Category: 3A

2020 Class A tournament preview

#1 seed Warroad Warriors

Regular season record of 23-2, lost to arch rival Roseau 5-4 and 3-1, beat #2 seed St. Cloud Cathedral early in the year 5-2, beat Grand Rapids 3-2, beat a very good East Grand Forks team 3 times including playoffs, outscored opponents 133-36, the leading scorer #27 Grant Slukynsky has 30 goals and averaged 3 points per game, and sensational freshman Jason Shaugabay had 19 goals and 51 points.  Goalie Zach Foster had a 1.64 GAA and .911 save %.

#2 seed St Cloud Cathedral Crusaders

Regular season record of 20-3-1 with losses to Warroad, (5-2), Moorhead (5-3) and East Grand Forks (6-2) They tied Hermantown 5-5.  St. Cloud outscored opponents 150 to 63 and had 3 players score 20+ goals per game.  If Jack Smith was healthy all season they would have had 4.  They were our preseason pick to win the class A title.

#3 seed Hermantown Hawks

Have an overall record of 18-3-4 and outscored opponents 139-51.  Leading scorer Blake Biondi is an elite goal scoring machine with 37 regular season goals and they have 3 others who scored double digit goals. The Hawks only losses came at the hands of AA schools, Eden Prairie, Lakeville South and Grand Rapids.  They tied Cathedral, Benilde, Grand Rapids and Cretin.

#4 seed Mahtomedi Zephyrs

They sure are getting to know the layout of the X.  The Zephyrs ended the regular season with a 17-8 record, outscored opponents 97-60 and had 5 skaters with double digit goals.  The leading goalie is sophomore Ben Dardis with a 2.07 GAA and a very impressive .932 save %.  On paper, the offensive stats aren’t as impressive as the top 3 seeds but with a hot goalie anything can happen in the playoffs.

Players to watch –

Nikolai Dulak – 23 goals

Adam Johnson – 13 goals

Ryan Berglund – 13 goals

Ben Dardis- Goalie

#5 seed Delano Tigers

Ended the regular season with a 19-6 record and outscored opponents 92-48, Delano beat Monticello, Orono, Hutch and lost to Cathedral by a goal. Leading scorer is Adam Brown with 20 goals and 35 points, They have the team speed to make a tournament run and goalie Cade Lommel has been playing like a tournament champ.

The Moose outscored opponents 109-59 and are led by Jeffrey Henrickson/Brian Cornelius tandem each with 17 goals.  They have a tough opening round game but if Nash Wilson is on his game they have a chance to pull off a big upset.

Mankato East is used to the underdog roll, they enter the tourney for the 2nd time in 3 years, Layten Liffrig has 29 goals and Matthew Salzle has 26, they will need find a way to bury the puck early on if they hope to pull off the upset, Cathedral beat them in the Granite City Showcase 9-3 last December.

Hutch comes in hot, dominating section play and outscoring opponents 92-70, Austin Jozwick leads the team with 25 goals, goalie Austin Hagen has a very impressive GAA of .911, they too have a very tough first round opponent and need to score early and often if they want to play a 2nd game at the X.

FTP State Championship Prediction

We are sticking with our preseason pick of St Cloud Cathedral.  We like a state championship game between Cathedral and Warroad with St Cloud Cathedral winning the 2nd state title in a row.  Whether it plays out this way or not, its going to be a great tournament, good luck to all playing in it!

Class A Recaps- Section Winners, semi final winners

Section 1A

In the battle of Mankato, it was East coming out on top 3-1 and will represent at the X.  Mankato East/Loyola scored first and last, 2 goals by Matthew Salzle and outshot Makato West 45-28.  Congrats Mankato East/Loyola, we will see you at the X next week.

Section 2A

In the class A game of the night, Delano got the W in the 2nd overtime over Armstrong Cooper.  This was a tightly played game with Delano jumping up to a 2-0 lead in the first period.  Armstrong Cooper responded by scoring in the 2nd and 3rd period to send the game to overtime.  Finally at 8:30 into the 2nd OT Delano’s Jesse Peterson scored to end the game and send them to the X.

Section 3A

Hutch pulled off the season sweep of LDC in impressive fashion.  It was a close game after the 2nd period, but 6 3rd period goals by the Tigers put the game out of hand in a hurry.  Austin Jozwick and Hayden Jensen each had 2 goals and Hutch outshot LDC 39-29.  Congrats on a great season Hutch it will be fun to see you at the Tourney next week.

Section 4A semi-finals

Mahtomedi ended Tartans season with a 2-0 victory.  Two second period goals by the Zephyrs was all it took to advance to the section finals where they will face off against the 6th seed South Saint Paul tomorrow night with a chance to advance to the X.

In the battle of St. Paul, it took 3 overtimes to decide, and South Saint Paul beat St. Paul Academy 3-2.  Academy outshot South 60-45, but in the end it was Souths Matt Wincentsen who got the game winner, they will play Mahtomedi tomorrow night in the section finals.  These teams played back in December with Mahtomedi winning 5-0.

Section 5A

In the other class A game to watch Monticello jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Pine City, they eventually responded and cut that lead to 2-1 after the first.  The 2nd period opened with Monticello scoring early to go up 3-1, again Pine City responded with 2 goals to tie the game.  The 3rd period was incredible to watch, multiple chances at each end of the rink, Monticello scored first at 14:15 in the 3rd, Pine City again answered and tied the game up at the 15:45 mark.  Before the fans even had a chance to settle back in Monticellos Huntley Hinz  scored the game winner and they added an empty net goal to end the game 6-4.  Congrats Monticello on the state appearance, and Pine City, you had a fantastic season and it was a blast to follow.

Section 6A

This section saw the preseason class A favorite St Cloud Cathedral run away with the section title game.  Cathedral’s Jack Smith had 4 goals, Mack Motzko had 2.  The game ended 8-1 in favor of Cathedral, congrats on the great season and the trip to the X.

Section 7A

Hermantown and Duluth Denfeld squared off in this section, it was a slow start for the Hawks and ended 0-0 after 1.  They finally scored in the 2nd period and poured in 5 more in the 3rd.  Blake Biondi had two goals on the night.  Congrats Hermantown good luck at the X next week.

Section 8A

This section was a tough one to call, Warroad and East Grand Forks faced of in the finals with a trip to the X on the line,(warroad had won the previous 2 meetings this season).  It was a scoreless 1st period with each team getting 5 shots on net.  In the 2nd, Warroads Jayson Shaugabay scored twice, assisted by Grant Slukynsky on both and that was all the scoring needed to win the game.  Warroad did put in 2 more goals for a final score of 4-0.  Congrats on winning the section Warroad, it’s been a great season so far.

Class A recap-Mankato will be at State, 1 top seed goes down, others dominate

Section 1A

In section 1A Mankato will represent at the X, we just don’t know which one yet.  Mankato East used a strong 2nd period and a Matthew Salzle hat-trick to upset #1 seed Dodge County 5-3. They will face off against 2 seed Mankato West who beat Faribault 3-0.  These teams squared off in January with Mankato West winning 4-3.

Section 2A

Section 2A finals are still pending, Orono plays Armstrong Cooper and Delano plays Breck on 02-24-2020 for a trip to the section finals.

Section 3A

Section 3A #1 seed Hutch rolled their way to the section finals behind 2 goals from Austin Jozwick with a 6-1 win over Luverne, and LDC responded after a slow start to upend New Ulm 7-4.  Hutch & LDC played twice this year during the regular season with Hutch winning both times, can they pull it off a third time with a trip to the X on the line?

Section 4A still has 2 games to be played to determine the section finals matchup.  #1 seed Mahtomedi will play 4 seed Tartan and in the biggest surprise of the section so far, the 7th seed, St. Paul Academy will play the 6th seed South Saint Paul for a trip to the section finals.

Section 5A will see the #1 seed Monticell0 face off against #3 seed Pine City area.  Can Pine City avenge an early season defeat and represent at the X?  Game will be on 2-27-2020 @ 7:00pm.

Section 6A will see #1 seed St. Cloud Cathedral square off against the 2 seed Alexandria.  St Cloud used a strong first period to get past River Lakes 5-1.  Alexandria beat Little Falls 2-0, can they stay hot and upend the preseason Class A favorite?  We will find out on 2-27-2020 at 7:00.

Section 7A- Hermantown reminded us why they are a favorite to head to the the X with an 8-0 win over Eveleth, and #2 seed Duluth Denfeld continued their strong season with a 4-0 win over Greenway.  They will face off on 2-26-2020 at 7:00. These two did play earlier this season with Hermantown winning.

Section 8A has #1 seed Warroad looking to be in the tourney again with a 7-0 win over Detroit Lakes and #2 seed East Grand Forks defeating Thief Rivers Falls 2-1.  These teams played twice this year and Warroad won both games by 1 goal, the rematch should be a dandy.

 

Boys HS Hockey Section 3A Preview

Section 3A Hockey Preview for 2020

Historically this section has not had a good opening day showing at the X, will this be the year that changes?

The #1 seed Hutch had some nice wins during the regular season after a rough season opening loss to Holy Family.  They did not lose in section play this season — and also rattled off nice wins over Chanhassen, Mound,  and Princeton.  Senior Austin Jozwick leads the team with 25 goals and 49 points. Jozwick can score.

#2 seed LDC has had an up and down year, they finished with an overall record of 10-14-1, however they only lost to Hutch in section play.  The leading scorer senior Jake Johnson has 15 goals and 26 points.

#3 seed New Ulm could very easily repeat as section champions.  With an overall record of 18-6-1 and averaging 5.4 goals per game don’t overlook the Eagles!  Leading Scorer is Glavine Shugel with 27 goals and 55 overall points.

#4 seed Marshall ended with a very respectable 16-69 record and beat a good Pine City team earlier this year, leading goal scorer is Bryson White with 18 goals, 34 assists and they may have the best goalie in the section in Dominik Caspers, .931 save percentage.

#5 seed Luverne could also rattle off a few section wins and take the trek to the X.  Leading goal scorer is Colby Crabtree with 19 goals and 31 overall points.

Windom is the 6 seed, Worthington is 7, Fairmont is #8, Willmar is 9 and Worthington is 10.

FTP prediction on section 3A is the Hutch Tigers over LDC in the section final game.