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thank you minyhock. final somone put the facts out there that will shut up all the people saying DM has an easy schedule. And im sure they would have even more hard teamson there schedule if they didn't have to play a couple of the awful teams in there conference.

Yeah ,well said! Nothing wrong with either Duluth Marshall's or Hermantown's schedule for class A. Maybe STA should move to AA if they play so many. Then where will they be ranked?

DmnHawk5 wrote:Yeah, i was there, it was definatly one of the best if not maybe the best game i have ever seen, at least in person.

No disrespect but I would have a hard time calling it one of the best games I have ever seen. I think we have all seen some unbelievable games from area teams over the past 10-15 years. Even in terms of Marshall or Hermantown, I can think of a number of games that I have seen both play that I would rate certainly equal if not higher.

It was a well played game played by two good teams. Over the past several years, both Marshall and Hermantown have been 1-2 in their respective sections (except for the one year they were both in 7a, when Hermantown beat Marshall and then lost to I-Falls in the final) and have made a number of trips to state. This year will be no different.

im not that old, its one of the best ive ever been too

I will back ya on that one DmnHawk5, I am a little older than you so I have seen a few better, but it was a really good game.

Hermantown beat Superior 10-1 they can't be that great. But DM does have to play them, as well as Ashland because they are both in the LSC.

hey dmhawk, i think its one of the best ones, but the play was semi sloppy from hermantown, and the ice was breaking down badly at the end of the 3rd and overtime which lead to alot more drama because everytime it happened it went to the better for duluth marshall. aka, i beleive hardy had 5 big saves, yes 5 because of this, including on where the RD lost it straight up as he was breaking it out on the blue line due to the bad ice. i belive connolly got it after a little crum, proceeded to do a couple deeks than hardy came up big.

so to say it was the best game ever is farfetched but its up there in the 'better games ive ever seen' catigory. .

the atmosphere in there was much like a compacted xcel.

i dont think its the best game ever, thats just impossible to tell about any game. But it was up there. And yeah the atmoshpere was intense it would have been even better at a little bigger arena. And i agree with you that the ice was breaking down bad.

From what I heard Hermantown was totally gased in the third period and ot. Did Marshall have more jump to their step in the second half of the game or what?

eazy1415 wrote:From what I heard Hermantown was totally gased in the third period and ot. Did Marshall have more jump to their step in the second half of the game or what?

Watching the end of the j.v. game, the ice was already slow. The place was full at that point. I feel with temperature outside and with the number of people in the building the ice got worse as the varsity game went on. Both teams slowed down. Shots on goal were announced 7-2, in favor of DM in overtime. It was a grind for both teams. The DECC would, have been, a better setting considering these conditions. I hear the DECC was not an option and maybe no one could have perdicted these factors? No doubt this rivaly is growing.

Yeah I heard the place was as full as it could get.. On the radio they said people from the cities were calling the schools to see if they could get tickets.. The DECC would have been a better place for the game from the sounds of it..

bringiton22 wrote:Hermantown beat Superior 10-1 they can't be that great. But DM does have to play them, as well as Ashland because they are both in the LSC.

Superior is a decent team. They had a couple of guys out for drinking when they played Hermantown, Hermantown still would have won even if they played but these players would have helped out a little bit for Superior. Superior would probably be ranked something like 15th in class A if we included them in the polls.

eazy1415 wrote:Yeah I heard the place was as full as it could get.. On the radio they said people from the cities were calling the schools to see if they could get tickets.. The DECC would have been a better place for the game from the sounds of it..

I have to totally agree that the DECC would have been a better venue for this game but, unfortunately, I don't see it happening anytime in the near future. The fact is that both Duluth Marshall and Hermantown have rinks pretty much right on their High School campuses that they can hold practices and rinks in rent free. If the "home team" decided that they would like to move their "home" game from their campus rink to the DECC they would have to pay to rent the DECC and they would risk losing their home ice advantage in what will likely be a very important game for years to come. I know that the Duluth School District has a contract with the DECC for it to be their home rink for the three Duluth Public Schools. Hermantown or Duluth Marshall would likely have to pay the DECC more than any of the Duluth Schools pay for their games and would likely have to arrange for ticket selling options as well. It is likely that in this senario the "home" team, whether it be Hermantown or Duluth Marshall would easily make back the rental fee from ticket sales, as this game may even rival Cloquet-Esko-Carlton and Duluth East in attendance, but would it be enough to make it worth while to the school? That is the question that both school's Athletic Directors would have to deal with. Next year, Duluth Marshall will be the host in this match-up, so the petition would would have to start now if we would like to see this match-up in a larger venue next season.

As far as the ice breaking down at Hermantown. I must say that the Arena Manager had to have seen this coming and should have taken better steps towards lessening its effect. The ice should have been set to a lower temperature a few days in advance to allow for faster freezing. Also, the air temperature should have been set lower to start the day with the knowledge that a capacity crowd would significantly raise the temps. Although, in retrospect, I must say that the ice would slow down in any event. From seeing the rink at Hermantown it is obvious that the ice is up to 6 inches think in some places to compensate for the uneven floor. This means that the ice will freeze slower in these areas no matter what the air temperature is. I can only imagine how much it costs just to keep that amount of ice frozen.

I know for a fact that they keep the ice at Hermantown at a level lower than most places. That part is not a factor in the game. The ice is so cold that sometimes a big piece chips off near the boards, and I have seen this happen. It was an even game until the 3rd, and Marshall took over ( I hate to say). LeBlanc scored on an amazing individual effort, and Marshall scored on a 2nd or 3rd chance rebound. It was an amazing game, in my opinion, and it was well worth the hype.

i think that the goaltending was great... both played awsome wich made it even better