Red/Black ends a successful Spring
Breck's Harrison Klopps (#7) and Blake's Eric Elftmann in one of many future battles
How players get organized into teams in the Red/Black Spring League is a mystery; but however it was done for this past spring season, it created an intriguing playoff championship game this past Sunday. About 250 fans were attracted to the Eden Prairie Community Center amid graduation ceremonies to west of the center and a carnival in the EPCC’s east parking lot. On the ice, the Teal team beat the Grey 7-5 to win the playoff championship. The Teals, dominated by players from the South Suburban and Lake Conferences’ high schools, beat a Grey team dominated by Wright County and Metro West Conferences players. Perhaps that was the attraction, a Grey team with players from conferences predominantly Class A high schools playing players from conferences that are all Class AA. It gave championship game had a feel of the “Saturday Game” from Mystery AK, a fictional movie town and nirvana for every hockey player, that challenged the New York Rangers to play in their home town. Every player in Sunday’s game went competitive and each team had their Ranger “Saturday Game” moments. And the Spring League rules worked. Despite a few minor flair ups in a highly charged emotional game, every player skated within the Spring League rules.
Teal's Curtis Hansen/Prior Lake scores one of Teal's five first half goals against Grey goalie'sTrevor Rowe/Waconia in the Red/Black League's playoff championship game played Sunday at Eden Prairie.
The Red/Black League successfully completed its first Spring League season last weekend. The Red/Black's first Spring League attracted enough high school or high school-to-be players to fill eight, 23 player, rosters in their first season of play with a waiting list. Previously, the Red/Black League had completed two successful fall seasons (2013 and 2014) and has already starting the planning for a 2015 fall league. The league is for high school or high school-to-be players. One of the reasons the league is successful is that hard checks are against the league rules. The organizers believe that eliminating hard checks offers an unique opportunity for players to hone their on-ice puck handling skills at a highly competitive level. Without the pressure of hard checks, players tend to concentrate on playing the puck longer and learn to make more competitive offensive decisions to be successful. Organized with the backing of the Minnesota Magicians (all team players wore Magician jerseys with different color backgrounds) and Exceed Hockey, both the fall and spring leagues offer competitive hockey at a Minnesota high school level of play with rules (that are enforced) that bars any hard checking. Both spring and fall leagues are designed to fit into a player’s training process stressing a game environment that emphasizes each player’s puck handling skills and defensive skating ability. It also leads to some high scoring games as this past weekend’s playoff games demonstrated.
Each of the eight teams in the Red/Black League played an 18 game regular season schedule starting in early April and ending just as the Minnesota high school year is ending. By ending in early June, the league fits with high schools starting their annual six weeks of summer hockey camps and tourneys.
This spring, the Grey and Teal teams battled for the regular season championship as well as the playoff title. Grey edged Teal 7-6 in the league’s final game of the regular season to take the regular season title and the #1 seed in the playoffs. Teal won the playoffs beating Grey continuing a tradition starting with the first playoffs. No regular season champions have won the playoffs. Each team's regular season and playoff is summarized below starting with the #1 seeded Grey and ending with the #8 seeded White. A championship game story follows with notes after that.
Red/Black Team Summaries
1. Grey-The Grey team had 12 Metro West Conference and 9 Wright County Conference players on their team. The Grey had three of the top ten regular season scorers on their team (#2 Zach Buesgens/Chanhassen with 31 points/19 goals, #5 Jory McWilliams/Kennedy with 25 points/13 goals, and #7 Erik Engdahl/Jefferson with 23 points/10 goals); but also got scoring from Nick Benson/Waconia (16 points/5 goals) and Zac Rodeheffer/Chaska (19 points/10 goals). Trevor Rowe/Waconia and Matt Foss/Northfield split the goaltending. Grey beat the #8 seeded White team in quarterfinal play 5-3 showing great puck movement once set up in White’s zone. It led to a diverse attack. Five different Grey players scored goals (David Burns/Orono, Will Larson/Orono, Buesgens, Engdahl, and Gabe Wrenholt/Chanhassen). Grey defeated Yellow 5-1 to advance to the championship game. Again, five different Grey players scored goals (McWilliams, Benson, Rodeheffer, Buesgen, Burns, and Engdahl). Both Grey goaltenders played well in the semifinal win (Trevor Rowe/Waconia HS and Matt Foss/Northfield HS). The Grey duo of McWilliams and Buesgens were key in the first their first two playoff games and Burns showed speed and skill especially in launching attacks at the opponent’s net from inside the Grey zone.
2. Teal-The #2 seeded Teal had eight South Suburban players and six Lake Conference players on their team. They had one top 10 scorer in regular season play, Curtis Hansen (34 points/16 goals). Hansen led the league in scoring. Teal also had scoring depth with five players (Riley Martin/Hopkins-20 points/14 goals, Jack Hansen/Prior Lake-17 points/9 goals, Matt Koethe/Minnetonka-16 points/8 goals, Patrick Kelly/Mound-15 points/7 goals, and Max Vathing/Prior Lake-16 points/9 goals) all contributing at a near point a game average. Scott Finberg/Stillwater and Drew Scites/Prior Lake split the goaltending for the Teal. Scites made Minnesota Hockey’s Final 54 list this year. Teal had a royal battle with the Blue team in their opening game winning 4-2, but struggled most of the time trying to beat a tough Blue defense. When the Teal forwards did, they were effective attacking the Blue net low, keeping control of the play. Riley Martin scored twice in the 4-2 win, Curtis Hansen and Parker Larson/Mound-Westonka each got a goal. In their semifinal game, Teal beat Green 7-4 to advance to the championship game Sunday. Martin and Hanson each scored twice, Vathing scored once, and Ryan Murray/Prior Lake and Carter Johnson/Hopkins each scored. But Drew Scites (Prior Lake HS) made the difference in Teal’s semifinal win holding Green to one second half goal. The win set up a rematch with Grey as the two top teams in regular season would meet for the first time in a Red/Black playoff.
Ian Miller about to celebrate scoring in the first half of Green's quarterfinal game.
3. Orange-The Orange also had a majority of players from the South Suburban (10) and Lake Conferences (6) on their roster. They finished third in regular season and drew the #3 seed in the playoffs. Orange had three top 10 scorers in regular season (#4 Nathan Nelsen/Hopkins-26 points/14 goals, #6 Zac Kloeckner/Eden Prairie-25 points/16 goals, and #10 Nick Solberg/Hopkins-21 points/13 goals). The three had good support from Ryan Coyle/Prior Lake with 15 points/6 goals and Michael King with 18 points/7goals. Killian Quinn/Hopkins and Noah Kloeckner/Eden Prairie split the Orange goaltending duties. Nathan Nelsen scored a hat trick plus (four goals and an assist). Zac Kloeckner, Curt Murphy/Prior Lake HS, Michael King/Cretin, Jack Jaunich/Cretin HS and Tanner Burggrraff /Prior Lake each scored for the Orange. After the disappointing loss, the Orange came back to beat the Blue team 7-2 to advance to the consolation championship game. Orange had the offensive power, but their defense struggled against the Green team. They would face the White team in the consolation game.
4. Black-The Black, seeded #4, would play the Yellow, seeded #5, in their opening quarterfinal game in a game that would match teams dominated with players from the IMAC Conference. The Black team had 7 players from the IMAC on their team. The Black roster was augmented by players for South Suburban (4) and Lake (5). The Black offense was led during regular season by the league’s #3 scorer-defenseman Dalton Weigel/Breck (30 points/19 goals). Weigel’s 19 goals tied Grey’s Zac Buesgens for the most goals scored in regular season play. Ryan Pearson/Minnehaha Academy -12 points/7 goals, Tyler Smith/Burnsville-12 points/7 goals, and Tristan Plagge/Apple Valley-10 points/4 goals led the Black offense. Nick Wiencek/Eden Prairie and Thomas Moschet/Eden Prairie were the Black goalies. Their playoff quarterfinal game against Yellow was one of the most tightly checking games of the playoffs. The score was tied 1-1 at halftime and 2-2 early in the second half before Gold broke the game open scoring four goals to win 6-2. Black’s Dalton Weigel scored twice; Pearson and Smith had a good game, but could not beat the Yellow defense. Black was upset Saturday by White 3-2 ending their Red Black season.
5. Yellow-Yellow had eight players from IMAC teams on their roster and their roster was augmented by six players from Wright County. Yellow’s offense was led by Mike Niederer/Mound (17 points/7 goals), defenseman Brian Arnold/Benilde-St. Margaret’s (12 points/8 goals) and Sky Brown/Benilde-St. Margaret’s (10 points/3 goals). Goaltending for the season was split between Danny Long/Prior Lake and Josh Kenny/Burnsville. Yellow was trailing Black 2-1 with a minute gone in the second half when Yellow’s Jack Qualen/Benilde-St. Margaret’s went on a scoring spree scoring twice in one minute to Yellow ahead for good 3-2. Qualen would score late in the half to get his hat trick. Henry Burke/St. Thomas Academy scored the opening first half goal for Yellow; Niederer and Nick Michel/Holy Family each scored in the second half. After upsetting Black in the quarterfinals, Yellow’s offense was stopped by the Grey in their semifinal game. Yellow lost to Grey 5-1. Sky Brown/Benilde-St. Margaret’s got the lone Yellow goal to end their season.
6. Green-The Green ended the season with the #6 seed in the playoffs playing Orange. A team comprised mostly of Lake Conference players, their offense was led by three Waconia players; #8 league scorer Kyle Kester (23 points/10 goals), #9 league scorer Shane Reuben (22 points/15 goals), and Ian Miller (18 points/8 goals). Eric Stebbing/Eagan and Ben Stanchfield/Edina were in the nets. The Green forwards put on show in their quarterfinal game against Orange, taking a 7-4 lead at the half; but then scrambled to win 10-9 after Orange had tied the game late. The Green combo of Waconia’s Kester and Reuben with Joe Hankinson/Edina lit up the scoreboard posting 14 points/5 goals. Reuben and Deraney each scored twice, Kester once in the 10-9 win. A second combo of three Wayzata players (Ike Taraszewski, Mathias Branton, and Alec Bach) posted 10 points/4 goals. Bach scored twice. Saturday Green lost to their semifinal game to Teal 7-4. Green got scoring from Reuben, Hankinson, Mathias Branton/Wayzata, and Blake Hermann/Eden Prairie.
7. Blue-The #7 seeded Blue had eight players from Lake Conference high schools and seven players from Wright County on the team. The Blue offense was led by Evan Shoemaker (16 points/13 goals), Sam Voss/Delano (15 points/10 goals), and Connor Olsen/Eden Prairie (15 points/7 goals). Their two goalies were Andy baron/St. Paul Academy and Jared Moe/Holy Family Catholic. Blue power play worked early in their game against Teal. Two first half power plays put Blue ahead at halftime 2-1. Blue’s Mason Emerson got the first power play goal assisted by Jared Blackowiak. Blackowiak scored the second power play goal assisted by Emerson and Walter Brandt/Edina. Both Emerson and Blackowiak play for Eden Prairie. But the Teal shut the Blue offense down in the second half to beat the Blue 4-2. Teal scored their winning goals on rebound shots. Blue lost to Orange 7-2 in Saturday’s game to end the season.
8. White-The White had 18 South Suburban players on their roster, finished last in regular season, and drew the #8 seed. They played the #1 seeded Grey in the quarterfinals. Offensively they were led in the regular season by Andrew Cook/Lakeville South-11 points/7 goals, Matt Preston/Lakeville North-11 points/6 goals, and Nathan Larkin/Lakeville South-16 points/6 goals. Their goaltending was split between Kyle McKinney/Lakeville South and Barrett Nelson/Burnsville. White’s eighth place finish did not stop them from almost pulling the upset over Grey in the opening game. White took an early 2-1 lead on goals by Jake Thomas/Burnsville but could not hold that lead as Grey came back to score three goals before the half ended. White lost the game 5-3 with Cook scoring the third goal. White came back on Saturday to edge Black 3-2 and advance to the consolation title game.
The pucks in the back of the net. White Jake Thomas scores to put White up 1-0 over regular season champions Grey in the Red Black Spring League Quarterfinals played at Burnsville Friday.
Grey's Nick Benson/Waconia is stopped by White goalie Barret Nelson/Burnsville's left skate on this solo rush in the second half of their game Friday night at Burnsville.
Green's Ian Miller (#17) scores this first half goal against Orange in a quarterfinal game that went from a Orange runaway to a barn burner Friday at Burnsville.
Black's Tyler Smith goes for the net on this shot against Yellow in the quarterfinals. Smith played for the Magician's U16 team (a before/after team) in the March Minnesota District Playoffs.
Blue's Mason Emerson/Eden Prairie hits the upper right corner on this shot to put the Blue up 2-1 in the first half of their quarterfinal against Teal.
Green's Alex Bach/Wayzata scores on the shot to put Green up 6-4 in their 10-9 barn burner win over Orange.
Championship Game
In the Red Black 2015 Championship game, Teal beat Grey 7-5 by taking an early 5-1 lead and hanging on to break a 5-5 tie with eleven minutes left in the game. The game matched the Grey team’s possession offense against the quick striking Teal forwards. In the end, the Teal forwards won scoring a shorthanded goal as a result of a defensive miscue and holding on late in the game under Grey pressure to score an empty netter by beating the puck (and an icing call) and the Grey defense to the Grey goal line to score the insurance goal and claim the title.
Play was established early in the first half. Grey could carry the puck into the Teal zone and hold it using neat passing combinations to attack the Teal net low. But once Teal forwards organized an attack, they could beat the Grey defense low and attack the net with success. Two of the Teal lines, one led by Matt Koethe/Minnetonka and the second led by Curtis Hansen/Prior Lake had the most success. Grey scored first. Setting up in the Teal zone in the opening minutes of the game, a Grey forward along the right boards fed Jory McWilliams alone in the left slot. McWilliams, a deadly shot, one-timed the puck into the Teal net for the score five minutes into the opening half. The Teal team came back to score a minute later. Teal’s Matt Koethe was fed a pass in the right crease area, made a nice move left to the top of the crease, and beat grey goalie Trevor Rowe with a hard shot left to tie the game 1-1.
The game was played evenly over the next eight minutes. Grey continued to find opportunities controlling the puck around the Teal net and the Teal forwards were pressuring the Grey defense on breakout rushes. One Teal rush at the 11 minute mark resulted in a goal when Jake Pirsch beat the Grey defense in the right slot and tried to bury the puck in the net. Rowe made the initial stop, but the puck rolled left into the open area of the left side. With no defense to beat, Teal’s Curtis Hanson slowed to gain control of the puck and banged it into the net just beyond Rowe’s diving save attempt. Teal led 2-1 and thirty seconds later, Koethe scored to put Teal up 3-1 this time assisted by Jack Hansen and Philipp Weltin/Mound Westonka.
A minute later, Grey had their chance to get back in the game on a Teal tripping penalty, but could not score and then were caught out of position in transitioning back to 5-on-5 play. Teal turned that team miscue into a quick goal 10 seconds after the penalty ended. Hanson got the goal and Pirsch the assist. With under four minutes left in the period, a Grey hooking penalty put Teal on the power play. This time Curtis Hanson and Koethe combined to score. Hanson got the goal, his third of the period, for a hat trick. Koethe got the assist. The first half ended with Teal leading 5-1. Grey looked out of it.
Teal's Matt Koethe/Minnetonka (#3) celebrates scoring the first of his three goals in Sunday's championship game to tie Grey 1-1 in the first half.
Trailing 5-1 at the start of the second half the Grey seemed out of the game, but in the Red Black League, things change fast-like the Minnesota weather. Grey opened the second half controlling the puck low and finally banged the puck through Teal goalie, Drew Scites’ legs. McWilliams got the score. Suddenly, the score was 5-2 just like in the third period of the Mystery AK game against the Rangers and just like the movie, the fans got intense. So when the Grey’s McWilliams comes up big with two more goals in the next minutes to cut the Teal lead to 5-4, one had to believe that the game would follow the script and a Grey player would clank one off the top bar as the clock runs out. That didn’t happen. Instead, on a power play with 13 minutes left in the game, Grey's Erik Engdahl drives the puck into the back of the net on a hard shot from the point. And things on the ice really got rolling as more fans stopped to watch the action. Teal was reeling and Scites was under pressure to hold Grey as the Teal defense scrambled in for the next minute in their zone.
Then Curtis Hanson caught the left defenseman at the point undecided on how to play the puck. It resulted in the puck sliding to Hanson just inside the Teal blue line. Still covered by the Grey defense, Hanson banged the puck off the boards at the blue line and took off for the Grey net. The puck rebounded off the side boards and hit him in stride allowing Hanson to beat the defense from the right side and solo in on the Grey goalie beating him with a top shelf shot to the left corner. Teal led with 10 minutes left on the clock, but Hanson's score only made the game tenser. Grey set up in the Teal zone and for the next eight minutes banged away at the Teal goal, but they could not beat Scites and the Teal defense. When Grey pulled their goalie with under two minutes left, the game was finally decided. Teal's Koethe beat the icing call and scored an empty netter to get the hat trick and end the game 7-5.
It was quite a game considering it was players playing a spring game. For the fans at the game, they could have been residents of Mystery AK and one of the nice things about “living in Mystery AK”, is both Teal and Grey fans can claim residence or not. That means to each fan, Mystery won or the Rangers won. It is their choice in hockey nirvana.
Grey's Jory McWilliams/Kennedy makes this last minute rush that falls short in Sunday's Championship game. McWilliams had an outstanding second half triggering a Grey team come back that fell a goal short.
Notes
1.Black’s Dalton Wiegel continues to grow and improve at defense. The late 1998 born Breck sophomore (and fourth leading scorer last season), made the HP-15 Summer Camp in 2013, but will not be eligible for the NHL Entry Draft until 2017.
2. Five Waconia players played in the Red Black league which is no surprise to those that remember that Waconia Association’s peewee A team in 2011-2012 was a surprise. That team surprised by finishing fourth in the last D6 Peewee A league (2011-2012) before the peewees were split into AA and A. Grey goalie Trevor Rowe, Grey forward Nick Benson, and Green’s Ian Miller all skated on that peewee A team that lost a tough 5-4 game in the playoffs to Chaska/Chanhassen. Waconia peewees played the Chaska/Chanhassen game without two of their skaters. Can a young Waconia High School team challenge Holy Family Catholic or Delano or Orono in Wright County next season?
3. White goalie Kyle McKinney/Lakeville South faced tremendous Orange pressure in leading the White team to an 8-5 consolation win Sunday. Mckinney stopped 31 of 35 Orange shots on goal (YHH count) in the second half to preserve a three goal White lead.
4. Max Herzog/Eastview, after scoring for Orange in the second half, tripped in the slot celebrating. Rather then get up, a happy Herzog “swam” back to center ice for the next faceoff in the most unusual play Sunday.
White goalie Kyle McKinney/Lakeville South makes the stop on the Orange point blank shot on the left. The rebound slides through the crease with White's Matt Preston/Lakeville North (#3) back checking the Orange forward trying to score.
5. They may not all be future stars, but 84 Lake and Suburban Conference players were on the ice in the Red Black Spring league this year. The 84 players, however, will represent the core of both conferences hockey program in the next two years. Add to that 50-60 players out of the IMAC, Metro West, and Wright County conferences, and most of the Twin Cities southern and western suburb high schools will be relying on this group of players for the foundation of their future teams.
6. Even though hard checking is against the rules, physical checking without the hard hits still go on in Red Black League play. It results in forcing more players on the ice to make decisions. Those players that slow carrying the puck learn quickly to move their skates. It they didn’t, the puck was gone. What the no hard checking rule does is to give each player time to learn passing and puck handling skills at competitive speeds by eliminating the hard check that is designed to shorten the time a player can control the puck. And it shows up in the stats. Forty seven players posted double digit point totals in the 18 game season (and most probably skated less than the 18 games scheduled).
7. While most players came from Twin Cities area high schools, not all did. It takes a special dedication to travel distances to play the sport, so the following all deserve recognition; Coby Kison/Eau Claire/Memorial, Marcus Skoog/Duluth East, and Ethan Panek/Amery WI.
8. Players that would be nice to see again-Andrew Cook/Lakeville South, Jake Thomas/Burnsville, Alex Bach/Wayzata, Kyle Kester/Waconia, David Burns/Orono, and Cal Pierce/Chaska.