Hermantown blanks Marshall 3-0 in state opener
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MN.
Hermantown began its quest to be more than just the public-school champion of the Class A state hockey tournament by beating Marshall, its crosstown Duluth rival, 3-0 in a quarterfinal game Wednesday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center.
Hermantown’s top line of Bo Grunseth, Travis Koepke and Chris Benson scored a goal apiece, after a scoreless first period. Having conquered their nearby private-school rival, the No. 3 seeded Hawks (24-4-1) next play in the first semifinal at 11 a.m. Friday against another private school, No. 2 seed Breck (25-3-1) — a 6-1 victor over Marshall High School in Wednesday’s opening game.
Many Hermantown fans are anticipating a rematch in the final against No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion St. Thomas Academy, yet another private school. If such a scenario worked out, it would mean that Hermantown, which beat St. Cloud Cathedral in the 5A final, would face four consecutive private schools in quest of the Class A title.
St. Thomas Academy (25-2-2) unloaded on St. Cloud Apollo 12-0 in Wednesday night’s quarterfinals. The Cadets racked up the first 35 shots before Apollo got its first one, in the last minute of the second period,and outshot the Eagles 50-3. The Cadets will face East Grand Forks, a 3-2 winner over Rochester Lourdes in the final quarterfinal game. Two goals and an assist by Kolton Aubol led the Green Wave to a 3-0 lead in the first two periods, then they had to hang on to advance to Friday’s 1:30 p.m. second semifinal.
Hermantown hockey coach Bruce Plante is infamous at the Class A state tournament, where, after seeing his team lose in the championship game for the third straight time to a private school last year, said, “I guess we’re still the public school champs.”
He deflected questions referring to that, choosing instead to prais his all-senior top line. “We have a pecking order at Hermantown,” Plante said. “The older guys get more play and the younger guys follow along. They’ll get their chance. These three guys came to us as 10th graders out of Bantams. They were our third line, and we affectionately called them our ‘Diaper Line.’ They were the second line last year, and this year they’re our top line.
Travis Koepke (27) put a rebound past Marshall goalie Caden Flaherty to give Hermantown a 2-0 lead.
“I had no doubt they’d be a good line, and they’re fun guys to be around,” Plante added, after the threesome established a school record for goals in a season.
Hawks are far more than a one-line team, but that top line was impressive in their 13th straight victory. Junior Adam Smith, who wasn’t on last year’s tournament runner-up team, recorded a 17-save shutout in his first exposure to the event. His job was made considerably easier by his teammates, who fired 35 shots at the other end of the rink and applied enough pressure to prevent the Hilltoppers from threatening very often.
Marshall, which had come off a shaky midseason to play its best hockey down the stretch, including a 3-2 victory over Denfeld in the 7A championship game, was outshot 10-4 in the first period, but contained the Hawks pretty well. “I thought we had them off their game in the first period, and we had some looks,” said Marshall coach Brendan Flaherty. “But they made some adjustments. They played a suffocating defense and left no gaps for us to make plays. And their power play was very good.”
Two of the three Hawk goals were on power plays. At 3:34 of the second period, Grunseth fielded the rebound of Grant Sega’s power-play shot and put it past Caden Flaherty to break the scoreless tie. Koepke helped create his own goal at 10:41, skating in on the right side and leaving a long drop pass for Gronseth, then breaking for the net just in time to retrieve the rebound of Gronseth’s shot and deposit it at the left edge.
Chris Benson clinched Hermantown's 3-0 state tournament victory with a power-play goal.
The highlight-video third goal came on a third-period power play when the Hawks dizzying passwork left Marshall’s penalty killers flat-footed. The puck went from the left side to the right, to the right point, then the left point, and from Jake Zeleznikar in to Koepke in the right circle, and he sent it to the slot to Chris Benson, who had several seconds wide open to pick his spot and fire past Flaherty.
Both teams credit their arrival at the state tournament to a refocusing on team defense. “For sure, we all stepped up our game,” said Gronseth.
Adam Smith made his toughest save late in the game, a dazzler to rob Kris McKinzie at the net. He said it was “exciting, very exciting,” to get to play and get a shutout at Xcel Center. “It helps to have a great team in front of you.”
Wben Marshall threatened late in the game, Hermantown goalie Adam Smith came through.
His counterpart, Caden Flaherty — who is no relation to coach Brendan Flaherty — said the Hilltoppers knew they “had to be good on the penalty kill, because they feed on goals.”
Flaherty added that when Marshall shook up the lines late in the season, the players all were unified. “We knew we had to turn it around, or we’d be in the stands.”
The Hilltoppers definitely are not spending any time in the seats this week. Coach Flaherty said they intend to still win a couple games, starting with Thursday’s consolation semifinal against the other Marshall, from the small southwest Minnesota town.
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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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