Black Friday for some means getting up early and racing to your favorite store to see what good deals you can find.  For the high school hockey fan it means heading to your local rink and spending the afternoon or evening being entertained with great hockey.  If you happened to be in the Grand Rapids area for the holiday you were in for an afternoon treat this black Friday.  The Skippers from Minnetonka made the journey north for an afternoon contest with the hometown Thunderhawks.  Grand Rapids was looking for its first win of the season after giving up a goal in the final seconds Tuesday in a 1-1 tie with Bemidji. 

Early play in this one was shaky, both teams played cautious not waniting not to make a an early mistake.  Both rosters featured many young players still making the adjustment to the speed of varsity hockey.  As usual, special teams played a big role in the outcome of the game as both teams scored two power play goals.  Grand Rapids' Micah Miller drew first blood scoring a pretty power play goal to put the Thunderhawks up 1-0.  Minnetonka took advantage of the power play as well when TJ Rogers found the back of the net for the Skippers late in the first to tie things up. 

If you skipped black Friday shopping for this one, the second period was well worth missing out on the deals at the mall.  Both teams came out flying and treated the fans to a fast paced period of hockey.  Both teams had odd man rushes as the period was full of end to end action.  Joe Burt of Grand Rapids and Thomas Hanson of Minnetonka were both sharp in goal and determined to not give up the next goal.  Jake Schmidt was finally able to get the puck past Burt scoring on the power play putting Minnetonka up 2-1.  Grand Rapids did not fold however and with goals by Alex Adams and Gavin Hain the Thunderhawks would take a 3-2 lead into the third. 

This one was far from over though as Minnetonka applied early third period pressure trying to even things up.  However, Grand Rapids seemed to have a little more jump as the third period progressed.  As mentioned earlier special teams would play a role in the outcome of this game.  Grand Rapids Micah Miller used his speed to get past a Minnetonka defender and was hauled down as he drove the net.  This would set up another Thunderhawk power play in which Gavin Hain would record his second goal of the game and the season streching the lead to two goals.  Minnetonka would pull Hansen  late, and North Dakota recruit Mitchell Mattson would add an empty-netter and the Thunderhawks would skate away with a 5-2 win over Minnetonka in this young season.