After losing six state championship games in a row, the Hermantown Hawks lined up for another crack at their second state title Friday night. Coming into the season they are the best Class A team in the state and some might argue they are the best team, regardless of class in Minnesota. On Friday they hosted No. 10AA ranked Wayzata, an ultra fast and talented team that has a lot to prove this season after failing to make it to the state tournament the last two years. After edging two rivals last weekend (Maple Grove and Edina) to win their Turkey Trot tournament, the Trojans were poised to stay unbeaten. 

After a first period where both teams traded some light sparring, the second period was full of body blows. Hermantown landed the first two punches after just missing on a few breakaways earlier in the game. The Hawks got on the board when James Lindberg drove hard to the net and beat Wayzata goalie Alex Schillig for theri first goal. A little over two minutes later, Cole Koepke flushed a back door feed to give he Hawks a comfortable 2-0 lead. "I thought Cole was the best player on the ice tonight, "said Hermantown Head Coach Bruce Plante. "He was all over the ice tonight, he saved us a few times on defense and created a lot on offense." 

Late in the second, the game swayed back and forth like an old fashioned see saw. Wayzata got a pretty breakaway goal by Matt Nelson who beat Luke Olson between his legs. Heading into the third period break, it looked like there was a battle ahead. But, wait, Eric Gotz got a puck at the point and he buried it on a seeing eye single that beat Schilling top shelf with five seonds left in the period. 

Named for Harmon Killebrew, Hank Sorenson swung for the fences early for Wayzata and scored 20 seconds into the third to make it a game. A few minutes later, Logan Lindstrand got his first high school goal for Wayzata a sweet shot from the high slot to tie the score at 3-3. Ten seconds later, Hermantown reclaimed the lead when Ryan Sandelin got a puck to the net, the puck slid under Schilling's pads. While under his pad, there was some question if there was a whistle before or after the puck went in the net. After a few minutes of discussion, the refs called it a goal. With 13 minutes to go, Hermantown began to play a more defensive style and frustrated Wayzata keeping the Trojans outside "the wall" for much of the last period. With two minutes left, Hermantown goalie Luke Olson came up big robbing Wayzata's Luke Paterson on the doorstep. Sandelin would add a late empty net goal to ice the victory for the Hawks, 5-3. 

Up Next: Wayzata will skate east 10 miles to take on Duluth East Saturday rounding out a very tough stretch of games for the Trojans. Hermantown will head sout to take on Roseville. Asked after the game if being No. 1A was hard for the Hawks, Koepke said, "No, it is actually fun to be challenged every night we play...we don't look at the class of a team anyway, we try to do what we do best no matter who we play."