2.  In winning, the Oilers scored consistently in each period.  The Oilers’ Zach Diehl scored twice.  Braden Panzer, Dylan Jensen, Dawson Knudson, and Dylan Tostenson each scored once.  Panzer assisted on four Oiler scores to post 5 points for the game.  Gavin Helgeland and John Finnegan scored for the Stars. 

Saturday morning, the Bakken Oilers beat Red River Pike 7-0 and the Rapid Fire beat the Wolverines 5-4 setting up a Pool A championship game Saturday afternoon between the Oilers and the Fire.  The Oilers’ Braden Panzer again led the team in scoring posting 4 points/3 assists in the game bringing his two game totals to 9 points/7 assists.  Dylan Jensen scored twice and Dylan Taralson, Camden Schwab, Kole Fitzpatrick, Zach Diehl, and Tyler Misialek each scored once.  Saturday afternoon, the Oilers blitzed the Rapid Fire 10-3 to win Pool A.  The Rage tied the Northwest Stars 4-4 Saturday morning and beat the Red River Pike 6-2 to win Pool B  

1B. 2003 American Championships

Bakken Oilers beat the Thunder Bay Rage 8-0 to win the 2003 American championship.  The Oilers took a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period and blew the game open with four second period goals.  The Oilers Braden Panzer and Dylan Jensen each scored a hat trick in the championship game.  Jensen added an assist and the Oilers, Zach Diehl and Charlie Larsen each got a score.    

Northwestern Stars beat Rapid Fire 6-5 in one of the most exciting games played Sunday.  In the third place game, the Rapid Fire took a 4-2 lead into the third period only to have the Stars score three times to tie the game 5-5 and force an overtime/shootout.  Stars goalie Brody Lund stopped the Fire shooters to earn the third place win.  The Stars Adam Severson and Justin Overgaard scored shootout goals.  Severson scored one of the third period comeback goals; Overgaard scored in the third also and had an assist.  The Fire’s Gracie Thomas scored and assisted on two of the Fire’s five goals.

2. 2003 National Tourney

2A: 2003 National Tourney Pool Play: (Pool A finish-#1 Grizzlys, #2 Renegades Red, #3 Pony Pride, and #4 Jets; Pool B-#1 Blast, #2 Ice Edge Black, #3 Warriors, and #4Renegades Gold)

The Renegades Red and the Grizzly’s tied in their opening Pool A game Friday 3-3.  Both teams won their Saturday morning games.  Grizzly’s beat Pony Pride 2-0 and the Renegades Red beat the Jets 5-2.  The Jets held a 2-1 lead halfway through their game with the Red when the Red’s Tucker Rhodes scored to tie the game and Carter Boehler scored the game winner.  Ryan Meland and Jordon Blockowiak added third period scores to end the scoring 5-2.   The Red and the Grizzly’s swapped opponents Saturday evening with the Grizzly’s holding a point advantage as a result of shutting out the Ponys (shutout wins were worth three points).  Both team won.  The Grizzly’s beat the Jets 10-1 with Jaden Bull scoring the hat trick.  The Red beat the Ponys 5-1.  The Renegades Red needed a shutout against the Ponys to force a tiebreaker with the Grizzly’s.  The Grizzly’s won the Pool A championship.

The Ice Edge Black beating the Midwest Warriors 10-3 in the opening Pool B game.  The Ice Edge’s Ivan Sunder led an opening first period rally that saw the Black score four goals in the first five minutes of the game.  The Ice Edge’s Ethan Dominy and Wyatt Smith took over in the second half of the game.  Smith scored twice and Dominy finished the game with a goal and three assists.  In the Ice Edge’s second game against the Renegade Gold Saturday morning Ethan Dominy and Wyatt Smith combined to score two goals in the first period to put the Ice Edge up 2-0 and led the Black to a 5-0 win.  Dominy got the goals and Smith got the assists.  Jake Johnson scored for the Ice Edge in the third period to put the Edge up 3-0.  The Black’s Jeremiah Caldwell and Ivan Sunder added insurance goals.  The Iron Range Blast beat the Renegade Gold 9-0 Friday and the Midwest Warriors 6-4 Saturday morning setting up a Pool B championship game Saturday afternoon with the Ice Edge.  The Blast’s Ethan Lund scored three third period goals to bring the Iron Rangers back from a 4-3 deficit in the Warrior game for the 6-4 win.  Lund also got an assist to finish the game with four points.  The game featured for shorthanded scores.   The Iron Ranger’s  Isaac Erickson scored a shorthanded second period goal to put the Blast up 3-1 when the Warriors rallied behind Nathan Schibilla and Noah Heiderscheid’s shorthanded goals to take a 4-3 lead.

In Saturday’s evening games, the Iron Rangers took a 4-0 lead behind two goals by Ethan Lund and scores by Reed Kearney and Isaac Erickson and win on to beat the Ice Edge 5-3 to take the Pool B championship.  Patrick Pierre Jr. got the fifth Ranger goal; Wyatt Smith, Abraham Melek, and Jonathan Essen scored for the Edge.  

2B. 2003 National Championships

In the second championship game played Sunday morning at the National Hockey Center, the Grizzly’s beat Iron Rangers Blast 2-0.  The 2003 National championship game was tightly fought.  Both teams played a tough defensive game with only 23 shots on goal.  The game was tied 0-0 with six minutes left to play when the Grizzly’s Josh Minkkinen scored the game winner.  The Rangers attacked pinning the Grizzly’s in their own zone and pulled their goalie in the last minutes of play, but the Grizzly’s Elijah Unze scored the empty netter skating the puck the length of the ice.   

The third place game between the Ice Edge Black and the Renegade Red was a similar hard fought defensive battle.  The Black’s Logan Boston scored in the first minute of play to put the Edge up 1-0.  Boston added to that lead with a goal in the opening minutes of the second period.  The Red struck back halfway through the third period cutting the Edge’s lead to 2-1 and pressured the Black in the Ice Edge zone in the last minutes of play pulling their goalie.  This time, the Black’s Ethan Dominy came up with the puck at the Ice Edge blue line and fired the long shot into the empty net with a minute left to play.  Ice Edge took third place winning 3-1.

3. 2002 American Tourney

3A: 2002 American Pool Play: (Pool A finish-#1 NoDak Oilers, #2 Rum River Renegades, #3 Midwest Warriors, and #4 Hometown); Pool B-#1 Predators, #2 Ice Edge, #3 Winnipeg Jets, and #4 Iron Range Blast)

In Pool A play Friday, the NoDak Oilers beat Hometown 3-1 breaking open a scoreless tie with two second period goals to take a 2-0 lead into the third period.  The Oilers’ Kaden Nelsen scoring the first goal with just under five minutes left on the clock in the second period; Sean Korsmo scored the game winner two minutes later.  Hometown’s Carter Smith scored late in the third period to make the game close.  The Oilers’ Cooper Allen got the insurance goal with less than 30 seconds left in the game.  In the second Pool A game Friday, the Renegades beat the Midwest Warriors 3-2.  In Friday’s Pool B games, the Winnipeg Jets beat the Iron Range Blast 3-1.  Sully Tikkanen scored the lone Blast goal in the second period.  The Blast ended up drawing seven penalties in the game.  The Ice Edge Blue tied the Predators in their opening game of the tourney 4-4.  The Blue scored twice in the third period to comeback from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game.  The Edge’s Andrew Strom scored his third goal of the game for a hat trick.  Brady Fetzer got the tying goal a minute later.  Four players (Colton Patain, Logen Schake, Logan Johnson, and Dylan Philipp) scored for the Predators.

Saturday morning, in Pool A play, the Midwest Warriors beat Hometown 6-2 and the Oilers and Renegades tied 2-2 setting up a final round of pool play Saturday evening with all four teams contending for the top spot.  The NoDak Oilers tied the Midwest Warriors in their Saturday evening game 2-2.  That meant the Renegades needed a win or a 1-1 or 0-0 tie to claim the Pool A title.  The Renegades took a 2-0 lead with Jared Petty scoring one of the two goals.  Hometown’s Carter Smith scored to cut the lead to 2-1.  The Renegades’ Alex Bengtson scored to regain a two goal lead 3-1.  Hometown’s Gavin Forga scored to cut the lead to 3-2 forcing the Renegades to win the game.  When Hometown’s David Osendorf scored with less than a minute left in the game to tie the score 3-3, the Renegades needed a quick score to advance.  They could not beat the Hometown defense.  The game ended in a 3-3 tie.  The NoDak Oilers won the pool.

In Saturday’s Pool B play, the Ice Edge Blue beat the Iron Range Blast 4-1 and the Predators beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 in their Saturday morning games.  John Lane scored twice for the Ice Edge and Samuel Lejeune and Andrew Storm each scored once as the Blue built a 4-0 lead halfway through the third period before the Blast’s Bryce Vest scored.  The Predators’ Colby Hernandez scored in the opening minutes of the first period to put the Predators up 1-0 at the end of the first period.  In the second period, they added three straight goals by Logan Johnson, Noah Johnson, and Creighton Walz to take a 4-0 lead before the Jets scored to cut the lead to 4-1.  The Predators’ Joseph Ensrud scored the fifth Predator goal in the 5-2 win.

The Ice Edge Blue and the Predators were tied for the pool championship going into the final Pool B game.  The Predators took the ice first Saturday evening against the Blast and won 7-0.  The Ice Edge Blue needed to get a winning shutout to tie for the Pool B Championship.  They won 10-4 and finished second.

3B. 2002 American Championships

The Predators’ duo of Colby Hernandez and Sterling Andrews took early control of the 2002 American Championship game by scoring three goals to build a 3-0 Predator lead late in the second period before the Oilers’ Sean Korsmo put the Oilers on the scoreboard with two minutes left in the period to cut the lead to 3-1.  The Predators added three goals in the third period and went on to claim the tourney championship beating the Oilers 6-2.  Hernandez got the opening goal assisted by Andrews and Andrews got the next two scores assisted by Hernandez.  The Predators’ Joseph Ensrud, Noah Johnson, and Dylan Philipp scored the three third period goals; Mathew Eide scored the Oilers third period goal.

The Ice Edge Blue won the third place trophy beating the Rum River Renegades 7-2.  The Edge broke open a tie game 1-1 scoring three goals in the first half of the second period, added one more second period goal, and scored twice in the third period.  The Blue’s James Diedel scored the hat trick and assisted on another goal.  Logan Starkey scored twice for the Edge and Connor Mack once in the third place win.  Luke McCurdy and Alec Bengtson scored for the Renegades.

4. 2002 National Tourney

4A. 2002 National Pool Play: (Pool A finish-#1 Great Lakes Gulls, #2 Ice Edge Black, #3 Grizzly’s and #4 Outlaws; Pool B-#1 Bombers, #2 Granitemen, #3 Walleyes, and #4 Young Guns)

In the National Tourney Pool A play Friday, the Ice Edge Black beat the Grizzly’s 4-3 and the Great Lakes Gulls beat the Outlaws 6-1.  In Saturday morning play, the Gulls beat the Black 3-1 and the Grizzly’s beat the Outlaws 2-1.  Saturday evening, the Gulls beat the Grizzly’s 6-3 to sweep Pool A play winning all three pool games.  The Ice Edge Black beat the Outlaws 3-0 to take second place.

In Pool B action Friday, the Granitemen beat the Walleyes 3-0 and the Bombers beat the Young Guns 6-0.  Saturday morning, the Granitemen beat the Young Guns 4-0 and the Bombers beat the Walleyes 4-0.  Saturday evening the Granitemen and the Bombers battled for the Pool B championship with Bombers holding the tie breaker (goal differential).  The Bombers beat the Granitemen 5-2 to win Pool B; the Granitemen took second.

4B. 2002 National Championships

The Bombers beat the Great Lakes Gulls 6-1 getting scoring from six different players.  They took a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Joey Mullen and Will Howard.  The Bombers’ Brecken Short scored in the first minute of the second period to put the Bombers up 3-0.  Then game settled after that score.  Three quick Bomber goals in the opening three minutes in the third period put the Championship Trophy in the Bomber’s locker room.  They led 6-0 and coasted to a 6-1 win.  The Gulls Brayden Tyman scored the lone Gulls’ goal.

In the third place game, the Ice Edge Black “edged” the Granitemen 6-5.  The Granitemen scored first halfway through the opening period to take a 1-0 lead.  Nolan Widmen got the score.  A minute later, the Edge’s Avery Pittman went to work scoring twice in the next ninety seconds to kick-off a four goal run by the Black.  The Black’s Will Gilbert and Connor Gullemette scored the third and fourth goals.  The Granitemen came back with goals by Nick Stevens, Josiah Gronholz, Isaac Young, and Robby Kuchinski-Helgeson to tie the game 5-5 with six minutes to play.  The Ice Edge’s Pittman scored the game winner with four minutes to play.  The goal, his third of the game, gave him the hat trick.       

5. 2001 American Tourney

5A. 2001 American Pool Play: (Pool A Finish-#1 Predators, #2 Jack Pine Savages, and #3 Central Lakes Lakers; Pool B-#1 Power/Sanford Health, #2 Rum River Renegades, and #3 NoDak Oilers)

In Friday’s play in Pool A, the Central Lakes Lakers won their opening game in the 2001 American tourney beating Power/Sanford Health 6-0.  The Lakers scored three goals in the first period.  The Lakers Gabe Vosen scored twice (and added two assists in the game) in the opening period.  The Lakers #30 got the hat trick in the second period to end the scoring.  Jaydn Benzick got the Lakers first score.  Central Lakes’ goalie Sam Lemieur got the shutout stopping all 12 Power shots on net.  In the second game Friday, the Predators beat the Jack Pine Savages 4-0.  Jackson Fields got the hat trick for the Predators.  In the third American tourney game Friday, the Rum River Renegades beat the NoDak Oilers 10-5.  The Renegades scored five second period goals to take a 7-0 lead into a wild third period that saw plenty of offensive.  Eight goals were scored in the third.  The game turned into a battle of the “19s” as #19 for the Renegades, Mason Wiebusch scored  the hat trick and assisted on two goals and #19 for the Oilers, Jackson Dodds, scored the hat trick.  Seven of the 15 goals scored were unassisted.  The Renegades Frank White also got the hat trick teaming with Alex Bren who assisted on all three of White’s scores.

Saturday morning, the Jack Pine Savages beat Central Lakes 6-4; the Renegades and the Power tied 2-2; and the Predators beat the Oilers 11-3.  The Lakers led 3-1 halfway through the game on goals by Shane Donovan and Gabe Vosen (scored twice).  Devin Young scored the lone Savage goal.  At the halfway mark, the Savages’ offense kicked in, scoring five goals to pull away to a 6-4 win.  Nikita Archer scored twice; and Michael Laber, Ethan Ballou, and Stephen Ziegler each scored once in the five goal Savage comeback.  Vosen scored in the fourth Laker goal for the hat trick.

Saturday evening, the Predators beat the Lakers 5-1 to sweep Pool A; the Power/Sanford Health team beat the Oilers 11-4 to claim the Pool B championship.  The Jack Pine Savages beat the Renegades 7-1 to take second in Pool A and would face the Renegades Sunday afternoon in the third place game.

5B: 2001 American Championships

The Power (sponsored by Sanford Health) from Sioux Falls SD tangled with the Fargo Predators in the American Championship game Sunday afternoon.  The two teams did not meet in pool play making the game a toss-up.  Halfway through the game, the Predators led 3-2 when the Predators’ Jackson Fields/Detroit Lakes took charge.  Fields scored a hat trick over the next 10 minutes of play to put the game out of the Power team's reach.  The Predators added two more third period goals and the Powers scored once to end the game 8-3.  Four of the eight Predator goals were scored by Fields.  Fields was a YHH Top 50 Peewee A/AA pick this year.  Shawn Henkelman scored two Predator goals, Mason Hoffman and Bailey Paul each scored once.  Two of the Power goals were scored by Joe Mattecheck and Braden Husby.  The Predators are this year’s Mt. Dew Blast 2001 American champions.

In the third place game, the Rum River Renegades duo of Kobe Thorson and Frank White combined on three goals to lead a late third period Renegade comeback to beat the Jack Pine Savages 4-2.  Thorson ended the game with a goal and an assist, White scored twice and assisted on a third goal.  All three goals were scored in the last three minutes of the game.  The Savages got scoring from Gabe Hirsch and Michael Laber.

6. 2001 National Tourney

6A: 2001 National Pool Play: (Pool A finish-#1 Junior Bears, #2 Fighting Loons, and #3 Midwest Mustangs; Pool B-#1 Iron Range Blast, #2 Ice Edge, and #3 Flames)

In Friday’s opening pool play games, the Fighting Loons beat the Midwest Mustangs 5-1; the Ice Edge beat the Flames 6-3; and the Iron Range Blast beat the Junior Bears (Wisconsin) 9-5.

Saturday morning the Blast continued to role beating the Flames 12-1.  The Blast got scoring from nine players in rolling to their win.  Cooper Brodzinski, Gavin Maki, and Will Troutwine each scored twice.  The Bears bounced back to beat the Fighting Loons 3-1 with Gavin Pickett, Henry Jacobson, and Josh Stephany scoring for the Bears.  The Mustangs showed their balanced scoring in beating the Ice Edge 4-2.  Four Mustang players (Joe Nordstrom, Matt Miller, Trey Frederickson, and Freddie Kirschman) scored in the 4-2 win.  The Edge got scoring from Jackson Brosz and Joshua Twardoski.   

Saturday evening the Bears beat the Mustangs 6-1 to win Pool A.  The Badger team took an early 2-0 in the first minutes of the opening period and repeated that with two more goals in the early minutes of the second period.  The Bears added a single goal at the end of the second period and carried the 5-0 lead halfway into the third period before the Mustangs could score.  The Bears Jack Sabel scored the two opening goals, Mitchell Huettl, Josh Stephany, Gavin Pickett, and Matthew Meyer each scored once.  The Mustangs score came from Cole Avery.   The Bears’ earlier win over the Loons gave them the tie breaker, head-to-head.  The Loons bounced back to beat the Flames 11-3 behind four goals by Brady Cooper.  Cooper was supported by Taylor Fluey’s hat trick.  The Flames’ goals were scored by Blake Keller, Jake Johnson, and Jordan Bartles.  The Ice Edge beat the Blast 6-3 almost knocking the Rangers out of the Pool B championship.          

6B: 2001 National Championships

The 2001 National Championship game matched the Bears from Wisconsin and the Blast from the Range.  In Friday’s pool play, the Blast beat the Bears by taking an early three goal lead and fighting off a Bears second period comeback to win 9-5.  The two teams met again in the championship game with the Bears hoping for a better start.  It didn’t happen.  The Bears took a 4-0 lead in the first 8 minutes of the opening period, fought off a Bears comeback, and went on to win the 2001 National Championship 8-4.  The Blast’s Nic Cicchi and Gavin Maki each scored to build the 4-0 lead.  The Bears started their comeback with two first period goals by Sam Vanderhoeven and Luke McKinch to cut the Blast lead to 4-2 at the start of the second period. Vanderhoeven scored again in the opening minutes of the second period and the Bears' Eric Alberts tied the game 4-4 at the halfway mark.  Two minutes later, the Blast’s Mitchell Ziemba scored the game winner and Mitchell Huettl added another goal putting the Blast up 6-4 as the second period ended.  The Blast added two more goals in the third period to win the 2001 Mt. Dew Blast National Tourney 8-4.

The Fighting Loons beat the Flames 4-0 for the third place win.  The Loons got scoring in the championship game from four different players.  Evan Lind scored one of the first period Loon goals putting his team up 2-0 at the end of the first period.  After a scoreless second period, Jake Johnson scored one of two third period goals to clinch the third place win.