The tradition continues.

The Minnesota Boy’s High School Hockey Tournament is the best time of year for high school hockey fans. The AA games can bring in 20,000  people to watch one game. This will be my 17th year going to The Tourney.

This year a lot of my friends came along as well.   Seven Cotter students joined me, along with one Cotter alumnus and a senior from Winona  High.  Here is a summary of the games we watched.

Class AA

We all packed into two cars to catch the quarterfinal games at 11 and 1. The first game was between the Lakeville South Cougars and the St. Thomas Academy Tommies. The first game started with a early Tommies goal, but then a Lakeville South scoring run. The final score fell in favor of the Cougars 5-2.

The atmosphere of this game was very surprising for me. I thought Lakeville South’s student section would come out swinging against the boys wearing cadet uniforms, but instead the private school boys were more ruthless, usually it’s the other way around.

The second game of the day was the most boring game we  watched. There was a lot of neutral zone play and not a lot of scoring at first. The game was fought between the Hill-Murray Pioneers and the Moorhead Spuds. We ended up leaving this game early to check into our hotel. The game ended with a Moorhead victory, beating the Pioneers 4-2.

This game was was very quiet and that perfectly mirrored how the game was played. However I give the edge to the Spuds because of the lack of noise coming from Hill-Murray’s student section.

The Eden Prairie Eagles matched up with the Wayzata Trojans. Eden Prairie was the favorite coming into the Tourney partly because of senior captain Casey Mittelstadt. Mittelstadt is projected to go in the first round for this year’s NHL Entry Draft. The Trojans gave Mittelstadt and Co. a good run for their money, but ended losing 3-1 with an empty netter. Wayzata qualified for State with the least amount of wins in MSHSL history.

The Eagles are known for being extra loud and rowdy in past years, but this year I was shocked to see how quiet they were. Wayzata’s student section would not back down, by chanting “No one likes you,” at Eden Prairie they earn my vote in the battle of student sections.

The last game of the day was between the Maple Grove Crimson and the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks. A battle between metro and northern boys. The game started off well for the Crimson ending the period with a 2-1 lead on Grand Rapids. However, the boys of the north were able to rack off a four goal period, with no goals for Maple Grove. The Grove boys were able to string together a couple of goals, but the final score was in favor of Grand Rapids 6-4. The final shot count was 34-29 for Grand Rapids.

This was a very good game for student sections, both of them were engaged and spirited for their respective teams. Section 207 (A section that is composed of only rowdy high school kids, whose teams did not make the tourney) was hammering Grand Rapids. With security intervention the section had to tone it down. This caused Grand Rapids to fire on all cylinders attacking both 207 and Maple Grove. Grand Rapids was one of the most witty student sections I’ve seen in many tourneys.

The first semi-final contest was battled between Lakeville South and Moorehead. Lakeville South started the game with a late first period goal to go into intermission with a one goal cushion against the Spuds. However the Spuds got the ball rolling as the put in three unanswered, finishing the game 3-2 over the Cougars. Moorhead got a ticket to the State championship game.

Like the Cougar’s first game, they sure did disappoint again. Once Moorhead had a little spark in the game, their student section took off the gloves. They chanted “Daddy’s money” at Lakeville, for that they not only one the game, but also got to take shots at the Cougar’s student section to.

The last semi-final game of the day was fought between Grand Rapids and Eden Prairie. The Eagles scored five minutes into the game, but that lead quickly faded as Mittelstadt tried to play a puck, but instead put it into his own net, 1-1. Both teams netted one each in the second, setting up for a dramatic third, with one team going to the championship. It was a hard fought third, but the Eagles couldn’t over come a Thunderhawk’s goal midway through the third. Grand Rapids would move on the championship game, crushing Mittelstadt’s redemption dream of winning the state title.

Just like the night previous, section 207 was again hammering the Thunderhawks. What was different was there was police intervention instead of arena security. Section 207 was also right next to the Grand Rapid’s parent section. This caused a lot of spars back in fourth. Again though Grand Rapids was witty in comebacks and took anything thrown at them and brought it right back.

Championship Games

The Class A championship game was a emotional roller coaster for the fans, coaches, and players. It was fought between Monticello-Annandale-Maple Lake Moose and the Hermantown Hawks. Prior to last year’s state title victory, the Hawks had been to the championship game six consecutive years, but had lost all of them. They were the reigning champions coming into this years tourney. Monitcello, however,  had never made it to the state tourney.

The first period  ended scoreless, with the Moose hitting anything and everything, while the Hawks were caught on their heals, but drastically out shooting the Moose.  The Moose struck with two goals within the first two minutes, making Hermantown’s Cade McEwen having more goals against than saves. That lead was cut in half quickly after a Hermantown goal less then two minutes later.  In the third period a quick goal for the Moose less than 30 seconds into the period would make it a 3-1 game for the Moose, but anybody in hockey knows that a two goal lead is the scariest to hold. The Hawks, who were heavily out-shooting the Moose, found two unanswered goals in the middle of the third. The Moose would fend of a dominate Hawk´s offense and take the game to overtime.

Overtime would be played on “dirty ice” and be an eight minute period, then if nobody scored a 17 minute period with freshly resurfaced ice. The first O.T period found itself played heavily in the Monticello defensive zone, but goaltender Tyler Klatt was holding his own. The first overtime period concluded with very few chances for the Moose and many scoring chances for Hermantown.

The second overtime period would be played on freshly surfaced ice, and would be a 17 minute period. This period was much better for the Moose, they were able to stretch the ice more and and create more opportunities, not many shots but they were moving the puck better, opening up more chances. However, a loose puck in the Moose D-zone lead to a shot and rebound goal by the Hawks back to back. The Moose are in shock and awe, Hermantown throwing there gear in the air, jumping on each other in celebration, the student section going nuts, they had one the state championship.

“The goal is under review.”

Everyone heard it, and every Monticello player, coach and fan had a glimpse of hope. The showed the replay on the jumbotron and it showed the Hermantown player pushing a Monticello player into their goalie, unintentionally, however this led the goalie to be impeded from making the save. Every Moose fan was waving their arms a motion showing to cross off the goal and Hermantown fan’s all cheering, for they think the goal showed stand. The official then made his call, no goal, goaltender interference.

Everybody but the Hawks fans were ecstatic, the game would go on.

The Moose now were playing with a little fire. The game was now more back and forth, but with the Hawks still heavily out-shooting the Moose. The period was close to expiring, everybody was expecting a tennis match. With less then a minute left in the attacking zone for the Hawks they were able to win a faceoff to the point on the boards and a soft wrist shot was able to sneak its way through everybody, even the goalie.

The Hawks had survived the roller-coaster and won  back to back titles. The goal was scored by defenseman Dylan Samberg, he gave the goalie a shot that he could not see and clinched the championship for the Hawks once more. The Hawks out shot the Moose 56-23.

Hermantown may have been the favorite to win the championship, but they were sure inferior in terms of student sections. The Moose fan base was big, loud, and ready to win a championship. They had one chant that even pumped me up. The fans would listen to the drum beat, clap their hands and say “Moose”. Then it gets faster, “Moose, Moose, Moose”. It was the best non-explicit chant ever. They may have lost the game, but the best parents, students and band go to the Moose.

Class AA Championship

This would be an all orange championship, and one questionable mascot. That’s right the Moorhead mascot was in fact a big potato. It was the battle of northern Minnesota boys, and at the beginning of the season, nobody expected either group to be here.

The Thunderhawks were buzzing, putting many shots on goal early and it paid off, they netted two quick goals in the middle of the first period.

The Spuds took that energy and shoved it right back at them, but goalie Zach Stejskal held his own. The period ended 2-0 in favor for Grand Rapids, shots were 13-8.

The second period saw four goals total, split for each team. Grand Rapids saw two goals around the halfway mark of the period. The game looked over for the spuds; for, a 4-0 deficit in hockey, especially in the varsity level, is hard to overcome. The Spuds, however, were determined not to roll over. The Spuds scored a power play goal in under five minutes left in the period and then a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal pulled them within two with 16 seconds left in the period. It would set up dramatic final period, with one team hailing victory.

The last period of the Tourney would be a hard fought one. The Spuds were down by two.  Five minutes into the period, Mr. Hockey nominee Micah Miller scored for the Thunderhawks, making the score 5-2 now, a big blow for the Spuds.

Five minutes later the Spuds struck back to within two, making it 5-3 Grand Rapids. The Spuds, who were out shooting Grand Rapids, couldn’t find the back of the twine the rest of the game. Blake McLaughlin, of Grand Rapids, scored a empty net goal to put the final dagger through the Spuds. The shots of the third were 10-6 for the Spuds and final shot totals were 30-27 for Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids would win the Class AA Championship.

This game was the best game between both student sections. Both were lively, energetic and filled with school spirit. Grand Rapids had another uphill battle with section 207 pinned against them. After the score the flipped to the side 207 did not want, they flipped to. 207 chanted, “No hard Feelings”, followed by “Lets go Rapids”. The section full of Grand Rapids parents then cheered us on and so did their student section, It was like the Christmas Truce of WWI. Grand Rapids one the championship, but also had the best student section as well. By far the biggest winners of the tourney go to the Grand Rapid’s team, student section and Parents. They deserve a tip of a hat for overcoming a lot of adversity. It was surely one of the most electrifying nights of hockey I have ever witnessed.