Wayzata comes from behind to beat Eden Prairie for first state title

A pair of late second-period goals, one of them shorthanded, sparked a comeback from a two-goal deficit as Wayzata went on to capture its first-ever boys’ hockey state championship with a 5-3 win over Eden Prairie on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center.

The Trojans and Eagles treated the crowd of 19,655 to a thrilling season finale filled with highlight reel goals, big hits, great saves and a puck caroming of an official’s head.

Wayzata defenseman Logan Lindstrand’s seeing-eye wrist shot from the left point through traffic found its way behind Eden Prairie goaltender Shaun Durocher at 5:32 of the third and that stood up as the game winner. The Trojans put the clamps down on the Eagles from there, keeping them at bay until Colin Schmidt’s empty netter at 16:58.

“I was just trying to get the puck on net,” Lindstrand said. “I saw one of their guys coming up quick and I tried to get it off quick and just lucky that it went in.”

Wayzata goaltender came up big for his team, especially in the first period when he made 14 of his 30 overall saves in the game. Schilling’s performance didn’t go unnoticed by his opponents.

“Schilling’s a great goalie,” Eden Prairie star forward Casey Mittelstadt said. “He’s probably the best goalie in the state, I’ve seen.”

Mittelstadt, who led the tournament in scoring with 14 points, and Minnesota Mr. Hockey candidate Michael Graham each scored for the Eagles, but Wazyata’s stingy defense kept the potent tandem mostly in check.

“They’re tough to score on, we knew that,” Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith said. “I would’ve thought scoring three we would’ve had a chance to win. Honestly, I would never have expected them to get four on us.”

Trailing 3-1 nearly 12 minutes into the second period, things looked to go from bad to worse for Wayzata when its second power play of the period was wiped out after a major boarding penalty was assessed to defenseman Hank Sorensen.

O’Leary called his timeout at that point and gathered his team together and later said his message to them was simply kill the penalty and get back to playing their game.

“We believed that if we play our game, are controlling the puck and taking time and space away from Mittelstadt and Graham that we can win and that’s what we did,” O’Leary said.

Shortly after Eden Prairie’s Connor Olson came out of the box to put Wayzata down a man, Trojans forward Billy Duma’s pass sprung linemate Luke Paterson on a partial break. As the Eagles defender went all-in on Paterson, he slipped a pass back to a hustling Duma as he flew through the Eden Prairie zone and senior beat Durocher to cut the deficit to one at 13:34.

“It really comes back to being up 3-1 and having a major and wasting it,” Smith said. “I think that was the turning point.”

Just 2:16 later, Wayzata junior defenseman Collin Kubinski faked a shot from the blue line before sliding a pass to forward Matt Nelson between the circles and he rifled a shot to make it 3-3 at the second intermission.

“We’re happy with the way we bounced back and how we played the last seven minutes of the second and, obviously, in the third period as well,” O’Leary said.

Sorensen was asked for his thoughts on watching his teammates tie the game from his seat in the penalty box.

“Great show,” Sorensen said, drawing laughter. “It’s like I paid for a ticket and watched it myself.”

Eden Prairie and Wayzata split a pair of 4-2 regular season contests with each team winning on the other’s home ice and, like Saturday, both were capped off with empty-net goals. They were also intense, physical battles so it was only fitting that the rubber match be decided on neutral ice, with the Class 2A state championship on the line, of course.

After the teams traded goals in the first period, the Eagles appeared to assume control of the game on a pair of second-period goals just 3:35 apart by Michael Graham and Jarod Blackowiak. The second of the two came 12 seconds after Wayzata’s Jack Carlson was call for roughing to negate what had been a Trojans power play.

But the night ultimately belonged to the Trojans who return from St. Paul as state champions for the first time.

“That’s a huge accomplishment for the school and the city and our team,” Schilling said. “It’s unbelievable to say you’re a state champ.”

The post Trojan Triumph appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Seventh time is the charm as Hermantown beats Breck for Class 1A title

St. Paul — Somewhere on the streets of St. Paul is a homeless monkey who once called Hermantown coach Bruce Plante’s back home.

Plante’s Hawks put an end to a six-season stretch of Class 1A state tournament runner-up finishes on Saturday afternoon in a resounding manner with a 5-0 win over the Breck Mustangs at Xcel Energy Center.

The sound of the final horn brought with it a mixture of excitement and relief for Plante, who hasn’t been able to escape the constant questions about when his team would finally skate away with a title. He jokingly admitted he was afraid of what would have happened to him if Hermantown had lost yet another state final.

“They’d have probably taken me out of here in a straight jacket or something because I just didn’t know if I could handle another loss in this game,”Plante said. “It would’ve pushed me over the edge.”

Hermantown’s Cole Koepke and Ryan Sandelin each had a goal and two assists and goaltender Luke Olson stood tall on the season’s biggest stage, shutting out the high-octane Mustangs with 23 saves.

It was only appropriate that Hermantown’s streak of disappointment would end where it began, facing the Breck Mustangs in the Class 1A championship game. The Mustangs beat the Hawks 2-1 in 2010 to win their second consecutive state title.

What wasn’t known at the time was it would be the first of four heartbreaking one-goal losses for Hermantown during the streak, including matching 5-4 overtime defeats at the hands of St. Thomas Academy in 2011 and East Grand Forks in 2015.

So the pressure has been mounting on the Hawks with each trip to St. Paul but Hermantown senior captain Wyatt Aamodt said the players tried their best not to worry about it too much.

“We obviously felt it,” Aamodt said. “But we figured if we could jump on them early and pop a couple in and just keep rolling, we’d be fine.”

He was right and he personally saw to it as the first period approached the 10-minute mark.

Aamodt made a great play at the left point to hold the zone and get the puck to Sandelin who fed Koepke in the slot. His quick shot deflected off a Breck defender’s stick over Mustangs goaltender Linden Olness’ shoulder.

Less than three minutes later Hermantown took a 2-0 lead when Koepke and Sandelin combined on a gritty forecheck effort leading to Sandelin feeding Jesse Jacques who buried a shot from the left circle at 12:40 of the first.

Plante said this team was motivated by the streak rather than in fear of it and the players showed no sign of nerves prior to the game.

“They were going to get it, I could see it in their faces, I could see it in their eyes,”Plante said. “When they got out on there that first shift , you could just see, ‘We’re gonna make this happen.’ It was that kind of determination.”

Breck turned up the pressure on Hermantown late in the first period with near misses by Dalton Weigel and Mitchell Machlitt in the final two minutes, but the Hawks weren’t done yet.

Hermantown’s Brendan Baker chased down a dumped puck below the goal line and fed James Lindberg who snapped a shot from the bottom of the left circle just inside the far post.

“It was a great play by Baker to get it back to me,” Lindberg said. “I just saw a little hole up top and I figured you might as well go for it, it’s the state championship game.”

If there’s such a thing as a back-breaking goal in the first period, that was it.

“3-0 is a lot better than 2-0, you know how they say a two-goal lead is the worst thing in hockey,” Lindberg said. “And to get that three nothing lead that was a big pick-me-up after that.”

Logan Judnick added a second period goal and Sandelin notched a shorthanded tally in the third to provide the final margin.

Olson was outstanding, especially in the second period when he made nine saves including successive right pad stops on Weigel and Will Torgerson near the six minute mark. He also benefited from Tyler Scott’s shot clanging off the left post with just under seven to go in the middle stanza.

“Luke’s never let us down one time this year,” Aamodt said. “Every big game, you know, he’s stood on his head for us.”

Plante said Olson has not had a bad game in two years in the Hermatown crease.

“He’s just calm and he’s cool and when he gives up a bad goal he gets better,” he said.

For Plante, the win is one of the greatest moments in his hockey life.

“The first time we went to state was awesome and when we won the state in ’07 it was great because it was the first time our program had ever done that,” Plante said. “But with all these six times in a row, and all the mounting stuff that goes on with that and a lot of things that get said and what not, I just wanted it over with really. These Kids took the bull by the horns and grabbed it and went with it.”

The post The Streak is Dead appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Casey Mittelstadt comes up big again to lift Eden Prairie to title game

After his team’s Class 1A quarterfinal win over St. Cloud Cathedral on Wednesday night, St. Paul Academy coach Matt Funk said, “Big players step up in big games.” While Funk was referring to one of his own players, he could have just as easily been describing Eden Prairie’s Casey Mittelstadt.

The junior forward notched a hat trick and chipped in a pair of assists before the second period was finished in the Eagles’ 6-2 Class 2A state tournament semifinal win over Grand Rapids on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center.

The five-point night comes on the heels of a six-point masterpiece (1 goal, 5 assists) in Eden Prairie’s 7-3 quarterfinal win over Anoka on Thursday night. In five career state tournament games over two seasons, Mittelstadt has racked up 13 points (6-7–13).

“He picked us apart pretty good tonight and he’s a heck of a hockey player, he’s gonna play for a long time,” Grand Rapids coach Trent Klatt said. “In high school hockey when you have guys of that ability it’s very hard to defend.”

Mittelstadt’s second and third goals, the first one shorthanded, sparked a four-goal second period for the Eagles. The outburst snapped a 2-2 second period tie and launched the Eagles on their way to their third state championship game in school history.

“Talk about a guy taking over a game,” Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith said. “He can be humble about it, but at 2-2 he decided to really crank it up another notch.”

While the record-breaking 22,244 session attendees were treated to a double dose of entertaining contests, the contrast between Friday night’s two Class 2A semifinal matchups could have hardly been more stark. Wayzata and Stillwater, with a combined six state tournament appearances, opened the evening deciding which school would earn its first title game berth and the Trojans prevailed in dramatic fashion.

Eden Prairie and Grand Rapids, on the other hand, stepped on the ice for the nightcap toting 24 trips to state and five championships between them. The game did nothing to diminish their tournament pedigrees as the Eagles and Thunderhawks delivered a semifinal with championship caliber speed, intensity and physicality, particularly in the second period.

First period goals by Mittelstadt and Michael Graham gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead after one period and Eden Prairie appeared to be in control with a 17-8 advantage in shots.

But Grand Rapids came out of the intermission flying on fresh ice with 1:45 of power play time carried over from a first period penalty to Eden Prairie’s Nolan Sullivan. Micha Miller’s power-play goal at 1:29 got the Thunderhawks on the board and Thursday night’s overtime hero, Alex Adams, tied it just 11 seconds later.

“I think we might have got a little too loose,” Mittelstadt said. “We were pretty excited after the first [period].”

The Grand Rapids surge was on at that point as the Thunderhawks picked up their speed and physical play. Miller, whom Klatt referred to the night before as “a difference maker” with his speed, used his gift to draw another Eden Prairie penalty and the momentum was all with the orange and black.

After watching his team get off to a slow start in the opening period, Klatt felt his team was finally playing, “the way we wanted to.”

“It was a breath of fresh air,” he said. “It was a good response by our guys, we just weren’t able to sustain it.”

With teammate Louie Roehl still in the penalty box, Mittelstadt seized the momentum right back in a matter of seconds.

Mittelstadt stripped the puck from Grand Rapids forward Jonah Bischoff along the right wing boards, drove below the circle and deposited the puck behind stunned Thunderhawks goaltender Gabe Holum.

“I think it just showed our character and we kind of came together after they got the two [goals],” Mittelstadt said. “We just kind of settled it down … and started rolling again.”

“They all responded well when No. 11 got going,” Smith said.

Less than three minutes later, Mittelstadt completed his hat trick with an assist from Grand Rapids senior defenseman Mark Brendan.

Mittelstadt broke in alone on Holum who stopped the shot. But as Brendan attempted to clear the loose puck from the crease he inadvertently swept it across the goal line. Mittelstadt, who was at the end of a long shift, had already turned toward the bench by that time and thought a linemate had scored.

“I was about to change; I was dead,”Mittelstadt said. “I thought he hit it in because he started yelling my name. I just saw it on the board, it was pretty lucky, but obviously I’m not going to complain.”

Senior forward Lawrence Cole delivered back-breaking goals late in the second and early in the third to give the Eagles some breathing room.

But it was Mittelstadt’s performance which made the difference and evoked memories of another accomplished Eden Prairie star.

“When we had Kyle Rau he always had that warrior in him,” Smith said. “Casey really showed that tonight.”

The post A Warrior Mentality appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Wayzata fends off a late push from Stillwater to pull off the upset

St. Paul – Wayzata sophomore Griffin Ness came into the state tournament with three goals on the season. His fourth goal turned out to be a game-winner that put his team into the championship game.

The fourth-line forward got a breakaway and put the puck in the net with 1:35 left in the third period for a 2-0 lead. No. 3 seed Wayzata (20-8-1) went on to upset No. 2 seed Stillwater (27-1-1) 2-1 after a fierce scramble at the end of the Class 2A semifinal Friday evening at Xcel Energy Center.

Ness said he just picked his head up and found a corner. Wayzata coach Pat O’Leary said Ness has had plenty of opportunities in the past month, and it’s stressful when you’re snakebit.

But when Ness got the chance on the big stage, he didn’t miss.

“I was a little nervous,” he said. “I saw the top right corner open, and I just put it there.”

His goal was insurance that his team ended up needing. Stillwater took a timeout after that second Wayzata goal. Stillwater coach Matt Doman reminded his players that there was plenty of time left.

“These guys got no quit in them,” he said. “Their compete tonight was fun to watch.”

Sure enough, just 35 seconds later as the clock hit 1:00, and with an empty Stillwater cage, senior Jackson Cates put one past Wayzata netminder Alex Schilling.

That made it 2-1 with 60 seconds where anything could happen.

Stillwater nearly tied it as they created a scramble in front of the Wayzata net. Stillwater junior Noah Cates took a backhand shot in the closing seconds, but Schilling stuck out his right pad for the save. There was a flurry of players all around the net, but the puck stayed out, the net came off and the clock struck zero.

Those last 10 seconds, “it was a long time,” O’Leary said.

Stillwater was hoping to get a bounce, though they knew it wasn’t going to be easy, Jackson said.

“We almost got another one at the end,” Jackson said.

It was desperation time at the end, Noah said.

“Puck popped out,” Noah said. “I just had to get anything to the net.”

The final couple minutes of the game were perhaps the most intense. It was a 1-0 contest most of the way. Junior defender Logan Lindstrand scored at 6:55 of the first period for Wayzata. Stillwater got off to a bit of a slow start, with just four shots on goal in the first. But they figured it out and “were never panicked,” Doman said.

Schilling made 22 saves in goal, while Stillwater goalie Josh Benson also stopped 22 pucks. There were no penalties in the game.

Stillwater was also without junior forward Luke Manning, who was out with a concussion. He came into the tournament with 21 goals and 22 assists.

“Can’t replace a kid like that,” Doman said. “He’s a bulldog.”

Wayzata moves on to the Class 2A title game Saturday night. The Trojans took fourth place in 2013 and are looking for their first state title.

“We always had that belief that we were going to do this,” Schilling said. “I can’t wait for tomorrow night.”

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Hermantown will try for a state title after a 7-1 semifinal win

St. Paul – Another year, and the script is pretty similar for Class 1A powerhouse Hermantown. A couple of solid victories in the state quarterfinal and semifinal games to land itself, once again, in the state championship game.

They’ve taken home second place the past six seasons.

“It’s pretty hard to block that out,” coach Bruce Plante said. “It’s on our resume, as we call it.

“This is the first year now I’ve talked about it with the team. I’ve just talked about it. The heck with it. Try something different, hope we have some luck.”

The latest Hawks trip to the final game comes after a dominant 7-1 victory, as the top-seeded Hawks (26-2-1) beat No. 4 seed St. Paul Academy (24-6-0) in the Class 1A semifinal Friday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center. Ten Hawks earned points, seven of them had multi-point games and five different players scored goals. Junior center Ryan Sandelin and junior Logan Judnick each had a pair.

Hermantown’s top line picked up right where it left off after a stellar quarterfinal performance Wednesday. On the first real scoring chance of the game, and just their second shot on goal, senior Cole Koepke and junior Jesse Jacques assisted to get Sandelin the first goal of the game for a 1-0 lead.

When Koepke made it 3-1 later in the first, Hermantown had just six shots on goal. Similarly, they had just eight shots when Judnick made it 4-1 in the second. That’s 50 percent as the Hawks clearly took advantage of their chances.

“They were very opportunistic in the first period,” said St. Paul Academy coach Matt Funk, who added that it was Judnick’s goal at 1:22 of the second period that was the deflating tally.

Though St. Paul Academy, which was on an eight-game win streak, tied the game at 1 on a power-play goal from junior Will Kelly, it just didn’t have enough to match the Hawks. Hermantown held a 3-1 lead after the first period and took control of the play in the second period, not allowing much offensive zone time for the Spartans, who took four minutes to register a shot on goal in the middle period.

“Ninty-five percent of games this year we’ve played either tied or ahead,” said SPA senior Justin Jallen. “So to play from two goals back against a good Hermantown team is tough to do.”

Sophomore center Tyler Watkins had a goal and an assist, Jacques had a goal and two assists. Koepke and Sandelin each have eight points in the tournament, Koepke with five goals. Those are just some of the numbers St. Paul Academy was competing with in that 7-1 loss.

Now back to that obvious question: Can Hermantown finally capture another state title after six second-place finishes in St. Paul? We’ll know by Saturday afternoon.

“I think we’re all kind of aware of it,” Koepke said. “I think we’re all excited to play tomorrow and hopefully get that off our backs.”

Plante tells his players all the time to play their game.

Hermantown will meet No. 2 seed Breck in the Class 1A title game Saturday afternoon. Breck beat Hermantown 2-1 for the 2010 championship, the game that started the six-year, Class 1A runner-up string for the Hawks.

For Plante, he can’t seem to get away from the chatter about the state title drought.

“It doesn’t matter where I go,” he said. “I go to Walmart, some guy, 80 years old comes up to me and says: ‘When are you going to win that thing?’”

Hermantown’s only state title came back in 2007 over Marshall School of Duluth. The Hawks went 29-0-1 that season.

There’s also the standby debate that gets going: Should Hermantown move up to play Class 2A hockey?

St. Paul Academy’s coach doesn’t think so. Funk thinks the decision to move should be up to the individual school.

“The state puts a lot of pressure on Bruce and his program to move up,” Funk said. “I’m glad Bruce is in Class A.

“We’re in for a great championship game tomorrow.”

The post Hawks soar past Spartans appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Mustangs tally fifth title game appearance with 4-0 win

Senior forward Tyler Scott is what Breck head coach Les Larson calls the straw that stirs the drink.

That drink is the Mustangs’ top line made up of Scott, Mr. Hockey finalist Chase Ellingson and William Blake, which has scored nine goals in two state tournament games.

Scott is the piece that gets the line going.

“He is the catalyst on the line,” Larson said. “He has to realize when to keep the puck and when to move the puck to Chase and Will. He has done a fabulous job at that.”

Scott scored two out of his line’s three goals to lead No. 2 seed Breck to a 4-0 victory over No. 3 seed Thief River Falls in the Class A boys’ state hockey semifinals at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Ellingson and Blake both scored hat tricks in the quarterfinal games against Mankato West, but Scott took the spotlight almost immediately in the second round for Breck (26-3-1).

Scott scored a goal just over three minutes into the game. Ellingson, who had the assist on the goal, extended the Mustangs’ lead to 2-0 shortly after.

“It really set the tone,” Scott said. “We played them earlier in the year, and are a fighting team. They won’t back down even down three or four goals. That start was huge.”

Although he gave up two goals on the first five shots, Thief River Falls goaltender Kade Nelson settled down, and looked more comfortable as the period proceeded.

Nelson almost escaped the second period without giving up a goal, but Scott had other ideas. Scott scored his second goal of the game and tournament with less than a minute left in the second period, giving the Mustangs a comfortable 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission.

Carter Breitenfeldt scored the team’s fourth goal late in the third period. Dalton Weigel and Justin Paulson both registered two assists for Breck.

As Breck found success in Thief River Falls’ zone, the Prowlers (23-7) struggled to attack the Breck net, mustering 18 shots through three periods. Their best chance came during a power play about half way through the period, but Thief River Falls did not even register a shot.

“They take that time and space away,” Prowlers’ coach Tim Bergland said. “You don’t have your extra half a second to make that play.”

The Mustangs also successfully slowed down Thief River Falls forward Ethan Johnson, who scored three goals in the quarterfinals. Johnson, who broke the Prowlers’ 65-year record for most goals in a season, had opportunities, but never converted.

“Our defenseman did a nice job,” Larson said. “You have to play the man on him, and you have to move your feet; when he gets the puck, hold on.”

Breck goaltender Linden Olness has yet to give up a goal in the state tournament. Olness’ play combined with the shot-blocking by the defenseman has Larson excited.

“I am a defenseman, so I love that,” Larson said. “We always tell the guys we start from our end.”

The Mustangs’ defensive efforts, combined with a potent offense, have them back in the state finals for the first time since 2010 and fifth time overall. Larson won state championships in 2009 and 2010, which were his first two years as head coach of Breck.

The biggest difference as the Mustangs head into Larson’s third state title game: how the culture has changed.

“We have created a culture of the right way to do things,” Larson said. “We believe in it, and we are going to stick to it.”

The post Breck Blanks Prowlers appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Adams comes through again as Grand Rapids nips Bemidji in OT

St. Paul — If there’s one thing Bemidji and Grand Rapids learned from their Class 2A Boys’ State Hockey Tournament quarterfinal clash on Thursday night it’s that timing is everything.

And Thunderhawks assistant captain Alex Adams’ timing has been spot on over the last seven days.

A week to the day after scoring a dramatic game winner in the final seconds of Grand Rapids’ Section 7AA final comeback win over Duluth East, Adams scored the winning goal 2:06 into overtime to give the fourth seeded Thunderhawks a 3-2 win over No. 5 seed Bemidji at Xcel Energy Center.

Adams admitted he’s been living a dream the last week.

“It’s been a couple of really big goals, probably the biggest of my career,” Adams said. “It’s been a really fun week.”

Bemidji forward Alex Pollack’s goal 16 seconds into the third period created the tie which led to overtime  but first-year Grand Rapids coach Trent Klatt said there was no panic on the Thunderhawks bench.

“We’ve been in situations like that,” Klatt said. “We were down two goals to Duluth East a week ago and we’ve got Alex Adams on our team so we’re fine.”

But as much as Adams was enjoying the moment he knows it wasn’t all his doing.

“The last couple games I’ve gotten pretty lucky with coming up with the big goal,” Adams said. “But at the end of the day it’s all a team effort to get down to that goal anyway.”

A berth in the state semifinals nearly turned on a less-than-17-second stretch bridged by the second intermission. The Lumberjacks (23-3-2) took advantage of the opportunity but it wasn’t enough to squeak by the Thunderhawks (22-6-1) who advanced to a Friday night meeting with top seed Eden Prairie.

With Grand Rapids leading 2-1 in the waning seconds of the second period, Thunderhawks junior forward Micah Miller corralled the puck in the neutral zone, fought through a check along the left wing boards and cut hard to the net.

“I was screaming at him when he went by the bench,” Klatt said with a grin. “I told him he had four seconds. That was plenty of time for him to get to the net.”

“Micah’s got speed that not many guys in high school hockey have ever had,” Klatt added. “Anytime he decides to go, he can beat anybody at any time.”

Miller’s shot shot went in as the horn sounded to end the period to give Grand Rapids what appeared to be a 3-1 lead right in front of the Thunderhawks’ student section.

“I just knew there wasn’t a lot of time left and I just tried to go wide and get to the net,” Miller said. “I thought it went in before the horn but I guess it didn’t.”

Although the nearest official signaled it a good goal, the so-called lead was short lived as video replay definitively showed time had expired before the puck crossed the goal line.

Seconds later, of game time, Pollack’s goal turned what had briefly appeared to be a two-goal lead into a tie game.

Bemidji coach Wade Chiodo said the bullet-dodging sequence did not even come up during the intermission.

“We didn’t even talk about the goal getting waved off, to be honest,” Chiodo said. “We just went in there and talked about ourselves and what we needed to do as a team and this team has handled adversity very well this season.”

It’s a trait Klatt says his team shares.

“It’s a testament to the guys in our room,” Klatt said. “They never quit, they never give up, and they compete right to the end and that’s what we, as coaches, ask of them.”

That the game ended the way it did came as no surprise to either coach as the two northern powerhouses met in a Nov. 24 game at Grand Rapids which ended in a 1-1 tie.

“We knew what they had, they’re pretty powerful up front,” Chiodo said. “We knew that we had to clog it up and make them go 200 feet and take advantage of any opportunities we had. We did that some of the game but not all the game and that was the difference.”

The post Captain Clutch appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Mittelstadt assists Eden Prairie’s entry into state semifinals

St. Paul – Casey Mittelstadt was all over the ice, or at least it seemed that way because he was all over the scoresheet.

The Eden Prairie junior forward had a goal and five assists, contributing to all of his team’s goals but one, in a 7-3 Eagles (20-7-2) victory over Anoka (18-10-0) in the Class 2A quarterfinal matchup Thursday evening at Xcel Energy Center.

“I think the key in this game was our team speed,” said Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith. “I still think we’re the best skating team in the state that’s left. When we get it rolling, it was really good.”

The Eagles, looking for their first state title since 2009, used some of that speed to their advantage for three goals within about three minutes in the second period. Mittelstadt assisted on two of those. He brought his season assist total to 45 and has 29 goals, leading the team in both categories.

Anoka coach Todd Manthey said afterward that they knew how good Mittelstadt was, they knew he had speed. They just didn’t realize quite how fast until they saw him out there, he said.

“That Mittelstadt kid, he’s a player,” Manthey said. “You definitely notice when he’s on the ice.”

Mittelstadt didn’t do it alone either. Junior forward Hunter Johannes and junior defenseman Nicky Leivermann each scored two goals and an assist each. Mr. Hockey finalist Michael Graham and senior forward Spencer Steen provided the other goals.

The game was 1-1 after the first period, with Anoka tying it on the power play with about four minutes to go. Johannes scored his first goal at 3:58 of the first.

“We weathered the storm, and we just kept trucking from there,” said Anoka senior forward Michael Talbot. “They got some good D that kind of stepped up and took away our options.”

Eden Prairie rattled off a four-goal second period. They’ve outscored opponents 54-22 in second periods this season. They started to relax a little bit with a 5-1 lead, then Anoka made it 5-2 with just over a minute left in the second.

That woke up the Eagles during the second intermission.

“In the locker room, we kind of just said, ‘alright, get one more, then go for the jugular,’” Mittelstadt said. “And then roll and have fun the rest of the game.”

His goal at the two-minute mark of the third period was huge, he said. It gave the Eagles a comfortable 6-2 cushion.

Despite the final score and shots on goal total (39-15 in favor of Eden Prairie), Anoka its own bright spot – Talbot, who scored a hat trick for the Tornadoes.

Anoka, which upset Centennial in the Section 5 semifinals, came into the tournament riding a 10-game winning streak.

“Certainly something you dream about as a kid,” Talbot said, of playing in the state tournament at the X. “I was lucky enough to get three of them.”

The post Eagles Fly By Tornadoes appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Trio of second-period goals fuel Wayzata to the semifinals

St. Paul – The Wayzata Trojans found themselves down 1-0 after the first period. Just like they were down 1-0 against Edina and then Cretin-Derham Hall in the section playoffs.

So, they responded with a three-goal second period.

“The whole mojo on the bench changes completely,” said Wayzata coach Pat O’Leary. “If we’ve been down by a goal or two… we tend to not shorten our bench.”

They weren’t worried, said senior forward Luke Paterson.

“We knew we’re going to come back,” Paterson said. “It was just a matter of when.”

That depth and changed mojo led to a 3-1 victory for No. 3 seed Wayzata (20-8-1) over Burnsville (16-11-2) in the Class 2A quarterfinal Friday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center sent the Trojans into the semifinals against Stillwater on Friday.

It was a scoreless tie until Burnsville’s senior forward Cade Borchardt scored with 45 seconds left in the first period.

The lead didn’t last.

Wayzata got goals 43 seconds apart early in the second period to take a quick 2-1 lead. Senior forward Dillon Riley added another late in the period for a two-goal cushion.

First it was senior forward Mark Senden at 2:46 of the second period. He drove into the zone crashing the net and moved the puck to his backhand at the last minute to put it away for the score. It’s a play he said he works on all the time.

“I thought he would be expecting me to pull it around to the other side,” Senden said, on why he chose to go to his backhand.

Then after a Burnsville scoring chance, senior defenseman Noah Fuhmann made a bank pass off the boards which went right over to Paterson’s stick.

But Burnsville hung in there, leading shots on goal 18-16 through two periods. They were feeling confident taking a 1-0 lead into the dressing room after the first period.

“I thought we were playing our hockey,” said Burnsville coach Janne Kivihalme.

On the other side, O’Leary said the first period was “really uncharacteristic” for his team. Things started to change for the better for Wayzata when its players started moving their feet, O’Leary said.

Wayzata senior goaltender Alex Schilling was the difference in the game in the first, according to his coach. Schilling took a beating in the cage early on, getting the benefit of a goaltender interference penalty and having players crash the net all around – or on top – of him. He also came up big with a couple phenomenal saves and stopped Burnsville’s Gavin Wagner as he tried to go upstairs on a 2-on-1 try.

“They were coming to the net strong,” Schilling said. “I knew they were going to be pushing hard.”

Schilling made 21 saves in the game.

For Burnsville, it was three “uncharacteristic mistakes” that led to Wayzata goals, Kivihalme said.

“It could’ve been a 1-0 game if we’d eliminate those three mistakes,” he said.

Having a 1-0 turn into a 2-1 deficit “hits you hard,” Borchardt said, but finding a way to re-group is part of hockey.

“We didn’t pop one after that,” Borchardt said.

The loss for the Blaze snaps their eight-game winning streak.

“It was a fun run,” Borchardt said. “I knew we had a good chance going in.”

The post Trojans Extinguish the Blaze appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Cates brothers provide the offense in 4-1 Stillwater win over Farmington

St. Paul – Coming off a game where he scored perhaps the definition of a highlight-reel goal, what would Stillwater’s Noah Cates do for an encore in the state tournament?

For starters, a three-point game in the state tournament.

Noah, a junior forward, and his older brother, Jackson Cates, led the second-seeded Stillwater Ponies (27-1-1) to a 4-1 victory over the Farmington Tigers (18-9-1) in the Class 2A quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center. Noah had a goal and two assists, while Jackson scored a pair of goals.

But they recognized there’s more work to be done.

“I don’t think we’re satisfied yet,” Jackson said.

Jackson, committed to play at Michigan Tech University, has 26 goals on the season and 60 points. Noah has 24 goals and 63 points. Noah scored the monstrous spin-o-rama goal for the 1-0 overtime victory in the section final over Hill-Murray.

“Beginning of the season, we wanted three banners,” Noah said. “We got two, we want one more.”

Stillwater took home its first Suburban East Conference title this season, plus a Section 4 title. It’s Stillwater’s second trip to the state tournament.

After taking a 2-0 in the first period, the key was Stillwater’s third goal, coming just 26 seconds into the third period. Junior defender Jesse Bjugstad set up Noah perfectly for an easy shot into the back of the net.

“I just saw the goalie way out of the net,” Noah said.

Bjugstad came into the zone looking to shoot, but “Noah was wide open over there,” Bjugstad said, who finished with two assists, giving him 20 for the season so far.

That quickly made it 3-0 and was essentially a back-breaker for the Tigers, who were buzzing in the second period but had nothing to show for it. Stillwater coach Matt Doman and his players knew what an important goal that next one would be, after going up 2-0.

“They make that 2-1, you’re talking about a different game,” Doman said. “That’s a big swing. Getting that third one made a big difference for us.”

Jackson added his second tally of the game at 8:06 of the third period, all but icing the victory at that point with a 4-0 lead.

Stillwater’s lead extension seemed to extinguish any carry-over momentum Farmington had after the second intermission.

Farmington had its chances in the second period but couldn’t quite finish. Senior captain Erik Holmstrom scored Farmington’s lone goal with 7.4 seconds left in the third period. But it wasn’t enough to combat the skilled offense of Stillwater, a team that boasts four players with 20 goals or more.

“We had a couple breakdowns that led to goals,” Holmstrom said.

Farmington coach Greg May said he thought the first two periods were a pretty even game. It’s Farmington’s first trip to the state tournament since 2000, when the Tigers played in Class 1A.

A bounce here or there in the quarterfinal against Stillwater might have made the difference, May said.

“We wanted to do something special while we were here,” May said.“ I thought that we… deserved to be tied with them at least (after the 1^st). They buried their chances, we didn’t today.”

The post Ponies Tame Tigers appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.