Section 8A Final I February 27th, 2025 | 7:00 PM CT | @ East Grand Forks Civic Center
#1 seed Warroad Warriors (20-6-1)
Warroad enters the 8A Final looking for the 4-peat to get back to St Paul again. This group has been one of Class A’s biggest surprises as they went from being a question mark as Top 10 team in the preseason all the way to the #1 team in Class A by the end of the regular season. Now they will attempt to win 8A again and it won't be easy as EGF will be on their home ice and they will want to do whatever they can to prevent the Warriors from getting to State again.
Warriors Leaders- Senior #15 Taven James (27-35-62 pts), Junior #20 Ryan Shaugabay (20-33-53 pts) and Sophomore #7 Gavin Andersen (13-13-26 pts) make up the Warrior big top line. Juniors #21 Broden Hontvet (8-28-36 pts) & #9 Sam Hard (8-10-18 pts) and both talented mobile defenseman who play big minutes and can join the rush and add to the offensive Warroad attack.
Warriors Goalie- Sophomore #30 Finn Hanson (13-4-0) 1.83 GAA .925 SV% won the starting job as the year went along. Since taking on the starting role he has been strong in net and he has looked good during their 8A playoff run.
Warriors “Reload”- Warroad this season really proved the old adage that tradition indeed does not graduate. Going into this season looking at what they graduated and what was coming back all signs pointed to this being a “Rebuilding” year but instead all the Warriors have done is “Reload” and they have a chance to be the ones to win that elusive State Title number five which considering all the talent the teams of the last 3 years does feel somewhat shocking. However, first they will need to get by EGF and that will not be easy.
Warriors Special Teams- The Power Play is at 26% and Penalty Kill is at 83.3 %
#2 seed East Grand Forks Greenwave (12-13-2)
East Grand Forks enters the 8A Finals having rolled through the first two rounds of the sectional. EGF has been scoring on teams early and often and they have outscored teams 14-3 so far and have gotten production from multiple forward lines and defensive pairs on this run. They enter the section final looking to get back to the State Tournament for the 1st time since 2021 and put an end to the recent Warroad reign in Section 8A to save what's been a disappointing year.
EGF Leaders- Seniors #7 Hunter Varnson (7-23-30 pts) & #9 Jace Van Eps (11-11-22 pts) and Juniors #6 Tucker Lovejoy (16-9-25 pts) & Sophomore #17 Jace Panzer (7-14-21 pts) lead the way up front. Seniors #2 Cole Bies (5-15-20 pts), #27 Nick Corbett (2-10-12 pts) & #11 Judd Pesch (2-8-10 pts) anchor the blueline as they all have tons of varsity hockey experience.
EGF Goalie- Sophomore #1 Noah Schindele (11-10-2) 2.72 GAA .881 SV% won the job in net as the year went along but goaltending always seems to be the Achilles heel of EGF, and Schindele has been up and down on the year.
EGF Home Ice Advantage - One of the weird quirks of 8A is that they rotate the Semifinal and Final amongst the Big Three and this year it just happened to land in East Grand Forks. This core group of Greenwave won a State A Bantam Title on home ice. These current EGF Seniors had tons of success growing up in youth hockey and while they have struggled at the High School level, they will be hard to beat in their last ever game on home ice as they seem to always kick it into another gear when playing their rival Warroad.
EGF Special Teams- The Power Play is at 22.8% and Penalty Kill is at 80.5 %
8A Final- #1 Warroad vs #2 East Grand Forks
Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)