Five seeds, four games, three upsets. That was pretty much the quick summary of the Class 1A quarterfinals in the Boys’ State Hockey Tournament Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
First, it was the No. 2 seed Delano getting beat by Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake by a 3-2 score. Rounding out the afternoon session was the No. 3 seed – with bleached hockey hair, no less – Mahtomedi losing 3-1 to Northfield. Top-seeded and defending champion Hermantown survived 3-2 against Luverne, but needed overtime to do it. The final game was between No. 5 seed St. Cloud Cathedral and No. 4 seed East Grand Forks. Cathedral won 6-3, still qualifying as an upset even though the seeds are neighbors.
The word “parity” was thrown around more than once to describe Class 1A hockey. Maybe that’s what it is. Or maybe it’s just some good hockey. There weren’t any blowout games, making them competitive and intriguing to watch. Especially when the unseeded teams take a lead, it starts the #upsetalerts all over social media.
The interesting thing about the early upsets knocking out the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds is it sets up an anybody’s-game type of semifinal on Friday. The Moose from Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake will take on the Northfield Raiders. It’s not a David vs. Goliath scenario, which often happens in the next round after an upset.
The word “parity” was thrown around more than once to describe Class 1A hockey. Maybe that’s what it is. Or maybe it’s just some good hockey.
In particular, the loss had to be extremely tough to swallow for Delano. Long in the shadow of private-school powerhouse Breck in Section 2A, Delano made its first trip to the state tournament this year.
“I didn’t feel like there was a whole lot of jitters,” said Delano coach Gerrit van Bergen. “It’s brand new for us, and it was for [the Moose], too.”
The Tigers beat Breck for the first time ever in November by a 5-2 margin. Then, they dispatched the Mustangs in the section final with a 2-0 shutout.
The Tigers have had plenty of heartbreakers in their quest to get to state, particularly against rival Breck. Two years ago in the section final Ben Meyers, then a sophomore, scored the tying goal with 37.5 seconds left in regulation. But it was Breck who prevailed in double-overtime.
Move ahead to this year, and senior captain Meyers is a Mr. Hockey finalist, a member of USHL team Fargo Force and committed to play for Maine. He led the state in points (99) and assists (53) in the regular season. He came into the state tournament as a 50-goal scorer with 107 points.
The Moose held him off the scoresheet except for an assist on the final goal.
“Hats off to them,” Meyers said. “They played well defensively. They worked really hard.”
“I thought we generated our chances. We had three or four pucks that just sat on the goal line.”
In Wednesday’s game against the Moose, van Bergen said his players seemed relaxed in the locker room just like the rest of the season. Though he also acknowledged his players were gripping their sticks a bit tightly once they hit the ice.
The Tigers have had plenty of heartbreakers in their quest to get to state, particularly against rival Breck.
They had two goals disallowed through video review, but van Bergen was pleased with how his team fought through the adversity.
“As a program, you go from the perspective of Brian Halonen scoring our first state tournament goal in program history to your first time dealing with a delay on a video review,” van Bergen said. “And on top of that, all of a sudden it’s taken away.”
He added that the officials made the right call.
The Tigers were down by two goals at the second intermission, something they haven’t been accustomed to this year.
In the second game, Mahtomedi coach Jeff Poeschl also mentioned that his players were maybe gripping their sticks too tightly. His main disappointment was his team didn’t create enough traffic in front of the opposing goaltender.
“You look at… the goal that we did score, there were a lot of bodies in front of the net,” Poeschl said. “You get a good goaltender and you let him see the puck, and he’s going to make a save.”
Raiders netminder Ryan Bielenberg made 34 saves in between the pipes.
Mahtomedi took a 1-0 lead 4:20 into the game, but Northfield answered in the second. It was knotted at 1-1 heading into the third period. As Raiders head coach Mike Luckraft said, the next goal was huge. Cliché as it is, it rings true. Senior Nicholas Kvernmo scored just 1:04 into the third and his team held on with his empty-netter late in the game.
The Zephyrs knew what happened on the ice in the game before theirs, seeing the No. 2 seed taken out. They didn’t want that to be them, said Zephyrs senior forward and leading scorer Luke Posner. Unfortunately for the Zephyrs, that’s exactly what happened in their ninth trip to state.
“I know personally, I had some good chances, but nothing really went my way,” Posner said.
