skip navigation

Section 2A/AA Claims 2015 Ted Brill Championship

By Minnesota Hockey, 03/29/15, 6:00PM CDT

Share

In a clash of some of the best high school players in the state, naturally, matters came down to the third period.

As Section 8, sporting Kelly Green, vied for its second-straight Ted Brill Great 8 Championship, Section 2, donning white, played spoiler with a 4-3 win. The game-winner belonged to Derek Annett of Chaska, who scored with 4:19 left in a third period that had already seen Section 2 gain the lead only to have Section 8 even things back up.

Prior to the third, in what was already a back-and-forth affair, the message in the locker room was simple: go out and compete.

"You know what to do, you've played enough hockey. Every chance you get, win a battle. Every chance you get, work harder than the guy you're up next to. And just be smart with the puck," Section 2 coach Garrit Van Burgen of Delano said of the second intermission message. "These guys are good enough, they've played enough hockey. It was really fun to be a part of and they really, really came together as a group and wanted to win for each other. There were guys on different teams out there taking pictures together with the trophy."

Before they were able to lift that trophy, Orono’s Joseph Luedtke opened the third period by tallying a power play goal on Bemidji’s Grant Tharaldson 3:30 into the frame for a 3-2 Section 2 lead. About two and half minutes later, the game was tied once again as Section 8 capitalized on its own man advantage. Moorhead’s Jacob Odegard fired home a shot from the slot on netminder Alex Geyen of Shakopee for his second tally of the game, knotting things up 3-3.

Much like the third, it was a back-and-forth game all evening. Section 8 opened the scoring as Braden Altena out of St. Cloud Tech, put Section 8 on the board just 2:16 into the game, beating Section 2 netminder Jonathon Flakne of Orono.

A few minutes later, Section 2, in white, caught a break, earning the games first power play. Though they didn’t score on the man advantage, it did swing momentum in its favor. After the power play expired, Section 2 sustained pressure throughout the remainder of the frame – and it paid off. With 2:17 left in the first, Kyle Wendorf of Bloomington Jefferson evened things up, beating Section 8 goalie Jacob Dittmer from Moorhead.

With the score tied, 1-1, at the start of the second, both teams came out of the gate flying. But, once again, it was Section 8 who struck first. Working on the power play, Odegard sent home a tally, beating Flakne blocker side.

Not to be outdone, Section 2 evened things up once again with 24.9 seconds left in the second frame. Patrick Gazich out of Academy of Holy Angels sniped a power play goal top shelf on Tharaldson.

In the end though, it was the team that had grown the closest in just a short amount of time that ended up claiming the Ted Brill Cup.

"It's a lot of fun," Van Burgen said. "You just spend a total of what, eight hours together and they're in there hooting and hollering, slapping each other on the back. It's fun. It's always fun to win, but this group worked hard. I was impressed by how much they worked for each other even though they didn't know each other. They were willing to block shots. They were willing to make plays that made their linemate or defensive partner look better. It was fun to be a part of."

Most Popular