Coaches spend most of the season proclaiming that they are not consumed with winning, and that “how we play” is more important than the actual result, because every game is a learning endeavor.

But that was then, and this is now. And winning is all that matters. For Duluth East hockey coach Mike Randolph, the transition came late, because his Greyhounds had developed a late tendency to not score goals, such as their last two regular-season games, a mistake-filled 6-2 loss to Maple Grove at Heritage Center, and a road trip blanking, 3-0 at the hands of Lakeville South.

Still, those were regular season games, and the learning aspect was most important. It’s just that when your season got you the No. 2 seed because of great teamwork, work ethic, and unselfish balance, going into sectional playoffs having been outscored 9-2 in the last two games is not the favored recipe.

Tuesday night, the transition came to winning being the most important team, and it may have been an unheralded sophomore defenseman named Hunter Paine who helped the Greyhounds snap everything back into focus. With rock-solid junior defenseman Will Fisher sidelined with a shoulder injury, Paine turned up his offensive game by rifling a pair of goals into the St. Francis goal from the left point to start and finish a 5-1 victory at Heritage.

East took charge in the first period, outshooting St. Francis 15-4 and taking a 3-0 lead. The Greyhounds gained an early edge when they went on the power play at 0:22, and Paine strode in from left point and sent a screened missile in at 1:39. Garrett Worth juggled the puck to the slot less than two minutes later, whirled and scored at 3:21. And Nick Lanigan’s goal at 10:14 made it 3-0.

Brendan Baker, another sophomore, made it 4-0 when he shot with Jack FitzGerald’s feed and scored on his own rebound for the only goal of the second period, making it 4-0. At 6:13 of the third, Paine got another chance at left point, moving in and ripping a shot that went past a screening defender and zipped over the pads of junior goalie Nolan Garaghty and into the upper left corner for a 5-0 cushion.

What caused the Greyhounds to click again? “We listened to what Coach Randolph said,” Paine explained. “We got back to working hard and playing together.” 

Only a couple of minutes after the game that Randolph headed for the exit. “I know all the other scores,” he said.

That meant he had heard that Marshall had gone to Cloquet to face third-seeded Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, and had scored a last-minute goal to break a scoreless tie, only to have the Lumberjacks tie it 1-1 in the last 5 seconds, and then capture the elusive prize 2-1 in double overtime.

“Brendan Flaherty must be sick,” said Randolph. “His Marshall team gets a goal in the closing seconds, then gives one up with something like 3 seconds left, and then loses in double overtime.”

Randolph also had learned that top-seeded Elk River had breezed past Forest Lake and Grand Rapids had beaten Andover 4-2 to complete the 7AA semifinal field. 

There will be no secrets at 2 p.m. Saturday, when the biggest hockey day in Duluth this season sends East against arch-rival Cloquet-Esko-Carlton in the second 7AA semifinal at AMSOIL Arena. The first 7AA semifinal is at noon, with Elk River taking on defending 7AA champ Grand Rapids, which struggled but survived against Andover.

On Saturday night, AMSOIL Arena will be taken over by 7A teams for their semifinals at 6 and 8 p.m., but first, Denfeld — a 6-1 victor over Proctor in a neighborhood showdown of a play-in game Tuesday — earned the chance to take on top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Hermantown in a quarterfinal game.

Obviously, Randolph probably knows Cloquet-Esko-Carlton better than any other team on the schedule. “We know we always get their best game,” said Randolph, whose respect for Lumberjacks coach Dave Esse is long-standing.

But the Hounds have had the Lumberjacks number this season. East whipped Cloquet 5-0 early in the season, scoring in every period and outshooting the Jacks 44-24. Barely two weeks ago at the rematch in Cloquet, East prevailed again, 5-1, breaking from a scoreless game in the second period with goals by Jack FitzGerald, Worth, and FitzGerald again to take control 3-0.

Cloquet-Esko-Carlton got a goal back when Jedd Anich scored on a 2-on-1 rush midway through the third period, but instead of tightening up, the Greyhoiunds took off, as Worthj scored his second of the game on a power play and then set up Austin Jouppi for the final tally.

If Randolph is right, and the sight of the Greyhounds brings out the best from the Lumberjacks, it worked the other way this year, with the Hounds playing their best against their favorite rivals. The seeding worked out, after all, with the top four seeds in the semifinals, and East’s No. 2 seed isn’t a big edge on No. 3 Cloquet.

The 7A play-in game that preceded East’s 7AA quarterfinal got what you might call ugly. Denfeld struck first on a stunning end-to-end play, as defenseman Jake Herold fired a long pass to Payton Budisolovich at the far blue line. He carried up the right boards and fed to the slot to Ryan Lemker, who made a good move on goaltender Braxton Sathers and slid a backhander in at the right pipe.

After that, it became a penalty fest, although it stayed 1-0 until Kaleb Stevens got a 5-minute major for boarding and the Hunter power play connected. Filip Bjorstrand deflected in missile from the right point by Herold at 2:52, and Herold followed with another blast on a two-man power play at 5:44.

Before the second period ended, Denfeld had added a shorthanded goal by Jake Eskola, and a power-play rebound, with the 4-goal middle period making it 5-0. Dominick Klaas made it 6-0 before Proctor’s Caden Peterson scored a power-play goal with less than 2 minutes left.

For the game, Proctor had 12 minor penalties, one major-and-misconduct, and two later misconducts, while Denfeld amassed 9 minors, with one major-and-miscondiuct.

The reward of drawing once-beaten Hermantown in a Thursday quarterfinal didn’t bother Denfeld coach Kevin Smalley. “Everybody’s afraid to play Hermantown, but I’m not,” he said. “We were only behind 3-1 after two periods, and they had two power-play goals, so we know we can play with ‘em.”