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Andover’s Tyler Hughes snuck his shot through traffic and Duluth East goaltender Kirk Meierhoff to tie their 7AA quarterfinal game 1-1. Photo credit: John Gilbert

If hockey is Minnesota’s premier sport and it surely is in Northern Minnesota – then you could make a pretty strong case that we have finally arrived at the premier weekend of the whole year.
No, it’s not because the Minnesota Wild are playing an outdoor game Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, although that will be a neat event, particularly with the heightened interest of new-but-interim coach John Torchetti in his first home performance. And heightened interest will come  on Saturday when the alumni of the old Minnesota North Stars will join the Wild alumni to face a team of former Blackhawks on the same outdoor sheet.
And no, it’s not because the college season is racing headlong toward playoffs.
The reason this weekend is the best is because of the Section 7 hockey tournament semifinals in both AA and A at AMSOIL Arena. It is a pair of doubleheaders that often represent the best there can be in hockey in Minnesota. The teams all enter tournament action, and the quarterfinals earlier this week got all the tournament jitters out of their systems, and the pressure coming at the state tournament is still a couple weeks away. That leaves the semifinals. No pressure, just play, when only the four best AA and four best A teams get to the  semifinal eliminations.
The pros and college teams can have their ups and downs, but at state hockey sectional time, everybody goes all out for their high schools, and often the best hockey of the season comes out of these two games.

The Greyhounds streamed off the bench to surround goalie Kirk Meierhoff in a celebration that looked a lot like relief at avoiding the 7AA upset. Photo credit: John Gilbert

In the AA quarterfinals, Duluth East – which is looking for an incredible eighth consecutive Section 7AA berth in the state tournament -- became an unintended example of how surprising and unpredictable these games can be. Seeded No. 2 behind Grand Rapids, the Greyhounds had only lost once in their last 10 games, and that came against defending state champ Lakeville North in the Hockey Day Minnesota game at Bayfront Park. As such, the Hounds got to play at home against No. 7 seed Andover.
The teams had played early in the season, when East gave up two late goals before escaping from Heritage Center with a 6-5 victory, despite outshooting the Huskies 40-28. Even then, East coach Mike Randolph suggested that nobody would be excited to face Andover at tournament time. And here they were.
East outshot Andover 19-4 in the first period, but gave up the first goal, when Tyler Hughes scored on a power-play rebound from the right edge at 10:42. Just 41 seconds later, Alex Spencer tied it with a screened shot from the point.
The Hounds kept firing shots at Blake Johnson, and he kept making saves. East had a 17-3 edge in shots in the second period, and had all they could do to inch ahead 2-1 when Ian Mageau was checked off the puck on a rush, and Ash Altmann, flying past the net on the left, gained possession just in time to bank a shot off the back of Johnson’s pads and in.
That goal stood up as East won 2-1, which was hardly a just reward for outshooting Andover 42-11, but which earned the East majority of the near-capacity crowd at Heritage Center the chance to exhale. Barely. “They’ve got a few more horses over there,” said Andover coach Mark Manney. “But we played the way we had to, to win.”
Randolph said: “That was a typical high school tournament game, and their goaltender made all the saves. I told our guys that it doesn’t matter whether we win by one or by 10, we’re moving on.”
Also moving on were the other three top seeds. Grand Rapids beat Cambridge-Isanti and Elk River thumped Forest Lake in a pair of romps, but Cloquet-Esko-Carlton had its hands full before slipping past Marshall 2-1.
That means on Saturday, East will face Elk River in a rematch of their earlier game, won by the Hounds 5-2, at High Noon, followed by a battle between Grand Rapids and Cloquet at 2 p.m. The 7A survivors, led by top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Hermantown, will square off Saturday night in the Class A semifinals.
Championships will be held next week, on Wednesday for 7A and Thursday night for Class 7AA. We can all pull for the Section 7 winners in the state tournament, but regardless of which team you’re pulling for, get to AMSOIL and enjoy the Super Saturday Semifinals and next week’s finals. Sports doesn’t get any better than hockey, and hockey simply doesn’t get any better than this.

UMD freshman Maddie Rooney stopped Minnesota star Amanda Kessel’s Game 1 breakaway. Photo Credit: John Gilbert

UMD women hit road for WCHA playoffs

We get ice, we get snow, and we get cold weather here in the Northland, but we don’t have to worry about earthquakes. The University of Minnesota women’s hockey team played a reasonable facsimile of an earthquake last weekend, however, as it tore through AMSOIL Arena and left UMD in shambles in the WCHA standings.

The Gophers, bristling with high-potency offense all through their lineup, administered 7-3 and 6-2 thrashings on the Bulldogs, and the scores were only part of the story. In the first game, the Gophers outshot UMD 68-28. Think about that. Sixty-eight shots on goal. The tally was 50-14 after two periods, and freshman UMD goaltender Maddie Rooney must have wondered what hit her, and making 61 saves was hardly the salve to ease her pain.

The game also sent amateur record-seekers scurrying for the books, but it was close to impossible to find the facts. We think that’s the most shots any UMD women’s hockey team has never allowed, we know the 61 saves by Rooney are a UMD record. We know it’s the most shots on goal registered by the Gophers since they volleyed 72 shots at Division 3 Augsburg’s net back in 1999.

Top Gopher scorer Hannah Brandt (22) celebrated Milica McMillen’s goal in the 7-3 first-game against UMD.. Photo Credit: John Gilbert

On Saturday afternoon, the Gophers lightened up a bit, winning 6-2 and outshooting UMD 50-14. After the game, I asked Gopher coach Brad Frost if that was the most shots Minnesota had ever recorded in a weekend series, and he merely shrugged his shoulders. No idea. We think, however, that it was the most shots any UMD women’s team has ever absorbed.

Fortunately, senior Kayla Black got the start in the game, and after she had made 32 saves, fellow-senior Karissa Grapp got to enter the nets and make the final dozen saves, allowing just one goal.

After outshooting UMD 118-42 in the two games, Minnesota can pronounce itself ready to finish the regular season this weekend against Wisconsin. The Badgers offer something completely different to the Gophers -- the WCHA-leading team boasting a 24-1-1 league record, which includes an earlier sweep over Minnesota in Madison. The Gophers are 22-3-1, so the sweep over UMD means they could catch the Badgers for first place by sweeping this weekend, too. By the way, overall, Wisconsin is 30-1-1, with the loss and the tie coming against North Dakota, which is currently fourth in the WCHA. Minnesota is 27-3-1 overall.

The other certainty from last weekend’s AMSOIL series is that we will not see the UMD women’s team in Duluth again this season. The Bulldogs play at St. Cloud State this weekend to close out the regular season, and at 9-16-1 in WCHA play, UMD could still make up the 2-point deficit they have against St. Cloud State by sweeping. That would put UMD fifth instead of sixth. The difference may be subtle, but it will decide whether the Bulldogs go into the first round of WCHA playoffs at Grand Forks or at Bemidji.

That is correct, for record-keepers. In their 17th season of Division I hockey, this will be the first time UMD finished below .500, and with it the first time UMD has had to open playoffs on the road. And if the Gophers portrayed an earthquake swallowing up UMD’s hopes last weekend, the fact that the Bulldogs are going to make history by going on the road for playoffs would qualify as the aftershock.

Dani Cameranesi scored on a breakaway as the Gophers 68-28 shot barrage overran UMD’s defense and goaltender Maddie Rooney. Photo Credit: John Gilbert