PWAA: West Regional
Eden Prairie wins, Cottage Grove #2
Sunday, around 6:00 PM, the final games of the four Peewee AA Regional tourneys were completed. Each tourney (North, South, East, and West) sent two winners to state. The state tourney, unlike the regionals, is a simple eight game bracket tourney. A team wins or is out of the championship. A team that loses a second time goes home. The tourney will open Friday, March 11th at the IRA Civic Center in Grand Rapids. Edina (Eest Regional’s #2 seed) will play Osseo/Maple Grove (South Regional’s #2 seed) in the first quarterfinal game at 12:00 PM. The second game in the upper bracket matches Eden Prairie (Wast’s #1 seed) and Cloquet (North’s #2 seed). That game will start at 2:00 PM. In the lower bracket, defending Peewee AA champions Prior Lake (South’s #1 seed) plays Elk River (Eest’s #1 seed) at 4:00 PM. Duluth East (North’s #1 seed) plays Cottage Grove (West’s #2 seed) in the final game of the opening quarterfinal round at 6:00 PM. For the 24 teams that lost at regionals this weekend, congratulations from YHH. For all those who played, win or lose, last weekend will always be remembered by family, fans, and coaches. But most importantly, it will be remembered by the players who participated.
Eden Prairie's Carter Batchelder (#11 right in the picture) scores the winning goal putting the Eagles up 5-4 in the West Regional championship game. Note the puck is the blurr just above the goalie's shoulder.
West Regional Tourney Summary Friday
Friday, four first round games were played at Stillwater’s St. Croix Rec Center. Eden Prairie and Lakeville North opened regional play in a game that saw Eden Prairie take a 3-0 lead in the opening period, build a 5-0 lead at the end of the second period, and score two more goals in the third to win the game 7-0. The Eagles Carter Batchelder scored four goals getting a hat trick plus in the win. Drew Holt scored once for the Eagles and added two assists. Jackson Blake and Jake Luloff each scored a goal in Eden Prairie’s opening win. The Panthers played the Eagles evenly for the first five minutes in the first period, but drew two penalties that slowed their breakout. North killed the penalties, but with just under five minutes to play, gave up the first Eden Prairie score. A minute later, a third North penalty led to the second Eagle goal. With under a minute to play, Eden Prairie's Blake scored the third goal on a solo rush. Eden Prairie played a solid game. Lakeville North struggled, drawing too many penalties and eventually tired as the game wore on.
....just inches...
In the second game played Friday, Chaska/Chanhassen’s Jimmy Snuggerud scored five minutes into the second period of the second game. Stillwater goalie Nolan Lacosse stopped a hard shot from the right face off circle, but the puck rebounded left off his chest pads into the top of the left crease. Snuggerud beat Nolan's attempted glove save by inches one-timing the puck into the net. That goal turned out to be the winning goal as the Storm Hawks went on to beat host Stillwater 1-0. The game was a battle of goaltenders. Nolan stopped 37 of 38 (YHH count) Storm Hawk shots on goal, but Chaska/Chanhassen goalie Jack Stark got the shutout. Stark faced terrific pressure in the second period stopping all 17 Stillwater shots shutting the Ponies attack down and stopped 42 Pony shots on net for the game (YHH count).
Apple Valley and Mahtomedi met for the third time this season in the West Regional's third game Friday. The Eagles won the first two meetings. In Friday's game, Jack Novak and Jared Wright led Valley to a 6-1 win at the Rec Center. The pair figured in the first four goals that the Eagle scored. Isak Nightingale got the lone Zephyr goal.
Apple Valley celebrating a score at the West Regional
Cottage Grove’s Garrett Parker scored twice and had one assist to lead Cottage Grove to a 4-1 win over Minnetonka. The Wolfpack’s Frankie Savard scored the game winner early in the first first period putting the Grove up 2-0. The Skippers’ Blake Anderson scored before the opening period ended to cut the lead to 2-1. Parker scored in the second period and Nick Pierre in the third in the 4-1 win. Friday’s first round games ended with #3 seeded Eden Prairie, #14 seeded Chaska/Chanhassen, #8 seeded Apple Valley, and #5 seeded Cottage Grove advancing; #23 seeded Lakeville North, #11 seeded Stillwater, #20 seeded Minnetonka, and #17 seeded Mahtomedi dropping to single elimination play.
Saturday morning elimination
Saturday’s games opened with Lakeville North playing Stillwater in the first elimination game of the tourney. North won 4-1. The Panther’s Benjamin Portner scored twice in the second period to give North a 2-0 lead before Stillwater’s Tyler Johnson scored to cut the lead to 2-1 at the end of the second period. North’s Thomas Nelson and Mitchell Bernier each scored third period goals in the Panthers win. The Panthers advanced; the #11 seeded Stillwater was eliminated. In the second elimination game Saturday morning, Mahtomedi edged Minnetonka 2-1. The Skippers took a 1-0 lead in the first period and held that lead at the start of the second period. Jack Rausch got the Skippers’ goal. Chaska/Chanhassen’s JD Metz scored in the opening minute of play in the second period and scored the game winner five minutes later. The Zephyrs moved on to play Chaska/Chanhassen in a Saturday evening elimination game. The #20 seeded Minnetonka was eliminated.
Saturday Semifinals
Saturday’s first semifinal game matched Eden Prairie and Chaska/Chanhassen. The Eagles took a 3-2 lead at the end of the first period, built the lead to 6-3 at the end of the second period and added two more scores in the third period to win 8-3. Carter Batchelder again led the Eagles in scoring posting 5 points on two goals and three assists. Drew Holt scored twice and added two assist to end the game with four points. Trent Stansberry, Jake Casey, Luke Mittelstadt, and Keegan Orth each scored once in the game. Eden Prairie advanced to Sunday’s championship game. The Storm Hawks’ Sully Scholle scored twice and Jimmy Snuggerud once in the 8-3 loss. Chaska/Chanhassen dropped to single elimination play Saturday evening.
In Saturday’s second semifinal, Apple Valley played Cottage Grove. It was the fifth game between the two highly ranked District 8 teams. The Now ranked #5 Wolfpack had won three of the first four games (one ended in a 0-0 tie) and was favored to win. But the Eagles’ Jared Wright, playing defense, scored two unassisted goals including the game winner as Apple Valley won 4-3 and advanced to the title game Sunday against Eden Prairie.
Cottage Grove's Cam Quinlan (#14) puts back this rebound but Apple Valley goalie Matthew Syverson stops in this melee around the Eagles net.
Apple Valley's Parker Davis (right) scores on this shot from the slot.
Saturday evening elimination
Cottage Grove dropped to a single elimination and played the first Saturday evening against Lakeville North in another match-up of District 8 teams. The Wolfpack had beaten North 3-1 in late December in the only meeting between the two teams in regular season play. Saturday evening, Cottage Grove won 3-1 to advance to Sunday morning’s elimination game. The loss eliminated the #23 seeded Lakeville North, but the Panthers made a good run at the end of the season. That is always a positive thing for an association like the Lakeville Hockey Association. In the second Saturday evening elimination game, Chaska/Chanhassen beat Mahtomedi 4-2. The Storm Hawks trailed the Zephyrs going into the third period 2-1 and rallied scoring three third period goals to win 4-2. Chaska’s Ben Reddan opened the scoring putting the Storm Hawks up 1-0 at the end of the first period. Mahtomedi’s JD Metz and Garrett Kneale each scored in the second period to put the Zephyrs up 2-1 going into the third period. Chaska’s Sully Scholle scored twice in the final period and Redden got his second goal of the game to end the scoring 4-2. Chaska advanced to the single elimination game against Cottage Grove Sunday morning; the #17 seeded Mahtomedi team was eliminated.
Sunday championship game
Sunday, Apple Valley and Eden Prairie met for the West Region's #1 seed to the Peewee AA State Tourney. In the championship game between the two Eagles, Eden Prairie took a first period lead on a goal by Carter Batchelder. The EP Eagles held that lead until Valley’s Parker Davis scored early in the second period to tie the game 1-1. Two minutes later, Eden Prairie’s Drew Holt scored to put Eden Prairie up 2-1. Valley’s Nate Messerich beat the Eden Prairie defense along the left boards and drove the net scoring to tie the game 2-2. Then Valley went on a roll scoring twice to take a 4-2 lead.
Forty seconds after Messerich tied the game, Valley’s Jared Wright scored a power play goal to put the AV Eagles up 3-2. A minute later, Messerich scored another solo goal to give Apple Valley a 4-2. Valley had their biggest lead of the game. With the three minutes left in the second period, Holt scored his second goal of the game. The second period ended with Apple Valley holding a 4-3 lead. The third period opened with both teams having scoring chances in the first five minutes of play. In the sixth minute, Eden Prairie drew a slashing penalty giving Apple Valley a 5-on-4 power play. In the last minute of the Valley power play, Batchelder beat the AV Eagle defense low in the Valley zone. Batchelder scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game 4-4. Ten seconds later, Valley drew a holding penalty. The Eagles, now on the power play, scored the game winner. Batchelder got the winning goal on a hard shot from the left face off putting Eden Prairie up 5-4. It was Batchelder's third goal of the game. He got the hat trick. The EP Eagles’ Luke Mittelstadt got the insurance goal with five minutes left in the game and Batchelder scored the final goal, an empty netter/shorthanded score, in the final minute of play. The #3 seeded Eden Prairie team, the highest seeded team in the West Region, won the #1 seed to the state tourney. Apple Valley would now play Cottage Grove for a sixth time this season for the #2 seed to the state tourney.
Apple Valley's Nate Messerich celebrates scoring.
Apple Valley's Parker Davis (#8) one times this Jack Novak pass (far right) for an goal in the second period.
Eden Prairie scores!
Sunday elimination games
Sunday morning had four teams standing. Chaska/Chanhassen and Cottage Grove would meet in the single elimination game and Eden Prairie and Apple Valley would play for the West Regional title. The loser of the championship game would play the winner of the elimination game for the East Regional’s #2 seed to the state.
In Sunday morning’s elimination game, Cottage Grove beat Chaska/Chanhassen 4-2. The Storm Hawks could not stop the Wolfpack’s Nick Pierre. Pierre scored all four Cottage Grove goals, one unassisted. Chaska/Chanhassen’s Sully Scholle scored the two Storm Hawk goals. The loss to Cottage Grove, eliminated the #14 seeded Chaska/Chanhassen team.
Sunday evening, the #5 seeded Wolfpack advanced to play Apple Valley for the West Regional’s #2 seed to the state tourney. Cottage Grove beat Apple Valley 6-0 to go to state. The Eagles, skating their fourth game in tourney with 10 forwards, failed to score in their last four periods of play Sunday. The #8 seeded Apple Valley team was the last team eliminated in the West Regional.
The 2016 West Regional Champs!