BHS: Holy Family wins; Class AA update
Will Garin leads the Fire into Section 2AA playoffs
Last night at the Victoria Community Center, Holy Family Catholic edged St. Cloud Cathedral 5-4 on a last second goal to win its 19th game of the season beating a surprising, strong, Crusader team playing without their scoring leader. The Fire win sets up a battle with Stillwater Saturday at the St. Croix Rec Center. Holy Family Catholic has already beaten the Ponies 5-3 in Benilde-St. Margaret’s Sports Authority Holiday Hockey Classic played at the St. Louis Park Rec Center six weeks ago. However, the outcome of the Stillwater/Holy Family Catholic second game will effect seeding at the Xcel with the game being played at the end of the season. St. Cloud Cathedral’s season is over and the Section 6A seeds were announced earlier this week. Cathedral got the #2 seed (St. Cloud Apollo got the #1 seed) and will play the winner of the play-in game between Alexandria and Breckenridge/Wahpeton. It was quite a game last night as both teams served notice to others, they are ready.
Holy Family Catholic's Tyler Rock celebrates scoring this second period goal to put the Fire up 2-1. Rock played in the Red/Black League last spring/fall.
Minnesota Boys High School regular season ends Saturday. Some Sectionals have already completed their seeding and will open play with play-in games this weekend. Section 6A seeding has been announced. The section will open play Saturday with three play-in games scheduled at Alexandria, St. Cloud, and Cold Spring. Section 8A has also completed its seeding and has three play-in games scheduled Tuesday at Park Rapids, Pequot Lakes, and Red Lake Falls. Section 8AA seeding was also announced. Their first round games will be played Tuesday at St. Michael/Albertville, Moorhead, and Brainerd.
Holy Family Catholic-5 St. Cloud Cathedral-4
With ninety seconds left to play, St. Cloud Cathedral worked the puck into the left corner under pressure from the Fire defense. Trailing 4-3, the stubborn Crusaders had weathered a tough Fire attack in the third period giving up the go ahead goal at the halfway mark. Cathedral had few scoring opportunities since then and when a Cathedral forward dug the puck with a quick pass to sophomore forward Tanner Schmit, Schmit one-timed the puck past Fire goalie Jared Moe to tie the game 4-4. A hockey coach standing along the boards watching the play in front of where Schmit shot, instantly spun a 360 and muttered “d…. how did they do that”. The game was tied 4-4, but the action was not over. With less than 15 seconds to play, a Crusader sent the puck deep into the Fire zone as the forward approached the center line. His stick crossed the center line, but the Ref blew icing. That set up a faceoff to left of the Crusader goal. The Fire won the faceoff drawing the puck back to Matt Anderson at the point. With timing running out, Anderson made a smart play. He rejected a hard shot on the net and instead went for a softer shot hoping a teammate could put the rebound back. It worked. The Fire’s Patrick Reddan scored the game winner with three seconds left to play.
All that happened in the last two minutes of play. It was a great game that started with the Fire roaring and the Crusaders coming back to tie the game. In the opening period, the two teams skated to a 1-1 tie each putting 14 shots on goal. In the second period, both teams scored twice and each put 14 shots on goal. Only in the third period, did the Fire start to wear down the Cathedral forwards outshooting Catherdral 12-4. But the Crusaders held on and came within 10 seconds of forcing overtime.
The Fire opened strong. In the first minutes of the game, they pressured the Crusaders in the Crusaders’ zone. But a Fire penalty with nine minutes left to play opened the ice for the Crusaders speedy forwards and broke the Holy Family Catholic’s hold on the game. A St. Cloud Cathedral penalty a minute later created a minute of 4-on-4 hockey and more open ice. Cathedral’s Jake VanHalbeck used the open ice to score. VanHalbeck stepped up to intercept a Fire touch past at the Fire blue line and beat the defense low right. Van Halbeck got off a hard shot the was tipped on the way to the net. The goal put St. Cloud Cathedral up 1-0. Matson Courrier got the assist. When the penalties ended, both teams went into high gear matching each other and making great offensive plays followed by equally great defensive stops. The puck flew. With three minutes to play, Holy Family Catholic tied the score. Fire defense man Matt Anderson faked a shot on net and instead hit Will Garin on the weak side left. Garin beat sophomore goalie Keegan Karki high to tie the game 1-1. Anderson got the assist.
This first period attack by the Fire is sent wide right by Cathedral goalie Keegan Karki
The Fire's Will Garin (behind the Cathedral players) scores this goal to tie the game 1-1.
Holy Family Catholic senior Jaedin Ness (#8) beats Keegan Karki on this high shoot hitting the upper left corner of the goal to put HFC up 3-1 in the second period.
The second period opened with a fierce Holy Family Catholic attack. The Fire scored twice in the first six minutes and appeared to have the Crusaders scrambling. The Fire’s second score came off a set attack with Karki stopping the first Fire shot from the left slot. The puck rebounded short sliding away from Karki towards the left faceoff circle. Tyler Rock on the left side stepped up and one timed the puck. His hard shot drove the puck through Karki’s pads low. Casey Rock and Anderson got the assists. Three minutes later, Holy Family Catholic Jaedin Ness beat the Crusader defense at the Crusader blue line and soled down the right slot. Ness’s hard shot beat Karki high in the left corner of the goal to put the Fire up 3-1. Jack Michel got the assist. The Fire had the Crusaders on the run. Then Cathedral drew a penalty. Time out was called.
The Crusaders came out of the timeout re-set. Cathedral held the Fire power play off. Holy Family drew a penalty and then a second penalty creating a 4-on-3 Crusader power play. That led to a Crusader power play goal. The goal came of a nice quick two pass play from right to left in front of the Fire net with Connor Beltz getting the goal on the weak side right; Vince McStott and Jake Bastien got the assists. The goal cut the Fire lead to 3-2. Two minutes later, a Cathedral pass found McStott in the left faceoff circle. McStott’s shot beat Moe to tie the game 3-3. The Fire’s fourth score came halfway through the third period. The puck was bouncing in a melee in front of the Crusader goal when the Fire’s Jack Michel batted it into the net to Holy Family Catholic up 4-3. Jack Kalenberg got the assist. Then the final minutes of play happened. The Fire won 5-4. Both teams skated a great game at the right time.
St. Cloud Cathedral's Tanner Schmit (off picture left) scores to tie the game 4-4 with 90 seconds left to play
St. Cloud Cathedral sophomore Keegan Karki has posted a 11-6-1 record for the Crusaders giving up 3 goals a game while stopping 88% of the shots on net.
Tanner Schmit (#3) celebrates tying the game
Class AA Update
After Thursday night, most Minnesota Boys High School hockey teams are down to their last game. Sectional seeding is upon hockey fans, but are there any changes in the Class AA sections as a result of last night’s games. Here is a quick breakdown and Section 1AA starts with a surprise.
Mankato West upset Rochester John Marshall in a Big 9 game played at Mankato West. The 6-5 overtime loss to the Scarlets ends John Marshall’s 20 win season. The best the Rockets can do is 19 wins. They will take the Big 9 title, but will likely take the #4 seed in Section 1AA. Lakeville North easily beat Eastview 8-2 in a South Suburban game while Farmington beat Shakopee 6-1 and Lakeville South lost to Burnsville 2-1 in overtime. A loss to Rosemount Saturday and Lakeville South would finish the season with a 14-10-1 record. The Cougars could drop to #4 behind the Rockets. Farmington plays Eastview in their final game Saturday. The Tigers cannot afford a loss to the Lightning either. At this point, the top four seeds in Section 1A look to be Lakeville North, Farmington, Lakeville South, and Rochester John Marshall. As a side note, Mankato West’s win over the Rockets probably gives the Scarlets the #2 seed in Section 1A behind Northfield. Those two teams are now likely to be in a battle at the Rochester Rec Center February 24th for the ticket to the Xcel.
In Section 2AA, Holy Family (19-4-0) win over St. Cloud Cathedral was well earned. Cathedral, despite being a Class A team, played a good game. Both teams are to be respected in the upcoming sectionals. A Fire follow-up win at Stillwater (most likely the #1 Section 4AA seed) will make this section seeding tough. One good thing from a seeding perspective is that Minnetonka beat Edina 6-1. The win should lock Eden Prairie behind the Skippers in any seeding scenario. The Skippers play Duluth East Saturday and can finish the season 18-6-1 record. Minnetonka has won the Lake Conference title and Eden Prairie (16-6-2) can finish no better than third place in the conference. The fourth contender for Section 2AA #1 seed is Prior Lake (18-6-1). The Lakers beat Apple Valley last night 6-0. That sets up a South Suburban Conference Championship game with Lakeville North at Prior Lake (3:00 PM Saturday). Prior Lake has two trophies on line for that game, the conference title and the #1 seed in Section 2AA. North, with Rochester John Marshall losing to Mankato West last night, should have wrapped up the #1 seed in Section 1AA win or lose to Prior Lake. The Panthers have one trophy to chase Saturday, the South Suburban Title. If Prior Lake beats Lakeville North and Minnetonka beats Duluth East and Holy Family Catholic beats Stillwater, the seeding will be tough in Section 2AA. And that is how it should be.
Section 3AA remains a mess after Thursday’s games. St. Thomas Academy (14-6-5) has completed their season. After Thursday’s games, Burnsville is 12-10-2 and Bloomington Jefferson is 12-12-0. Burnsville should beat Shakopee in their final game and finish with 13 wins. Jefferson has a tougher task playing Cretin/Derham Hall. The #1 seed will likely come down to a decision between STA and the Blaze, 14 wins versus 13 wins, 10 losses versus 6 losses. One common opponent is Lakeville North who beat STA 4-1 in their last game of the season and beat Burnsville three weeks ago 2-1 and the first week of January 8-3. This will be a tough call. The #1 seed will play a quarterfinal game against the winner of the #8 and #9 seeds (currently East Ridge and Apple Valley) and then play the winner of the #4 and #5 seeds (currently Rosemount and Eastview). The #2 seed will play a quarterfinal game against the #7 and #10 game winner (currently Eagan and Hastings) and a semifinal game against #3 and #6 winner (currently Jefferson and Park/Cottage Grove). All these teams can be dangerous, but Section 3AA looks to be a battle between St. Thomas Academy and Burnsville with Saturday’s game not likely to change that.
Section 4AA has a clear favorite. Stillwater (22-1-1) beat White Bear Lake 5-2 Thursday and will get the #1 seed even if they lose to Holy Family Catholic in Saturday’s game at the St. Croix Rec Center. The Ponies have already clinched the Suburban East title. Hill-Murray (14-8-2) should get the #2 seed despite losing to Elk River Wednesday. The Hill host Moorhead Saturday in a game that will have an impact of the Class AA seeds at the Xcel in two weeks. Tartan (15-8-1) beat North St. Paul Thursday 8-1. They play Mounds View Saturday and should get the #3 seed. Roseville (12-11-1) beat Woodbury 5-2 and plays Blaine Saturday. The Raiders are the only other team in Section 4AA that can finish above .500.
In Section 5AA, Blaine won their 20th game beating Armstrong/Cooper 4-1 to run their season ending win streak to seven games. They are favored to beat Roseville and are favored to be seeded #1. Centennial (17-6-1) beat Spring Lake Park 7-2 and should get the #2 seed. Anoka (14-9-0) won their sixth game in a row and should take the #3 seed, but the Tornadoes will be playing a tough Totino-Grace team in their season ender Saturday. Spring Lake Park has lost their last three games and has fallen out of the fourth seed. Maple Grove (12-13-0) with four straight wins should get the #4 seed.
Another section that is fairly well set is Section 6AA. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (23-0-1) won last night beating Section 6AA’s potential #2 seed Wayzata (15-8-1) 4-2. The Red Knights play St. Louis Park in their last game of the season. While Benilde won, Edina (13-9-2) lost to Minnetonka. The potential #3 seed Hornets still hold the edge over Cretin-Derham Hall and St. Louis Park. The Hall beating Jefferson in the final game helps CDH maintain a #4 seed. A Park upset of BSM would shake up Section 6AA.
The three teams contending for Section 7AA’s #1 seed are Grand Rapids (17-6-1), Elk River (17-7-1), and Duluth East (16-8-0). The past two nights Elk River beat Hill-Murray 5-3 and Coon Rapids 10-0 to end their season. Duluth East beat Superior WI 6-0 Thursday and play at Minnetonka Saturday. Grand Rapids (17-6-1) did not play Thursday. They will play at Denfeld Saturday in what could be a tough game if the Hunters goalie gets hot. Grand Rapids is a slight favorite for the #1 seed and a loss to Denfeld could drop them to #3. A Duluth East win over Minnetonka could put the Hounds #1. The prize for #1 would be a semifinal game at Amsoil Arena in Duluth against Forest Lake, a potential #4 seed (with Cloquet) which should make the Rangers mad.
The Section 8AA seeding was announced Thursday. Bemidji (20-2-2) got the #1 seed and with it a bye into the semifinals playing the winner of the #4 seed St. Michael/Albertville (14-7-2) and #5 seeded Roseau (10-11-3). Moorhead (14-9-0), the #2 seed, hosts #7 seed Buffalo (9-11-3). Rodgers (16-7-0), the #6 seed, travels to Brainerd to play the #3 seeded Warriors (13-11-1).