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Marketing whizzes can promote what they want with outdoor stadium hockey games and all. But for sheer significance to Northern Minnesotans, nothing can match this weekend. Saturday in AMSOIL Arena, the best four high school hockey games of the season will take over, starting with the Section 7AA semifinals at noon and 2 p.m., and then the Section 7A semifinals at 6 and 8.

 All season, we’ve seen 7A rise to prominence statewide, with No. 1 ranked Hermantown, plus Marshall and Denfeld all crowding into the picture. All of them had to win Thursday games, but if they do, they will reach the big day at AMSOIL. Long-time rivals Hibbing and Greenway collide to determine the fourth entry.

 Section 7AA has already commenced firing with a wild Tuesday night of action. Duluth East got past Andover 3-0 at Heritage, and Nick Altmann scored a goal in each period for the best-timed hat trick of his life, and Gunnar Howg got the shutout. Grand Rapids escaped from Forest Lake 2-1, while Cloquet-Esko-Carlton hit the road and stunned St. Michael-Albertville 8-4. Elk River, the deserving No. 1 seed in 7AA, had no trouble with St. Francis.

 So at High Noon on Saturday, Elk River must get past Cloquet, while long-time rivals East and Grand Rapids collide at 2. Remember, Grand Rapids gained the No. 2 seed ahead of East by beating the Greyhounds 5-1 six weeks ago. It was suggested to East coach Mike Randolph that it might have been East’s worst game of the season, and he countered: “It might have been East’s worst game of all-time!”

 Right here in AMSOIL Arena, we’ll have the star-crossed season-finale series between the UMD women’s team and Ohio State. As I suggested, the regular season could come down to this -- UMD clinging to fourth place, behind Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota, while Bemidji State and Ohio State still have a chance to swipe that fourth and final home-ice spot from the Bulldogs on the final weekend.

 The games also could be the last home games for the UMD women as coached by Shannon Miller. If the Bulldogs win and hold fourth, they will be home for the first round of WCHA playoffs next week; if they don’t win and hold fourth, they’ll be hitting the road for the playoffs. UMD was blown out 7-1 at Minnesota last Friday, but came back to battle the Gophers through two-plus scoreless periods Saturday before giving up a goal, and an empty-netter, to lose 2-0.

 UMD’s women will play the Buckeyes Friday night at 6 p.m., then play the second game Sunday afternoon, just to leave room for the classic high school semifinals in 7AA and 7A.

 Speaking of both the East Greyhounds and UMD’s women, the ‘Hounds got that 3-0 victory over Andover by outshooting the visitors 34-17, and the goalie they had to beat was senior Maddie Rooney. It’s rare to see a girl goaltender on a boys high school team, but Rooney did a great job and, coach Mark Manney said, she has been solid all season for the Huskies. Next year? Maddie Rooney will be coming to UMD to play for the Bulldogs women’s team.

Bulldog Men Falter

 UMD’s men are still in the running for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference title, but the Bulldog hopes suffered a big blow when, after beating St. Cloud State 4-2 with a four-goal splurge in the third period, they were unable to generate the same offensive rhythm Saturday night and lost 4-1.

 That loss tells more about the Huskies than the Bulldogs. After the first game, St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko said it might have been his team’s worst game of the season; after Saturday’s reversal, UMD coach Scott Sandelin said it might have been the Bulldogs worst game.

 I tend to differ with both coaches. I thought both games were remarkably similar, but Friday UMD was able to get into a flow of offensive rhythm and it finally paid off in the third period. On Saturday, St. Cloud State took away that rhythm, never letting UMD’s quick skaters get going to sustain any offensive pressure.

 Still, it took a goal by David Morley midway through the second period to crack a 0-0 start, then Morley scored again early in the second period when he fired a quick shot that was blocked by a defenseman, but came right back to Morley, who made his second try count.

 Austin Farley got one back for the Bulldogs on a power play, jamming in a rebound after freshman Jared Thomas shot. With 13 minutes remaining, the big UMD crowd anticipated another comeback, but the Huskies short-circuited UMD’s plans and Patrick Russell scored on a power play at 12:29 to make it 3-1. Sandelin pulled goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo with over 3 minutes to go, but Joey Benik hit the open net with 2:54 left to make it a misleading 4-1.

But here’s the deal. UMD stands 10-7-1 for 31 points. That’s good for fourth place, two ahead of Denver and six ahead of St. Cloud State. It also is a suddenly substantial four points behind the three-team battle at the top. Yes, first place in the NCHC is a tangle, with North Dakota, Miami of Ohio and Nebraska-Omaha all tied at 35 points. North Dakota is 11-5-2, Miami and UNO both 11-6-1, but both have one added point for winning a shootout, which leaves all three deadlocked.

 Only three weekends remain to sort it all out. UMD can climb right back into contention, but to do so, the Bulldogs will need to win at Miami of Ohio this weekend. Then they come home to face Nebraska-Omaha, before finishing on the road at Western Michigan. Against those three, UMD is 2-3-1, with the tie becoming a shootout loss against Western.

 This is such a huge weekend at AMSOIL for the high schools and the UMD women, but the UMD men can be apart of it too, they’ll just be at Miami. 

John Gilbert has been writing sports for over 30 years. Formerly with the Star Tribune and WCCO. He currently hosts a daily radio show on KDAL AM.