Northwoods sums up my take on this one well. As others have noted, this was in some ways a mirror image of the Edina game the night before, with one team falling behind early and trying to chip away, but seeing the deficit grow to two on a fluky goal and not being able to finish enough. In both games, the team that staked itself to a 2-1 lead early was able to dictate the flow of things thereafter, and never relinquished that lead. Tonka had the perk of having played a somewhat less draining game the night before, as was their prerogative as the deserved #1 seed. While WMD had a quiet night, the four East defensemen were pretty battered and bruised by the end of their third straight game, too, and while they continued to play fairly well, the jump they had earlier in the Tourney wasn't quite there when they were trying to press forward for the tie in the 3rd.northwoods oldtimer wrote:It just wasn't WMD's night to shine. 22 had some jump in his step but for the most part 5 and 23 were non factors in the biggest game, most likely due to the grinding game against Edina. Fatigue factor hurt number 5 the hardest as he is key to East offensive success. That line logged tons of minutes Friday. We are all human and its tough for that body to recover even at 17 and 18.
East second line was on fire and poor number 8 had so many chances clang off the pipe (was it 3 if I recall?). Great game for an outsider to watch. Would have been nice to see a section 7AA team win it back to back. Just was not in the cards tonight (missed opportunity after missed opportunity) and thats the harsh lesson this game teaches us all.
Congrats to the Skippers watched that group win Bantams back in 2015. They are a very good team. Elliot, lumberjacks could have used Bobby Brink.
Side note: this is second year in a row that the Bantam AA champions group has followed up with a HS state title. Should that trend continue in 2019 it will Minnetonka hoisting the trophy once again in March of 2019. Followed by White Bear Lake in 2020.
You can come off the ledge now Zach Halvorson
Congrats to Tonka. Brink and their top D pair were the stars of this Tournament, and they're such a fluid team that keeps coming in waves. Would love to see the big guns all come back for a shot at a repeat, as they are a fun team to watch and a very deserving first time champion.