Northern Minnesota had no chance but to succeed in the state high school hockey tournament’s Class A state tournament, because for the second straight year, Hermantown from 7A made it to the championship game against East Grand Forks from 8A.
The fact that East Grand Forks won its second title in a row 5-4 was a tribute to the hustle and tenacity of the Green Wave, but the final score was the only tribute Hermantown could take home, because it represented an improbable final burst of offense that forced sudden-death overtime. Then the Hawks were shot down.
It was the incomprehensible sixth consecutive year that Hermantown had made it to the Class A final, and lost. “I’m getting used to it,” said Hawks coach Bruce Plante, trying to lighten the mood in the post-game press conference. “I just don’t get it. It wasn’t some flukey thing. They made a nice play. It just seemed like the Hockey Gods weren’t with us.”
The Hockey Gods were not impressed, either, with Hermantown’s dramatic comeback, which may have been unprecedented in state tournament title game annals. Did that make it just one more taunt?
“It seems that way, to me,” said Plante.
The Hawks had played pretty much a nondescript tournament most of the way. They were No. 1 seeded, and had beaten East Grand Forks 3-0 in a Christmas tournament at Marshall.
In their first game, the Hawks coasted to an 8-0 romp over Spring Lake Park, which was making its first-ever appearance in a state hockey tournament. Ryan Kero and Nate Pionk, linemates and top guns on the Hermantown top line, each scored three goals and three assists as the relentless Hawks outshot Spring Lake Park 50-10. East Grand Forks, meanwhile, had beaten New Prgue 4-0 with three third-period goals as Dixon Bowen had two goals and an assist.
In the semifinals, Hermantown seemed to put its offense on cruise control, beating St. Cloud Apollo 2-0 and seeming satisfied with that. Jesse Jacques got the first goal, in the second period, and Cole Koepke scored in the third. But East Grand Forks was making a transformation while beating a strong Mahtomedi outfit 5-2.
Defenseman Trevor Selk had been out with an injury for six weeks, covering nine games. The Green Wave rolled on without him, but only because coach Tyler Palmiscno had Grant Loven, a highly skilled scorer, move back to defense to plug the gap created by Selk. The team came to the state tournament, but it wasn’t until after Wednesday’s opening game that Selk was given doctors clearance to play. In his first game back, he scored the fourth goal in East Grand’s 5-2 victory.
More important, Grant Loven moved up to his normal spot making the first line the explosive unit it had been. Loven scored the first goal, but Mahtomedi tied it. In the second period, Loven scored again, but again Mahtomedi tied it. So Loven scored his third goal, for a hat trick and a 3-2 lead after two periods. Selk and Austin Monda scored in the third period to give the Green Wave some breathing room.
That set the stage for the final, and although Plante was convinced the Hawks played their best and worked hard to the finish, it still seemed they couldn’t match the fire brought by East Grand Forks. Tanner Tweton gave EGF the early lead, and Monda made it 2-0 on a power play. Hermantown had an 11-4 edge in shots, but East Grand had a 2-0 lead in goals. The Hawks broke through in the second period, when Parker Hawk and Pionk scored in the first four minutes to forge a 2-2 tie. But Loven set up Bowen to break the tie, and Monda’s second goal of the game made it 4-2 at 4:04 of the final period.
It appeared Hermantown had run out of time, if not steam. One of the few over-achievers was Wyatt Aamodt, a solid junior defenseman who is impressive when he jumps up on offense. But nothing worked, including a six-attacker move with the goalie pulled with 2:10 remaining, and the game boiled into the final minute.
With only 33 seconds to go, Kero pulled the puck back to Aamodt on left point, and he whistled a shot through traffic that found the net. Finally, the Hawks seemed to come to life, but they still trailed 4-3. Goalie still out, and another faceoff, this time in the right corner. Plante switched point men, moving Aamodt to left point, and Kero pulled the puck back to Eric Gotz on right point. Gotz fired, and the puck beat screened goaltender Josh Weber, with the clock showing only 16 seconds remained. Two goals, 17 seconds apart, in the final 33 seconds of regulation to force overtime -- beat that, historians!
But in the 8-minute sudden-death overtime, East Grand’s top line came through with a left-corner draw of its own. Tanner Tweten moved into the slot, caught a pass out from behind the net, and one-timed a 25-footer into the net.
“Give them credit, they got those two goals in the last minute,” said Palmiscno. “All I said before overtime was, before the game, if someone said you could play this game 4-4 going into overtime, would you take it?”
The answer was a resounding “Yes.” For Hermantown, the fact that East Grand Forks at least was representing the North with the title was not much solace.

Superior Is Superior

While Duluth East and Hermantown came oh-so-close to championships, Superior came off a pretty good season against Twin Ports area teams and went off to conquer the Wisconsin state hockey title. While finishing below the .500 mark may have been the perfect camouflage for the Spartans, who won their sixth state title, it proved how good Twin Ports area teams were this season, and winning the semifinal 3-0 and the final 6-0 was further evidence.
And now, except for the college hockey playoffs that will be raging this weekend, we can turn our thoughts to high school basketball.

Hounds Enthrall East Lovers and Haters

In Northern Minnesota, there are two types of hockey fans -- those who follow Duluth East and those who despise the Greyhounds. Last weekend, however, might have been the first time that every hockey fan in the region, and maybe the whole state, was captivated by the amazing run East made before falling to Lakeville North in the final.
The clear highlight of the whole tournament was East’s 3-1 semifinal victory over Edina -- the once-beaten powerhouse that was gunning for its third straight state title. That game was a phenomenal display of all that is good about Minnesota high school hockey. It was so good that it pushed to second-best the stunning 6-5 overtime upset East pulled on St. Thomas Academy in the quarterfinals.
The 71st Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament will be recalled for Lakeville North establishing an impressive 31-0 record and winning its first tournament championship. But a comparatively anonymous Duluth East team, which finished with an often erratic 16-11-4 record, was the runner-up in that 4-1 championship game. And any hockey fan with an appreciation for the kind of colorful, emotional, storybook performances that used to rule the tournament before pro-like poise and power took over, Duluth East provided the standard for the entire tournament.
The Greyhounds perfected a flair for ignoring all odds and any enormous deficit to confound and beat a string of impressive opponents. Coach Mike Randolph installed a “2-3” forechecking plan with two months left in the season, with two forwards attacking with abandon while the third manned center-point, giving the Hounds three across the blue line. Time after time, opponents would elude the first forechecker and fling the puck up the middle, where the Hounds would simply turn it back to offense. Call it an Offensive Zone Trap.
East was No. 3 seed in Section 7AA, but took out No. 2 Grand Rapids 3-2, then stunned top-seeded Elk River in the final by erasing a 3-0 lead in the first period. Tied 3-3, Elk River’s Jacob Jaremko, who later won Mr. Hockey, scored two of the first-period goals and set up Reggie Lutz to reinstate a 4-3 lead for the Elks. However, Ryan Peterson scored with 4:16 remaining for a 4-4 tie, then ninth-grader Garret Worth deflected in Nathaniel Benson’s pass at 1:49 of overtime to win 5-4 and send the Hounds to state.
Still, there was no reason the Twin Cities teams should respect East’s 14-10-4 record, and the Greyhounds were thrown into the first round against third-seeded St. Thomas Academy. East’s top goal-scorer coming in was Nick Altmann, with 14, while his brother, Ash Altmann, had 10. Nobody else was in double figures -- although Ryan Peterson was on his way there. St. Thomas was led by another Mr. Hockey finalist, Peter Tufto, who set up two goals then scored his 31st of the season for a 3-0 Tommies lead in the first period. East’s Brian Bunten and Luke Dow scored barely a minute apart to close the gap to 3-2, but Tufto set up a power-play goal, and scored his 32nd of the year in the second period for a 5-2 lead. East could overcome a 3-goal deficit, but doing it twice in one game was pretty outrageous.
Not for these Hounds. Ryan Peterson converted Ash Altmann’s feed to open the third period, then Evan Little knocked in a power-play rebound  with 2:43 left, and Nick Funk scored 47 seconds later to give East an improbable 5-5 tie. At 1:31 of overtime, there was Ryan Peterson again, reaching double figures by deflecting the puck in for a shocking 6-5 East victory.
“We’ve just never seen a team play a system like that, with three across the blue line,” said Greg Vannelli, who co-coaches St. Thomas with his brother, former Gopher Tom Vannelli. “By the third period, that system had our kids completely confused.”
I suggested to former North Star and television color commentator Lou Nanne, who is always quick to praise Edina, that the semifinals might be interesting. “What?” Louie retorted. “No way. No (bleeping) way. St. Thomas is good, but they’re not Edina, and Elk River is not Edina. If both East and Edina play their games, Edina will win by five goals.”
While not benefitting by Nanne’s great accumulated knowledge, some fans apparently thought it might be a game worth seeing -- and an all-time record Minnesota hockey crowd of 21,600 showed up at Xcel for Saturday’s semifinals. Swift-striking and classy, the Hornets struck first when Patrick Haug deflected a shot in, but Luke Dow circled out from behind for an East goal to tie it later in the first period. At 0:31 of the second period, a rebound popped off to the right of the Edina goal. Nick Altmann didn’t have time to reach it, so he made a dive, crashing to the ice as he got his stickblade on the puck, and still with the dexterity to snap it backwards into the net for a 2-1 East lead.
There are fans who are accustomed to cheering against Edina’s hugely successful program, but this huge, overflow crowd was totally caught up in East’s compelling effort. In the third period, East stuck with Randolph’s 2-3 system. In the process, they held the Hornets to five shots. But nothing was secure until 2:41 remained, when defenseman Ian Mageau gained possession in the East zone, and spotted Ash Altmann breaking behind the Edina defense. Mageau zipped a perfect pass and Altmann raced in alone.
“I had a breakaway earlier in the game and went to my forehand, but I missed,” said Ash, a junior. “On the second one, I saw a little room on the short side, so I went to my backhand.”
His brother Nick, a senior, had a more pragmatic idea. “I thought he better put that one in,’ Nick said, “or I’m going to kill him.”
No problem. Ash deke to his backhand and flicked the puck over Kobe Boe’s leg pad and inside the right post, giving East a 3-1 lead. Then it came to defensive play, holding off the explosive Hornets, who had four players with more goals that East’s top gun. But Gunnar Howg did his thing, and the Hounds held on. Curt Giles pulled his goaltender for a final attack, and with only seconds remaining, Randolph called time out. And an incredible thing happened.
Fans all along the sides, ends, and up in the rafters -- all of them, except the Edina cheering section -- rose spontaneously in an ovation of appreciation. “I’ve never witnessed anything like that,” said Randolph. It might have been to applaud such a scintillating game, or for the magnitude of the upset. Or, it might have been just a tribute for a Duluth East team that had played, and outplayed, a team most thought was the best team in the state.
Undoubtedly, the continuing David-and-Goliath drama then moved to Saturday night, where the championship game between this unranked East team and the undefeated, No. 1 seeded Lakeville North drew a final-game record 19,495 fans to Xcel Center in Saint Paul. The Panthers were led by the trio of linemate brothers -- twin seniors Jack and Nick, and sophomore Ryan. All three, along with Henry Enebak, Max Johnson and Taylor Schneider, had scored more than Nick Altmann -- East’s goal leader.
Lakeville North also adds something extra: a pro-style physical attack, that became distasteful only because the Panthers tend to make first contact with their sticks. The team is so skilled it needn’t play that way, but if the officials let it go, it can be a weapon. The Panthers got a 1-0 lead when Ryan Poehling pounced on a turnover and scored late in the first period. Jack Poehling deflected his 38th goal of the season through Howg’s skates at 1:26 of the second period, and it was 2-0.
The Hounds kept coming, and played better as they got accustomed to the physical battering in the third period.  But Angelo Altavilla scored at 4:11 of the third, and the Panthers were well in control at 3-0. Randolph joked afterward: “Did we ever get three goals behind? That was our problem, it took too long for us to get there.”
With 5:39 left, Ryan Peterson continued his amazing play by deflecting  a waist-high shot past Lakeville North goalie Ryan Edquist on an East power play. Peterson scored and took a stride to the left of the net as he raised his hands. At that moment, Jack Sadek, Lakeville’s giant defenseman, blasted him with a cross-check across the shoulder blades, dropping him face down onto the ice. The Greyhounds hustled to him to celebrate; instead, they had to revive him. Incredibly, the officials called nothing. In fact, they had to review the video several times to make sure the puck hadn’t been high-sticked in, which means they had to see the blatant assault they ignored over and over. The big crowd booed.
Randolph pulled Howg with 1:28 left, and the Hounds gave it one more try. But it wasn’t to be. Nick Poehling scored his 33rd goal into an empty net, and Lakeville North broke East’s incredible streak of magical comebacks with a 4-1 verdict. Another curious thing happened, though. Nobody in the crowd of 19,495 left Xcel Center. The crowd boosted the four-day total to 135,618 -- an all-time state tournament record total. And if they were asked to vote, it would have been almost unanimous that the team that made it all worthwhile was Duluth East..

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.