The Duluth Area was assured of state hockey tournament representation when Hermantown and Marshall collided Wednesday night in the Section 7, Class A tournament final, the first of two exciting nights at AMSOIL Arena that would determine both levels of 7. Duluth East, the defending champ, took the ice Thursday night against Elk River to determine the Class AA champ.
If East were to win 7AA, it would be the sixth consecutive trip to the state tournament for the Greyhounds, but the road never gets easier.
East subdued an eager Grand Rapids outfit 5-2 Saturday in the regional rival semifinals. It was an impressive victory but one that gave coach Mike Randolph a few flutters, because it is Randolph’s game plan always to respect East’s opponents and take measures to offset the top players on the opposition side. “When you know they’ve got a great player, you want to make sure you don’t let him beat you,” is Randolph’s motto.
In the case of Grand Rapids, Randolph recalled the recurring nightmare of a year ago, when defenseman Jake Bischoff -- playing defense this season at Minnesota -- made rush after rush in the closing minutes and the Hounds had to hang on for a narrow one-goal victory. In last year’s semifinals, Grand Rapids had shocked Elk River by trailing the whole game, then turning Bischoff loose to set up Avery Peterson for the tying goal in the closing seconds, and then beating the Elks in overtime.
Going into Saturday’s semifinals, Randolph knew Bischoff was gone, but Peterson is back with 36 goals in his senior resume and a scholarship to play at Nebraska Omaha filed away. So was Hunter Shepard, the Thunderhawks outstanding goaltender.
It was only 2:34 into the game when Avery Peterson broke up the left side, put a dazzling move on at full speed to slip past defenseman Alex Trapp, and fired a shot from the left faceoff circle. The missile eluded goaltender Gunnar Howg and caromed in off the upper right post for a 1-0 Rapids lead.
“I had a perfect view of that one,” said Randolph. “He’s a great player, and he’s scored so many big goals. He slipped by Trapper, and that was an NHL-quality goal. I’m glad he’s graduating -- him and that goaltender.”
Peterson’s goal No. 37 stood as the lead for four minutes, then East countered when Maysen Rust plunked in the rebound after Shepard stopped Ash Altmann’s try. Three more minutes passed, then big Jack Kolar fell to the ice, and barely stayed onside as he slid toward the Rapids zone. Nick Altmann came hard on the rush, but Shepard stopped his shot, only to have Kolar arrive at the right time to score on another rebound for a 2-1 East lead.
    In the second period, East defenseman Philip Beaulieu skated across the blue line and cut loose with a deadly wrist shot that beat Shepard for a 3-1 lead. Rust, a junior, showed great patience to open the third period when he rushed up the right side, holding possession as he took the defense wide, and continued to hold until Shepard had to think he could only pass, then Rust deposited the puck behind the goalie and it was 4-1.
At 6:46 of the third period, Alex Adams scored on a rebound to cut the deficit to 4-2, and Rapids came on strong. With 10 minutes remaining, the 4-2 lead appeared vulnerable, and one more Grand Rapids goal would make it 4-3 and send the game to a wild finish. Instead, East got the late goal, with 2:27 remaining, when Trapp broke up the right side to catch Kolar’s rink-wide pass and drive to the net for the goal that clinched the victory.
Kolar, who missed East’s first eight games after spraining his medial-collateral ligament in his knee and bruising his femur. Since his return, he has joined a line with Nick Altmann and Brian Bunten that has tranformed the Greyhounds from a team that struggled to score to a team with an explosive top line. In East’s last four game going into the 7AA final, that line had scored 11 goals -- 8 of them by Kolar -- and 14 assists. That has reduced the pressure to score on blueliners Beaulieu and Trapp, freeing them up to help the offense when the opportunity comes rather than forcing play.
“It was a game of momentum changes, but I’m happy with our team, which stayed disciplined,” said John Rothstein, Rapids coach and former UMD star from Grand Rapids.
The interesting part of the semifinals was that the second game was also a neighborhood rivalry, just not from this neighborhood. Elk River got past Andover 4-2, but had to battle all the way to hold off an Andover team that split with the Elks during the season, including a victory two weeks ago. Dylan Bouten scored twice in the second period to vault Elk River from a 2-1 deficit to a 3-2 lead.
Long-time Minnesota North Stars defenseman Gordie Roberts has taken on a major task of replacing fiery local legend Tony Sarsland as Elks coach, and he’s adapted quickly to bring stability to one of the state’s most productive programs. He gets a major boost from adding Bruce Johnson, the impressive coach at Armstrong during its best years. The Elks beat East early in the season, but both teams went into Thursday’s final knowing they were both vastly improved over the way they were to start the season.