A QF- #3 Warroad vs #6 Northern Lakes

[ClassAGuy]

#3 seed Warroad Warriors (8A) (22-5-1) vs #6 seed Northern Lakes Lightning (6A) (17-10-1)
March 4th, 2025 | 8:00 PM CT | Class A Quarterfinals | @ Grand Casino Arena, St Paul MN

Warroad enters the state tournament after a one year hiatus and for the 26th time overall. They come into the Tourney fresh off running right through the Section 8A Playoffs like a wrecking ball, outscoring the competition 27-1. This group has a roster full of talent, and many of these youngsters won State Titles at the youth levels through the years. The Warriors will attempt to ease the pain of some recent trips to St Paul that saw them come up just short, and they will look to bring home some State Title championship hardware to Hockeytown USA for the first time since 2005.

Warriors Leaders- Sr #20 Mooney Shaugabay (21-30-51 pts), Jr. #7 Gavin Andersen (30-33-63 pts) & 9th grader #5 Rodrick Jackson (13-19-32 pts) make up the Warrior elite big top line. Sr #21 Broden Hontvet (7-31-38 pts) & 9th grader #22 Ayven Hontvet (15-25-40 pts) are a talented pair of brother defenders who play big minutes and can join the rush and add to the offensive Warroad attack.

Warriors Goalies- Jr. #30 Finn Hanson (16-5-1) 1.62 GAA .926 SV% has been Warroad’s starter all season long but he was hurt in the Section Final and Sr. #1 Patrick Kennedy (6-0-0) 0.65 GAA .956 Sv% had to step in to pick up the win.

Warriors State Title Drought- Warroad was the first true power in Class A, winning 4 State Titles in the first 11 years of Class A. Now the question is, when will Warroad finally bring home State Title number five? The title drought has now reached 20-plus years, as the last Boys Hockey State Title for the Warriors was back in 2005. The current group has had loads of success in the youth ranks and won multiple state titles growing up, but the question is, are they going to be a group to bring more title success back to Hockeytown USA by the end of this week, as this is a traditional hockey power community that is hungry for another Championship Title.

Warriors Special Teams- The Power Play is at 34.1% and Penalty Kill is at 92.9 %

Northern Lakes enters the state tournament for the 2nd year in a row and for the 3rd time overall. This was a team that came into the year with more transition as they had a new head coach for the 3rd straight season. They did get off to a slow start, but like last season, they came on strong down the stretch. They then went into the Section 6A Playoff and pulled off one of the biggest shockers when they upset the prohibitive Section Favorite and #1 seed Sartell. Now they will look to continue that magic as they are back at the Tourney with experience and plenty of belief this week.

Lightning Leaders- Sr. #14 Jacob Peterson (12-13-25 pts) and Jrs. #16 Josiah Reier (19-24-43 pts), #29 Parker Fulton (22-19-41 pts.) & #2 Waylon Katterhagen (16-8-24 pts) all have been productive this year. On blueline Jrs. #4 Kyler Rikala (2-16-18 pts), #12 Bodie Nybakken (2-11-13 pts) & #5 Derek Berg (1-10-11 pts) have all been good steady defenders and also been added to the offense.

Lightning Goalie- Jr. #1 Sam Suja (14-10-1) 2.45 GAA .917 SV% the 2nd year starter has been the key piece to this team all year long. He has been outstanding in net during their playoff run as he has only given up 2 goals in three games so far.

Lightning’s Mr. Shutout- Northern Lakes comes into the Tourney playing their best hockey of the year, as they really picked up their game down the stretch, and a large reason for that is the man in the net. Goaltender Jr. Sam Suja, who recently went over 1000 career saves, has been red hot of late as he has 3 shutouts in his last 4 games now and has only allowed two goals in the playoffs. He was one of the key reasons for their run to state last year, and this year he will be key for the Lightning to be able to continue their late season run and pull off some more big upsets, and he has played under the light of St Paul, so he won’t be in awe of the moment.

Lightning Special Teams- The Power Play is at 28.8% and Penalty Kill is at 81.8 %

[Nostalgic Nerd]

Good couple shifts at the end for NL. For the most part doing a good job of protecting Suka. Still feels like they need two garbage goals lol.

[Nostalgic Nerd]

Ouch what a blunder that was.