State Tourney Short Stories

[szellman]

Long time follower, first time poster. I do some short game writes up on the tourney games, thought I would share some.

Orono advances in OT past Northfield
This was a fun game. The Spartans were the deeper team but Northfield did enough to hang around and their goaltending was legit being outshot 50-24. Orono wins a date with Warroad. Buckle up lake boy. Leave your boat shoes at home.

Hornets preserve nest, escape Spuds in double OT 7-6
Might be an early candidate for game of the tournament. Also, Spuds were straight fire in those orange threads! After a tied 1st frame, Edina used numerous pretty passing plays on odd man rushes to light the lamp 3 times. They had Moorhead doubled up, 4-2, enter the third. Opening minute of the 3rd, Edina gets another, felt like you could turn this one off, hope you didn’t! As late as 8:10 remaining, Edina lead 6-3. From that point, the Spuds scored 3 unanswered goals ultimately tying the game with 0:58 seconds remaining. Edina was hanging on for dear life! When the 1st overtime came and went, I felt like Edina was in the better position, although they were the ones that blew the lead, I think their coaches and the team in general is better prepared for that situation than the Spuds. Maybe it’s a haunch, maybe its experience, I don’t know. In the end, it was a shot from the point through multiple screens that found the twine for the game winner. Player of the game, Bobby Cowan, Edina junior, #21. Had 3 goals and 2 assists. Kid is silky smooth. Cowan, Nevers (#18) get Cretin Friday night. Which one do you dislike less, haha.

Zephyrs claim 2nd title in 2OT to cap dream season
Checklist for this game. Star power, check. Coast to coast highlight reel goals, check. Overtime, check. These things write themselves.
After a mostly back and forth first, it was who else but #18 Pilgrim drawing first blood, his 50th of the campaign. Zephyrs responded with a bang, bang rebound goal under a minute to play pulling even heading to intermission. Opening the scoring in the 2nd was the Warriors top line. Pilgrim had a dazzling individual effort, end to end, 3-2. Their next shift Pilgrim forced a turnover and found Marvin-Cortez, snipe, top glove, 4-2. It’s happening, the ice is tilted, Warroad is in control and outshooting Mahtomedi 28-16. Late in the frame, a nice steal behind the Warrior net while everyone was moving up the ice set up the Zephyrs all alone out front, goal. 3-2, end of 2. Take the 15 minutes, have an orange slice, rest the legs. Need everything from you in the third, leave it all on the ice, nothing to save it for. There is no tomorrow.
If you saw any portion of this game from here on, you had a successful Saturday, this was as good as it gets. Second shift of the period Mahtomedi forward Seth Nelson beat Warroad netminder, only to see it clang off the pipe, ugh, the agony. Few minutes later Pilgrim gets the hat trick, 4-2 Warriors. Zephyrs Drage, with a rebuttal :38 seconds, back to 1 goal game. I love this feeling! Warroad got the next one to go back up 2 goals. Goal was scored by Peyton Sunderland, his 2nd of the year, also his second in as many days. Correct, he had 0 goals on the season, then got 2 at the X, sick! Tick, tick, tick, under 8 to play. Mahtomedi gets one but no, waved off immediately, goalie interference. Tough call, looked embellished by the minder, play goes on. Remember Captain Drage, the OT hero yesterday against H-town, he tickled twine twice to complete a trick of his own in the closing minutes, capping the game tying goal with a nice, emotionful bow and arrow celebration to his student section. We are going to overtime!
The Zephyrs have the momentum and an early PP offered numerous ripe opportunities all to be turned away. As the free hockey went on you could see the legs getting heavy. Warroad was leaning heavily on their top line, they were gassed. Minutes into the 5th period of the game, undersized 2nd liner Jonny Grove gave us a flying Bobby Orr style game winner! What a game. What a moment. State champs!
Warroad suffers their first loss of the season in the most gut wrenching fashion. This feels all too familiar. Same feeling as last year when they dropped the final to the Hawks. 7 hour bus ride home, in a blizzard, not how the Warriors saw this years trip ending. Their first line is legit but they lacked depth. Hats off to Mahtomedi, they too are now becoming a staple here in March.

Skippers win ‘Lake v Cake’ State Title
This matched the two largest schools, both needing an OT victory to get here and each playing a 3rd game in as many days. If you weren’t settled early, you missed a big open ice hit that set the tone in this one. Tonka was relentless, suffocating at times. Mid first they got a PP goal. #19 Burrows was behind the goal line when he pounded home a rebound from an almost impossible angle. 1-0 Lake boys.
Although the 2nd was quiet, it was fast and it was fun to watch. Edina stayed strong, held Tonka to just 3 shots in the period. No blood drawing. These teams have now played 8 periods this year, Edina is yet to have a goal celebration.
The Hornets finally got a tally on the scoresheet, opening minute of the third. Cowen with a flip over the minder in a scrum out front. 1-1. The suspense went to a new level. Mid-way point of the period Skipper sophomore #11 Ashton Schultz made zone entry with speed while using craftsman like handwork to net the game winner. Look for this kid for years to come. In the closing seconds, with the extra attacker, Hornet senior Matt Vander Vort hammered a rebound off both pipes and out. Denied. No cake for you.
This Tonka team got stronger each game in St. Paul. After sneaking past Hill in OT on Thursday night, I didn’t think they had it. They proved me wrong. Well played boys. Take a celebratory dip in the lake!

Crusaders claim Consolation over Alex 4-1
Mark my words, Cathedral will be playing Saturday at the X instead of Mariucci next year. Their top 6 leading scores are all underclassman, top two are sophomores. They are built for the future.

Hermantown trounces Orono for 3rd Place
Defenseman Drew Nelson had both goals in this 2-0 affair. H-town outshot the Spartans 38-15. One sided beatdown. Orono wasn’t up for this 9am game after yesterdays emotional OT loss to Warroad.

Pioneers creep past Crimson 5-3
Hill used special teams to outlast MG. Pioneers were 2-3 on PP, while the Grove was 0-4. Despite being outshot 44-25, they capitalized on their limited chances.

Andover bursts past CDH to claim 3rd
This game was a see-saw until late. Cretin lead 3-2 very late. Andover scored with 1:02 remaining to tie it up. You could feel the collective gasp from the Raider bench. Andover pounced, scoring :24 later then an empty netter with :14 to play for a 5-3 final.

[raidergrad72]

These are great reports! Enjoyed reading them all. You must be on the Forum editorial staff!
The only thing I might disagree with is your description of the A 3rd. place game being a "beatdown" unless you are referring to the SOG difference. I was at the game (as well as the A championship game) & as I said on another thread, neither team looked particularly interested but with a final score of 2-0 I wouldn't say it was a "beatdown" as much as a "let's get this one over with".

[ryguyMN]

I’m not much into moral victories, but Hill has to be pleased with taking the consolidation title considering they came into the playoffs with a losing record and I don’t think many had them pegged as coming out of 4AA.

[szellman]

These are great reports! Enjoyed reading them all. You must be on the Forum editorial staff!
The only thing I might disagree with is your description of the A 3rd. place game being a "beatdown" unless you are referring to the SOG difference. I was at the game (as well as the A championship game) & as I said on another thread, neither team looked particularly interested but with a final score of 2-0 I wouldn't say it was a "beatdown" as much as a "let's get this one over with".

No affiliation with staff.

The non-televised games I need to write based on a box score. I can shape a game with PP/PK and shot advantages but I can't say what I can't see. My takes are not always 100% accurate but they are built on reasonable suspicion.