There is nothing like state tourney time. The atmosphere during the playoffs and state tournaments during the winter season is just fun. Topping the list? Most likely the high school boys hockey tourney. It's one of the best ones around.
Every year it seems I get the hockey tourney fever worse than before. It makes me want to do nothing but watch hockey from the Wednesday quarterfinals to the end of championship Saturday; in person is best. My brother and I went to the Class 1A championship game a couple years ago between St. Thomas Academy and Hermantown.
This year, I made it down to watch the same game, except it was No. 2-seed Hermantown versus No. 1-seed East Grand Forks March 8 at the Xcel Energy Center. St. Thomas, a dominant hockey squad which has since moved up to Class 2A, failed to make the tourney. This was the fifth year in a row that Hermantown made the state finals - and this time there was no private school standing in its way.
Hawks a favorite to win it all
Like many others, I was picking Hermantown as the team to beat. But what I didn't realize is that the Hawks actually had kind of a rebuilding year. Only six players on this year's team played in the state tourney last season. Coach Bruce Plante said it perfectly after the game, saying that people were picking his team because of the hockey tradition in the northern Minnesota town, rather than the talent and experience of this year's players.
What I hoped would be a great game between the two schools wasn't exactly what I expected. The East Grand Forks Green Wave beat the Hawks 7-3 after scoring five unanswered goals in the second period. It was a game that was pretty well over by the time the second intermission arrived.
The Hawks had their chances in the first period. After a bit of a choppy start, they basically had three power plays right in a row, and even some 5-on-3 time. It took them a little while to get something going. They didn't register a power-play shot until the second opportunity with the man advantage.
Credit goes to East Grand Forks for not allowing the Hawks to get on the scoreboard during those power plays.
"I thought we won that game in the first period," said EGF Head Coach Tyler Palmiscno. "To kill off those penalties..."
Momentum quickly shifts, floodgates open for Wave
Hermantown seemed to have the momentum going into the locker room though. The puck trickled in behind the Green Wave goalie with just 32.4 ticks remaining in the first to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. I hoped for more of the same in the second, or at least a pretty close contest.
It only took a couple minutes into the second for East Grand Forks to tie the game, as one of its players split the defensemen to score. The Green Wave took the lead about a minute later, after a big hit in the neutral zone on one of the Hawks, and didn't look back.
A couple minutes after that it was a 3-1 lead on a power-play goal, as a big pile of Hawks were in the crease trying desperately to get the rebound out of there. Just like at a wave pool or the ocean, the Green Wave kept coming. It scored two more times, with 2:34 and 31.6 seconds left in the period, to take a commanding 5-1 lead, making the third period a formality.
I was having a hard time figuring out if the Green Wave offense was just that much better, or if the Hawks goalie was having an off game. It seemed to me that some of those goals could have, and should have, been stopped. But then again, I've never been in between the pipes before.
Green Wave domination
In what was probably a necessary move, Hermantown changed goalies to start the third. If it was to spark some life into the Hawks, it didn't seem to work out that well. They made it 5-2, giving some hope that another quick goal could have turned the game around. But East Grand Forks pumped in another two to ice the first championship in school history. The Hawks scored a power-play goal with about four minutes left in a too little, too late fashion.
The final shot advantage went to East Grand Forks at 29-25. The Green Wave took part in the typical championship celebration on the ice after the final second ticked away.
"I thought today we came out with our best," Palmiscno said. "It still hasn't really sunk in. Nobody can ever take this away from us."
More heartbreak for the Hawks
For Hermantown, it was another championship that got away. The scene on their side of the ice during the awards ceremony looked like a funeral. You could tell that they were a dejected team. Coming in second would be a great accomplishment for some schools, but for the Hawks, second place year after year is tough to take.
"If it didn't hurt so much, I'd laugh," Plante said. "Our kids played hard. We ran into a better team."
He did say it feels better losing to East Grand Forks than to anybody else, a shot at some of its past private-school opponents, no doubt.
During the news conference, Plante was asked if he'd be back to coach next year. He didn't give a firm answer, saying it's to be decided after some thought. This yearly routine becomes a "big sack of rocks on your back after awhile," he said.
I hope he doesn't decide to hang it up just yet.
The tourney is always fun, and it was great to be there for a game. My goal is still to be there for the entire tournament some time, or a least stay for an entire semi-final session. This is the tournament that makes Minnesota the State of Hockey.
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