Rallying Blake overcomes St. Thomas Academy
David Moos scored 23 seconds after St.Thomas Academy had tied the game midway through the third period, and Blake overcame the Cadets 4-3 in Thursday’s second quarterfinal of the boys Class A high school hockey tournament.
The victory sends Blake against East Grand Forks in Friday’s first semifinal, while St. Thomas Academy will face Silver Bay in today’s 10 a.m. consolation round.
Blake may have been favored, but the Bears showed they are at their best as counter-punchers, rallying from a 2-0 deficit with three straight goals, then breaking a 3-3 tie with a quick-counter goal from Moos midway through the third period.
“We haven’t turned the puck over that much all season,” said Blake coach Jeff Lindquist. “But give St.Thomas Academy credit.”
St.Thomas Academy was outshot 11-5 in the first period, but almost scored on Bill Flikeid’s shorthanded breakaway that ended with a shot off the right pipe. But the Cadets did score the lone goal of the first period, when Brett Mackenzie galloped in solo and snapped a wrist shot into the lower left at 14:12.
Anthony Blumer got the easiest goal of the season at 4:28 of the second to give the Cadets a 2-0 lead. Blake goalie Eric Dayton skated out to clear the puck but whiffed, and the puck went right to Blumer, who shot into the open net.
Blake stormed back right about then, however. Barely a minute after Blumer’s goal, Jon Reigstad rushed up left wing and cut loose with a shot that hit goalie Ethan Keller’s glove, popped up high, and landed gently in the net behind him. Then Blake went on the power play, and Eric Ramsey tied it 2-2 at 7:55, cruising in from the left boards and finding an opening.
Before the middle period ended, Reigstad scored on a rebound during a two-man power play at 14:31, giving Blake its first lead at 3-2.
St. Thomas Academy got its last burst of hope at 7:02 of the third period, when Blumer scored his second of the game. But that’s when the Bears struck back again, and quickly for Moos’ goal at 7:25.
Blake 0 3 1–4
St. Thomas Academy 1 1 1–3
First Period: 1. St.T–Brett Mackenzie (Dustin Wilhelmy, John Funk) 14:12.
Second Period: 2. St.T–Anthony Blumer (unassisted) 4:28. 1. Blake–Jon Reigstad (Jordan Wilhelm, Steve Nelson) 5:31. 2. Blake–Eric Ramsay (Nelson, Wilhelm) 7:55, PP. 3. Blake–Reigstad (Wilhelm, Nelson) 14:31, PP.
Third Period: 3. St.T–Blumer (Nate Howard, Kevin Devoy) 7:02. 4. Blake–David Moos ( Matt Frauenshuh) 7:25.
Saves: Blake–Eric Dayton 4 5 5–14; St.Thomas–Ethan Keller 11 6 2–19. Attendance–4,770.
Consolation no salve for Hermantown frustration
Hermantown lost 3-1 to Red Wing Thursday, and it was a match-up worthy of the state Class A hockey tournament semifinals, or final, for that matter. Instead, it came in Thursday’s afternoon consolation play at Mariucci Arena, which brough an early finish to Up North area involvement in the Class A tournament.
The Hawks took a 1-0 lead when Clint VanIseghem scored unassisted at 2:08 of the first period, but Red Wing countered with a goal by Mark Pohl 18 seconds into the second period, and gained a 2-1 lead when Nate Anderson converted a Pohl pass at 5:12. Jordan Anderson clinched it with a goal with an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left, ending a game in which both teams registered 27 shots.
Silver Bay, the other Lake Superior Conference entry in the tournament, was beaten 7-6 in two overtimes in the day’s first consolation game, meaning the two Up North region teams went a combined 0-4 for the week. The Mariners led 3-0, 5-2 and 6-3, but couldn’t hold off the Cadets, who got a shorthanded goal by John Funk with 46 seconds left to tie it, and won it with his third goal of the game at 6:52 of a second sudden-death overtime.
Junior Andy Martinson had two goals and two assists for his second four-point game in two days, while Tom Christensen, Luke Mattila, Jake Byrnes and Sean Buckley scored for Silver Bay, which outshot St. Thomas Academy 48-40.
The consolation round can provide some recovery from first-game losses, but not this time, but not enough to soothe Hermantown this time. Even a rematch of their stunning upset of Red Wing’s then-No. 1-ranked team in last year’s tournament couldn’t ease the sting of Thursday’s controversial loss to Benilde-St. Margaret’s for the Hawks.
In that one, Troy Riddle, the state’s leading scorer, completed a hat trick with his 50th goal of the season to win the game, at 2:50 of sudden-death overtime. The distasteful part of the opening game was an official ruling that negated what would have been the winning goal for the Hawks.
Puck semifinals promise double drama
[NOTE TO EDITORS: THIS IS WRITTEN WITH THE FOURTH GAME NOT YET FINISHED; I’LL SEND UPDATE WHEN IT’S DONE…HASTINGS LEADS 5-3 IN THIRD PERIOD AS I SEND THIS…]
After a day of explosive scoring, surprising plays and strong goaltending, the state Class AA boys hockey semifinals should feature a pair of closely matched and unpredictable games, with Roseau facing Holy Angels, and Elk River challenging the late Hastings-Blaine winner.
Unless Roseau can win its sixth state championship, the tournament will have a first-time winner, because none of the other semifinalists has ever won the title. But all showed what it takes in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Holy Angels spotted Eden Prairie a goal and then came back to win 4-1 in the opening game, and Roseau broke a 2-2 tie in the third period to beat Rochester Mayo 4-2 in the second afternoon session, which drew a crowd of 15,288 to Target Center. Holy Angels will challenge No. 1 ranked Roseau in the 7:05 p.m. first semifinal tonight.
Elk River battled heavy-hitting Hill-Murray for a tough first half of the game, but emerged a 5-1 victor behind Joey Bailey’s two goals in the first game of the night session in the first round. But the Elks had to wait until nearly midnight to learn whether explosive Hastings could subdue surprising Blaine in the quarterfinal finale.
Hastings jumped ahead 4-1 in the first period, but Blaine battled back to trail only 5-3 after two.
Elks focus now on Martin, state tournament
Three of the favorites for Sunday’s Mr. Hockey award are in the lower bracket of this week’s Class AA boys hockey tournament — Hastings stars Dan Welch and Jeff Taffe, and Hill-Murray’s Matt Koalska.
Elk River doesn’t have a Mr. Hockey finalist for one reason, because Martin is only a junior. But there are those observers who think that Martin might be the best player in the state right now.
Several very good Class AA hockey teams in the Up North region are still feeling the sting, but they have to grudgingly acknowledge that whether they should be in Section 7AA or not, Elk River, from the northwestern Twin Cities suburb next to Anoka, is the 7AA representative at this week’s state tournament.
The Elks always attract attention for their hard-charging style and tireless work ethic, and sometimes for colorful outbursts by coach Tony Sarsland, and his snakeskin boots. But as teams Up North painfully learned, the focus of attention on this year’s Elk team is Martin, a tall, lanky defenseman, who spends almost all of every game on the ice and making sure the Elks come out on top.
Martin got only one assist in the last two games, when the Elks beat defending state Class AA champion Duluth East in a 4-2 Section 7AA semifinal at the DECC, and beat Hibbing in a 2-1 triple-overtime classic in the 7AA final in Hibbing. But he was the dominant performer in both games, blocking shots, breaking up rushes, and swift and efficient as he broke the puck out of the Elk zone and generated most of their offensive rushes.
As the Elks skate onto the Target Center ice sheet for Thursday’s first round, the focus of attention will be on No. 15, Martin. It’s doubtful Martin can spend as much time on the ice as he did through the Section 7AA tournament, but with the Elks facing Hill-Murray, then possibly Hastings, you can look for Martin to be on the ice more than on the bench.
“Martin is the best player in high school hockey,” said Sarsland. “We thought about playing him up front this season, but in my opinion he’s the best defenseman in the state.”
What has become unfortunately typical of high school hockey these days, USA Hockey tries to encourage areas to develop players like Martin, then USA Hockey tries to lure them away to their elite program in Ann Arbor, despite the devastating blow it delivers to the hometown high school.
“I’ve thought about it,” said Martin. “I know that if I went there, I would improve my game from the longer season. But it’s so much more fun in high school in Minnesota.”
Sarsland, who gave his blessing for Martin to leave the high school team and fill in on the USA Select team for a trip to the Czech Republic a month ago, is confident his prize will stay at home.
“We let him go on that trip, and we know he could go to Ann Arbor or to the USHL next season, and he could get more games, no question. But there are things more valuable to him,” said Sarsland. “He’s a three-sport star. He’s a wide receiver in football, and plays first base in baseball. Not only that, he ran track last spring.”
State tournament attention, and the play of Martin, are a welcome relief for the Elks, who have come to be looked upon as the state’s villains for being assigned to far-flung sections and prevent other good teams from making it to state. None of that is Elk River’s fault. Until last winter, Elk River spent four years in Section 8AA, where they had the misfortune of having one of the best teams in the state the same years as Moorhead, which always prevailed in the sectional, once beating the Elks in a four-overtime classic.
When the Elks were finally taken out of Section 8AA, they were plugged into 7AA, where they lost in the title game to Duluth East last year, making it five straight years an excellent Elk River team had failed to make the state tournament since its only appearance, in 1993.
Sarsland has established a trademark of a hard-working, unwavering attack, coupled with the flamboyance Sarsland’s snakeskin boots and sometimes-controversial statements that are much more direct than they are tactful. Sarsland attracted more of the wrong kind of attention last year, when he verbally threatened Joey Bailey, a good-skating junior, and long-time assistant coach Marly Glines quit in the aftermath, even though his son was a junior goaltender on the team.
But everything has been in order this season. Bailey plays on the first line with fellow-senior Jed Leonard and sophomore Joel Hanson. It was Hanson who scored at 0:12 of the first period to ignited the Elks past East in the DECC, but the most dramatic game of Elk River’s season was still ahead.
The Elks outshot Hibbing 62-28, but it wasn’t until 3:56 of the third overtime that Leonard who took a feed from Bailey and broke to the net from the left side, jamming a shot in to end a sensational, 60-save performance by Hibbing’s sophomore goaltender Travis Weber.
Another key performer for the Elks is sophomore Trevor Stewart, who centers juniors John Brummer and Justin Nikle. Stewart set up Brummer for two goals in the second period to break a 1-1 tie against East, and it was Brummer’s power-play goal with 2:13 remaining in regulation that tied Hibbing 1-1 and forced the three overtimes.
“I was worried because we put so much pressure on Hibbing, and their goalie played so great,” said Glines, who has remained solid in the nets for Elk River all season, and can now display his 1.9 goals-against average and 89-percent save mark at state.
“Nobody ever said Mitch was any good,” said Sarsland. “But all he’s done all year is win for us. My heart goes out to Hibbing, because I’ve been there. A few years ago [1994] we had the best team in the state but we lost one game, in four overtimes to Moorhead in the section final.
“This time, after all these years, and all the close games, I was on the bench saying, ‘Please, lord, c’mon, just once let us win one of these.’ ”
Traveling to Target Center will be a shorter hop for the Elks, who were conditioned for the road by flying in their own Olympic-sized ice sheet and on the road by Sarsland.
“We haven’t lost a game in three years in our new rink,” said Sarsland. “It’s baloney that we have to come up to Section 7AA to play. Sure, we deserve to be in the tournament, but these Range teams and Duluth teams are the reason the state tournament even exists. We’re not a Range team, we belong in Section 4.
“But because we knew we had to come up here and play Duluth East in Duluth, and Hibbing in Hibbing, we scheduled our last six games on the road.”
Those were at Champlin Park, Burnsville, Anoka and Blaine. The Anoka and Blaine games came after Elk River had achieved the No. 1 seed in 7AA, and the Elks went back and lost both of them to the teams from their legitimate section. That dropped the Elks from 19-1 and the No. 1 rating in the state, but they now have rebounded and stand 22-3.
And now the state’s television crews can scramble to focus on Sarsland’s snakeskin boots. He hadn’t worn them for a while, but he pulled them back on for the sectional. “I’m trying to keep a low profile,” Sarsland said. “But…these are my lucky boots.” Obviously, he’ll be wearing them at Target Center.
Welch’s last-second goal wins for Hastings
The biggest upset of the state boys Class AA tournament was less than one minute from completion Thursday night at Target Center. But with 15,829 fans on the edges of their seats, Hastings star Dan Welch scored the tying goal with 41 seconds remaining, then he swiped the puck at center ice and raced in to score with one second remaining to give heavily favored Hastings a 7-6 victory over upstart Blaine.
There was no question that Hastings, with its prolific offense, would score some goals in the state Class AA hockey tournament. The question was whether Blaine could keep up.
After the two teams collaborated on a state tournament record three goals in 26 seconds, the question was: How many times could they set that record in the game?
They settled for just the one time, and it will be a difficult chore for the Raiders to duplicate in tonight’s 9:45 semifinal against Elk River, a team that tends to business defensively with considerable more intensity.
The final turnabout came after Blaine’s Adam Holmgren completed a hat trick with Blaine’s third straight goal in the third period, for a shocking 6-5 Bengal lead. The upset of the tournament was at hand, but Hastings coach Russ Welch pulled goalie Matt Klein in the final minute, and then his son took over.
The shootout began, appropriately, on the game’s first shift, when Hastings star center Jeff Taffe rushed all the way and scored at 0:22.
Looked like a laugher, but Blain, not getting the punch line, countered with a goal by Adam Holmgren at 0:55.
No, that wasn’t the record run. Hastings came back for goals by Pete Swanson, then a later one by Nick Husting, and a shorthnaded marker by Erik Aarness at 14:41 to take a seemingly safe 4-1 lead after one period.
Then the fun began. Trevor Frischmon overskated a loose puck at the Hastings crease, but reached around for a behind-the-back tap that slid through Hastings goalie Matt Klein at 3:11 of the second. At 3:19, Matt Van Der Bosch scored with a shot off a pass for Hastings, making it two goals in eight seconds. But Blaine came right back in and Erik Johnson steered a one-handed shot that hit the sitting goaltender Klein and popped over him.
The three goals in 26 seconds broke the tournament record of three goals in 32 seconds, set by Eveleth in 1951.
That flurry lifted Blaine to a mere 5-3 deficit, but the plucky Bengals weren’t finished.
Holmgren threw a power-play shot on goal that skipped past the beleaguered Klein at 2:57 of the third period, and Frischmon, who was in the middle of the action all night, left a drop pass for Nate Hendricks, then scored on the rebound of Hendricks’ shot at 4:43, tying the game at 5-all.
Still, to most of the 15,829, the much-publicized Hastings attack seemed ready to respond. But then Holmgren made his rush, deking through defenseman Ben Tharp at the right circle and lifting his shot over Klein for a stunning 6-5 Blaine lead. Would it be enough for a dramatic upset? Not in this one.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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