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Class A QF: Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato vs. #1 Hermantown

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:07 pm
by karl(east)
LITCHFIELD/DASSEL-COKATO VS. #1 HERMANTOWN
-Hermantown begins its attempt to end six straight years of runner-up trophies against a mild surprise from the southwestern part of the state.

Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (20-8, #16, 2-seed in 3A)
State appearances: 3 (first since 2008)
Key section win: 7-6 (OT) vs. #15 Luverne
-The Dragons are one of the stronger teams to emerge from 3A, but drew the short stick and are stuck with Hermantown in the first round. They score goals in bunches but give them up fairly often as well, and have respectable scoring depth for an unseeded A team. David Raisanen (7) and Jared Pedersen (5) lead them in points, and defenseman Ben Haugo (20), the hero of their section final upset of Luverne, is a high-scoring, dangerous defenseman. Dylan Lemke (1) came on strong toward the end of the season to win the goalie job. While this team has some potential, their style makes it difficult to see them having even the slightest chance against Hermantown.

Hermantown (24-2-1, #1, 1-seed in 7A)
State appearances: 13 (7 in a row)
Championships: 1 (2007)
Key section wins: 9-0 vs. #7 Greenway, 8-0 vs. #5 Hibbing
-This Hawks juggernaut looks primed to end a run of six straight runner-up finishes and sweep away the Class A field. Cole Koepke (27), Ryan Sandelin (11), and Jesse Jacques (8) lead an explosive top line, and heavy-hitting Wyatt Aamodt (5) is one of the state’s finest defensemen. Sophomore Tyler Watkins (18) is the next in the line of great Hermantown forwards, and Matt Valure (4) has also had a highly productive year. Goaltending, which has been an issue for the Hawks in the past, has been a strength with Luke Olson (32) this season. This team may be a tiny bit less deep than the Hawk squad that stumbled in last season’s final, but they make up for it with star power and their customary balance. They breezed through Section 7A and should do the same on Thursday night; things will get progressively tougher after that, and we’ll see how they respond if and when someone gives them a good test.

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 8:58 pm
by Jeffy95
Hermantown Academy will win 9-0. Koepke, Jacques and Aamodt will have hat tricks. Plante will roll two lines in the third to make sure.....

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 1:20 am
by PASTRAPIDSFAN
Hermantown by 5 goals

Litchfield goalie

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:38 am
by tututangous
I saw some highlights from the luverne game. Ouch. I hope he's working with a goalie coach since that game.

Hermantown will score quickly and often. Sorry dragons.

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:42 am
by zamboniexhaustinhaler
Yeah, after the top three, there's some real dogs in the tournament.

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 5:23 am
by GP4Lhockey
Hermantown gets to double digits

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 6:20 am
by elliott70
zamboniexhaustinhaler wrote:Yeah, after the top three, there's some real dogs in the tournament.
Cathedral, SPA are not terrible.
Princeton, while not deep, will do fine.
The southern team are still a bit behind, but have made strides to improve.

Having said that, Hermantown in running time.
West will be beat in running time.
Princeton will lose by 4.

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 7:10 am
by zamboniexhaustinhaler
elliott70 wrote:
zamboniexhaustinhaler wrote:Yeah, after the top three, there's some real dogs in the tournament.
Cathedral, SPA are not terrible.
Princeton, while not deep, will do fine.
The southern team are still a bit behind, but have made strides to improve.

Having said that, Hermantown in running time.
West will be beat in running time.
Princeton will lose my 4.
Being deep is what it's all about, if a team expects to do well.

I see blowouts in every pre-title game, including at least one semi.

But I've been wrong before.

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 8:16 am
by kniven
Jeffy95 wrote:Hermantown Academy will win 9-0. Koepke, Jacques and Aamodt will have hat tricks. Plante will roll two lines in the third to make sure.....
Hermantown Hawks will have these boys in running time mid 2nd period......

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:44 am
by dherman8
Hermantown by 10 in this one. By 5 in the next one. And by 3 for the title.

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 2:48 pm
by blindref
Here's a story from two years ago about the Head Coach
of Litchfield's Boys Hockey coach and what his family
went through following a serious traffic accident.

Chris and his staff have done a great job working with
their kids and promoting hockey in central Minnesota.

Back home, back to normal

By Jenny Berg reporter@independentreview.net | Posted Apr 10, 2014

After living mostly in a hospital room for two months while 7-year-old Ty Olson recovered from injuries sustained in a car crash, the Olson family returned home March 7.

Each of the five Olsons had a different answer regarding their favorite part of coming home, but all five answers had to do with appreciating the simple things.

“I love the smell of the house. It’s home. It smells like my house,” said Chris Olson, an English teacher at Litchfield Middle School and coach for Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato boys hockey.

Olson’s wife, Cindy, said her favorite part about returning home is getting back into the “crazy routines.”

“I like getting back to a bit of crazy routines, getting everyone out the door,” said Cindy, who works in the special education department at Litchfield High School.

Chris and Cindy’s three children each appreciate the simple things, too: 12-year-old Alyssa enjoys sleeping in her own bed again, 9-year-old Braden likes playing shinny hockey in the basement again, and Ty said his favorite part of being home is shooting pucks with his brother and seeing his friends at school.

Snuggling with his family also tops Ty’s list — a treat for him now is crawling into bed with dad, brother Braden or sister Alyssa, who calls Ty a “bed hog.”

“I like to snuggle up with her. She keeps me warm,” said Ty gently on Monday.

Chris, Braden and Ty were injured Jan. 3 during a head-on collision while driving home from a hockey tournament at the University of Minnesota. Ty suffered the most severe injuries in the accident, sustaining a traumatic brain injury and incomplete spinal cord injury, meaning his spinal cord was not completely severed during the accident.

“Incomplete is good. It’s very lucky. He’s very lucky,” Cindy said. “In the medical world, they told us time and time again how lucky he is and how well his body has responded to his injury.”

Right after the accident, doctors at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minn., placed Ty under heavy sedation to allow him to rest while the swelling on his brain stem subsided. He was transferred to Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul on Jan. 20.

In February, doctors fused Ty’s C1 and C2 vertebrae with screws and a plate. Almost immediately, Ty’s ability to swallow improved and a few days later, he could eat solid food again. After tasting pizza for the first time in a few months, Ty said it “tastes like heaven.”

Ty was discharged March 7, and now undergoes physical and occupational therapy three times a week. He attends school full-time, and is able to participate in most activities, Cindy said. He still is required to wear a neck brace, however.

“It’s kind of a slow recovery, allowing his body to get back to where it needs to be,” she said. “We’ll know more about things in the upcoming couple of months, but he’s a trooper. He’s a champ.”

Doctors are unsure whether or not Ty will be able to participate in contact sports. “That’s one of the hard things,” Cindy said. “As a parent, you never want to put them in the position to get injured, but you don’t want to limit them.”

But the family’s positive outlook makes coping a bit easier.

“We’re only focusing on the ‘cans’ and not the ‘cannots,’” Chris said.

Chris suffered leg and ankle injuries in the accident, but he had his walking boot removed last week. Chris and Cindy both returned to work March 17.

Braden had broken his leg in two places, suffered a broken nose and underwent surgery to repair tears on the outer lining of his small intestine that were causing some internal bleeding. Braden was discharged from North Memorial in January and was cleared to play sports again March 12.

In addition to practicing hockey skills in the driveway, Braden is participating in a traveling baseball team this summer.

Braden said the accident and recovery was “scary,” and spending time away from home and his brother was difficult. To keep in contact, the family often used “FaceTime,” an iPhone application that allows users to see each other on the screen while talking.

Chris said he appreciated the family, friends and community members who visited them in the hospital. But seeing people at home or at their upcoming benefit Sunday will be a nice change.

“When people visited the hospital, it was so nice to see them — such a reprieve, a mental break,” Chris said. “Now we’re getting together and it’s a much happier note. It’s a moving forward thing.”

Cindy said she expects the benefit to be a little overwhelming, and said she feels a little guilty accepting donations. “But it’s really humbling and it really gets you though a lot of things,” she said of the support.

Chris and Cindy said they have not heard any updates on the other driver involved in the car crash, a 57-year-old Inver Grove Heights man who allegedly crossed the center line and collided with Olson.

“Our philosophy is to just put all of our energy into our own time and family,” Cindy said. “Hopefully he is healing, too, and progressing in his health.”

The accident put life into perspective for the family, Cindy said.

“We’re grateful for a lot of little things now that maybe we took for granted,” she said. “We’re very, very thankful.”

Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 3:03 am
by GoldyGopher
Goldy see's LDC scoring some goals in this one. Give him the Hawks but make it 8-5

Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:23 am
by SFA1992
after reading these, what would the spread be for this game? puts things into perspective...

Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 9:41 am
by TheMNhockey1
SFA1992 wrote:after reading these, what would the spread be for this game? puts things into perspective...
i think 6.5 would be a solid number for this game

Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 10:03 am
by SFA1992
TheMNhockey1 wrote:
SFA1992 wrote:after reading these, what would the spread be for this game? puts things into perspective...
i think 6.5 would be a solid number for this game
could get some pretty silly prop bets going for hermantown's games.

Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 12:26 pm
by hockeyfan2612
The bigger question is will Hermnatown have more goals then Litchfield has shots. :lol:

Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 12:38 pm
by Bigcat99
TheMNhockey1 wrote:
SFA1992 wrote:after reading these, what would the spread be for this game? puts things into perspective...
i think 6.5 would be a solid number for this game
HTown only outscored the #4 and #7 single A teams in MN 17-0 in the last two section games. Id be blown away if they don't get to double digits - and very likely by end of 2nd period. I'm calling this a 12-1 game.

Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 1:36 pm
by TheMNhockey1
Bigcat99 wrote:
TheMNhockey1 wrote:
SFA1992 wrote:after reading these, what would the spread be for this game? puts things into perspective...
i think 6.5 would be a solid number for this game
HTown only outscored the #4 and #7 single A teams in MN 17-0 in the last two section games. Id be blown away if they don't get to double digits - and very likely by end of 2nd period. I'm calling this a 12-1 game.
Haha yeah when you put it that way it sounds bad. I was going more off of past 3A performances which haven't been terrible the last 3 years. But you're right could very very easily get out of hand

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 7:15 pm
by computerguy
What did 3a do last year? I'm pretty sure it was New Ulm with a more than competitive game with the zephyrs. 6-3 proved to be the most competitive of the first say last year????? I agree odds are on the Hawks but anything can happen!!!!!

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 1:30 am
by BobSaget
computerguy wrote:What did 3a do last year? I'm pretty sure it was New Ulm with a more than competitive game with the zephyrs. 6-3 proved to be the most competitive of the first say last year????? I agree odds are on the Hawks but anything can happen!!!!!
Didn't Apollo/Breck go to OT?

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 1:33 am
by greenwayraider
Those of you who haven't seen Hermantown play have no idea how good they are. Fast, physical, deep, great passing and with good goaltending. If this doesn't go into running time I'll be shocked. Hibbing or Greenway would probably beat LDC by more than one goal, there is no chance of LDC staying with Hermantown.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 2:28 am
by Old_School_67
Sounds like you haven't gotten over the 9-0 loss. Let it go.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 2:42 am
by silentbutdeadly3139
greenwayraider wrote:Those of you who haven't seen Hermantown play have no idea how good they are. Fast, physical, deep, great passing and with good goaltending. If this doesn't go into running time I'll be shocked. Hibbing or Greenway would probably beat LDC by more than one goal, there is no chance of LDC staying with Hermantown.
What he said. Son said they were "crazy good" but I will be rooting for LDC

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 2:44 am
by greenwayraider
I let it go a long time ago. My observations are based on what I've seen and and if you observed my other posts you would know that.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 2:54 am
by rainier
greenwayraider wrote:Those of you who haven't seen Hermantown play have no idea how good they are. Fast, physical, deep, great passing and with good goaltending. If this doesn't go into running time I'll be shocked. Hibbing or Greenway would probably beat LDC by more than one goal, there is no chance of LDC staying with Hermantown.
Agreed. Hermantown's 2nd line is as good as the top line for most teams in Class A, as is their 2nd d pairing.

I know nothing of LDC, but I can't see an unseeded team staying out of running time against Hermantown.