2022 Class A QF #2 seed 8A Warroad (24-3-1) vs 5A Monticello (13-14-1)

[ClassAGuy]

#2 seed 8A Champion Warroad (24-3-1) vs 5A Champion Monticello (13-14-1) Class A QF @ Xcel Energy Center

Section 8A Champions- Warroad Warriors (24-3-1)
Section 8A Playoff Results- W 10-0 #8 seed Park Rapids, W 5-1 #4 seed East Grand Forks, W 4-1 #2 seed Thief River Falls

Meet the Warriors- Hockeytown USA is on cloud nine these days as over the past two weeks their Girls Program won the Class A Title and now their Boys Programs heads to St Paul looking to do the same. Warroad has been excellent this year and excluding a small stretch where they struggled near the end of January they have been nearly perfect and unbeatable all winter long. It starts in the net for the Warriors as Junior Goaltender Hampton Slukynsky (24-3-1 .928 SV% 1.48 GAA) has played nearly every minute in net and been outstanding all season. He has four fantastic defenseman in front of him as Seniors Carson Reed (9-29-38 pts.) & Todd Powassin (6-11-17 pts.) and Junior Eric Comstock (4-29-33 pts) and Sophomore Ryan Lund (5-18-23 pts.) can all defend and can get up and add to the rush and be an offensive threat as well. Speaking of offensive the Warriors have developed a good 1-2 punch as the season has went along as their while their top line of Seniors Daimon Garnder (39-37-76 pts), Matt Hard (22-19-42 pts.) and Junior Jayson Shaugabay (25-49-74 pts.) get all the attention. The 2nd line of dynamic Sophomores Murray Marvin-Cordes (15-17-32 pts.) and Carson Pilgrim (15-12-27 pts.) have developed nicely as the season has progressed and the Warriors look primed to do exactly what the Girls did two weekends earlier and head to St Paul and return home with some State Championship Hardware to really reinforce their claim as Hockeytown USA.

vs.

Section 5A Champions- Monticello/Maple Lake Moose (13-14-1)
Section 5A Playoff Results- W 3-2 #5 seed River Lakes, W 4-3 #1 seed Little Falls, W 3-2 #3 seed St. Cloud Cathedral

Meet the Moose- When the new Section 5A realignment came out last April many assumed that with the additions of Little Falls and St Cloud Cathedral that those two respected powerhouse programs would take over the section with ease. Not so fast as the traditional power in 5A the Moose had a lot to say about that come playoff time and Monticello made a magical run through the 5A playoffs beating a Top 10 team on their home ice and then winning the school's first ever game against a program that has owned them over the years. In order to make that playoff run the Moose got the most out of diminutive 5’7 senior goaltender Michale Biller (13-12-0 .897 SV% 3.04 GAA) who has been up and down on the year. Give Monticello Coach Eric Nelson credit he did a very nice job with a thin group talent wise as he brings his 4th team to state out of 5A in the last 6 years. Senior forward Wilson Dahlheimer (23-24-47 pts) up front and Senior defender Gavin Simon (7-18-25 pts) on the backend are very talented and do it all for the Moose but they don't have much beyond that. Coach Nelson molded the rest of the group like Seniors Brooks Wilson (7-14-21 pts.) and Juniors Tyler Miller (5-13-18 pts.) & Tyler Bitz (14-4-18 pts.) into buying into roles and playing a tough physical brand of hockey that was enough to sneak out of weak overall talent base in 5A. The Moose will be outmanned by whichever top 3 seed they face but they still had a great playoff run to surprise many and return to the X representing Section 5A.

[ClassAGuy]

#2 seed 8A Champion Warroad (24-3-1) vs 5A Champion Monticello (13-14-1) Class A QF @ Xcel Energy Center
The Class A Tournament gets started off with a traditional northern power taking on a Cinderella team. Warroad will look to be a heavy favorite in this one. The Warriors top line of Seniors Daimon Gardner (39-37-76 pts), Matt Hard (22-19-42 pts.) and Junior Jayson Shaugabay (25-49-74 pts.) will be on the ice all afternoon and the Moose will have trouble containing them. Monticello’s Senior forward Wilson Dahlheimer (23-24-47 pts) will do his best to carry his team like he did on their upset campaign through the 5A Section Playoffs. However, the Warroad D core of Seniors Carson Reed (9-29-38 pts.) & Todd Powassin (6-11-17 pts.) and Junior Eric Comstock (4-29-33 pts) and Sophomore Ryan Lund (5-18-23 pts.) will look to contain him all afternoon. The Warriors also have a big advantage in the net and this one looks like Warroad will cruise into the semifinals with a win.

My Pick- Warroad wins by 2 or 3 goals but the Moose will battle hard

[Puckguy19]

Warroad by 5 or 6

[Green and White Fan]

Warroad in a shut out. 5-0 or 6-0.

[ClassAGuy]

Warroad in a shut out. 5-0 or 6-0.

I agree here. Warroad will be fun to see as they get us started on Wednesday cant wait for the Tourney !!

[GopherHockey]

Warroad by a touchdown in a battle of the top unis in the state.

[skiumah]

Warroad by a touchdown in a battle of the top unis in the state.

Jefferson made the tournament? It's not even close. The powder blue unis are the best in state, says this Edina guy.

I agree that this game will be a touchdown. It may even be running time to start the 3rd.

[BlueLineSpecial]

Warroad by a touchdown in a battle of the top unis in the state.

Jefferson made the tournament? It's not even close. The powder blue unis are the best in state

Truth.

[GopherHockey]

Warroad by a touchdown in a battle of the top unis in the state.

Jefferson made the tournament? It's not even close. The powder blue unis are the best in state, says this Edina guy.

I agree that this game will be a touchdown. It may even be running time to start the 3rd.

Should’ve said “some of”. I agree on Jefferson and love Edinas too.

[ClassAGuy]

Game #1 is just 24+ hours away.

Some of us are very excited.

This game should be one-sided but Monticello has proven to be competitive through the section play and capable of an upset.

But Warroad is on a mission.

I will take the Warriors by 5.

From elliott on double post about the game

[ClassAGuy]

One Final Preview from Karl (East) on YHH

MONTICELLO VS. #2 WARROAD

A Moose team that is becoming a bit of a Tourney regular makes its fourth trip in six years faces one of the Class A powers in a game that is a very, very long shot for an upset.

Monticello (13-14-1, Unranked, 4-seed in 5A)

State appearances: 4 (last in 2020)

Key section wins: 4-3 over 1-seed Little Falls, 3-2 over 3-seed St. Cloud Cathedral

The Moose are among the bigger surprises this year as they made the Tourney as a 4-seed out of a thin section. They do have one elite scorer, Wilson Dahlheimer (22); Gavin Simon (8), a defenseman, is their number two scorer. Brooks Wilson (19), Tyler Bitz (13), and Tyler Miller (11) round out their offensive juice. Michael Biller (1) put together a respectable season in net.

This program did once pull a great upset in this 11:00 A.M. Wednesday time slot when they took down Delano in 2017, but this looks to be an even taller order.

Warroad (24-3-1, #2, 1-seed in 8A)

State appearances: 22 (8 one-class, 14 in Class A; last in 2020)

Championships: 4 (1994, 1996, 2003, 2005)

Key section win: 4-1 over #9 Thief River Falls

The Warriors are back at State after falling short a season ago and have perhaps their most talented team since the days of T.J. Oshie.

The top line is a combination of thunder and lightning: prodigal son Daimon Gardner (13) has shown his power in becoming a Mr. Hockey finalist, while the artistry of UMD commit Jayson Shaugabay (17) is a pleasure on the eyes. Matt Hard (9) rounds out the trio. A couple of elite sophomores, Carson Pilgrim (18) and the speedy Murray Marvin-Cordes (22) give them secondary scoring. On defense, Eric Comstock (2) adds some firepower, Carson Reed (37) is the veteran source of stability, and Ryan Lund (25) rounds out the star sophomore trio. Hampton Slukynsky (1) might be the best goaltender in the Class A field.

While they’ve had more close calls than top-seeded Hermantown, they are right there with the Hawks and are on a collision course for a date at noon on Saturday—as long, of course, as they don’t overlook Ben Dardis and Mahtomedi

[elliott70]

Just a couple of hours from puck drop.

I am sure both sides are feeling the excitement, nerves.
But hope it disappears after warmups and does not affect play.

Good luck boys, enjoy it!

[elliott70]

Monticello - to their credit - have not let Warroad score yet.

[ClassAGuy]

Dominate start by Warriors but Moose finding their legs as we get more settled into the opening period. Warroad's forecheck is alot for the Moose too handle. Warroad Second liner #11 Gaabi Boucha noticeable wearing the headband that made his grandpa a Tourney legend pretty cool!

[ClassAGuy]

Monticello 4th line giving the Moose a Spark!

4th liner #10 Quitin Brooks puts the Moose up 1-0 assisted by #23 Jake Larson on a nice rush.

Warroad goaltender looking shaky with pucks right now...

[Nostalgic Nerd]

1-1

[ClassAGuy]

Snipe by Sophomore Carson Pilgrim ties it up 1-1

[Nostalgic Nerd]

Woops 2-1.

[ClassAGuy]

2-1 Marvin Cordes what a set up over to Jones

Warriors rolling now!

[ClassAGuy]

Warroad 2 Monticello 1 After 1 period.

Warriors dominate the opening stretch. But the Moose 4th line gave Monti a spark and a 1-0 lead. Warriors 2nd line Sophomores Pilgrim and Marvin-Cordes gave them a jump. Pilrgim with on off wing snipe and Marvin Cordes with an amazing play effort set up Jones and Warroad leads 2-1.

Warroad clearly the better team but the Moose keeping it interesting ... But for how long. Warroad D are pinching hard on the strong side walls really bottled up the Moose. Still haven't heard from #13 or #17 on Warroad just a matter of time.

[ClassAGuy]

What a play by Shaugabay!

3-1 Warriors

[ClassAGuy]

And now Gardner Scores

4-1 Warriors the rout is on in this one

[ClassAGuy]

Warroad 4 Monticello 1 after 2 periods

Dominate period by the Warriors as they outshot the Moose 24-3 during a period where the controlled the play and pace and everything in between. #17 Jayson Shaugabay was the best player on the ice and his wrap around goal made it 3-1. Shortly after he set up his Line mate #13 Gardner and the lead was stretched to 4-1. The Moose Goaltender deserves a ton of credit stopping 22 of 24 shots.

Warroad will look to cruise from here. The Moose are just outmatched by such a highly skilled Warroad team.

[ClassAGuy]

Gardner scores on a beautiful feed from Jayson Shaugabay on the Power Play. 5-1 Warroad in the 3rd period.

[ClassAGuy]

Gardner with the Hatty on another Wrap around. 6-1 Warroad