Red Wing Holiday Tournament Results and Comments

[TheSouthSide]

Red Wing Holiday Tournament was a huge success with some great hockey being played by some terrific teams. Fergus Falls took the third place game over Faribault in a shoot out after OT was played. This game looked to be one sided after Faribault scored nice seconds in, but the rest of the game was evenly played and took an exciting shoot out to decide the winner.

The championship was played between Red Wing and St. Croix Valley Fusion. It is pretty safe to say that St. Croix is close, if not the best team Red Wing has faced all year. They didn't really have one standout player, but all of them were evenly talented and played complete team hockey. Their passing was phenomenal and were well coached. I imagine they would give any class "A" Minnesota team fits and would compete with most "AA" teams as well. The score was 6-0 Fusion, but honestly could have been worse. Red Wing's goalie played extremely well and showed that Red Wing has two solid goalies for the next few years. St. Croix was an older team compared to Red Wing and it showed, but I think Red Wing learned a lot by their play and will only benefit them in the future. Congrats to St. Croix and their players.

The tournament also consisted of a skills competition between the competing teams on Monday. It seems liked all the girls were very interested in the competition and took pride in trying to win the overall team portion of the skills event. Fastest skater, shootout, and fastest with the puck were an example of some of the games. It was a nice change of pace and proved to be fun and worth watching.

Overall the tournament was well received and I believe they are looking at expanding it to six or eight teams next year depending on interest. The level of play was unbelievable and looks to only get better next year looking at rosters and what everyone has coming back. If your looking for a tournament with a high level of play and one that is well organized, you might want to contact the organizers for next year.

Congrats to all the girls and hopefully the young lady from Fergus Falls who was hurt in the game today is recovering ok. If anyone has an update on her status, it would be nice to hear how she is doing. Thanks!

[ghshockeyfan]

Having had a team in this event a year ago I have to say it is outstanding. Glad to hear that it went well again this season and congrats to the RW administrators and others that put this together!