Brett Chorske (Edina) from the Section 6/AA team buries a goal to push the gray team ahead by three goals late in the first half Sunday. Section 6 defeated Section 8A/AA via 7-1 final to win the tournament championship.
Speed kills for Section 6 in championship run, Grays top Section 8 by 7-1 final
The Gray team Section 6A/AA won the races to the puck, and controlled it an overwhelming amount of time in final round Sunday to put the finishing touches on a championship run at the CCM High Performance 16 festival.
What began as a physical and hard-charging effort from both sides soon turned into one-way traffic on the smaller NHL ice sheet in Rink C before perhaps the best crowd of the weekend at Plymouth Ice Center Sunday night.
Gray capped it off with a 7-1 win over the Whites from Section 8, an offensive output that matched the sum of their goal total for the previous two days.
Four skaters from Edina finished with multiple points to help a team that was thriving on transition.
Michael Shoemaker, Cole Cavanagh, Brett Chorske each had a goal and an assist, while Mason Nevers scored in the final minute of the first half and finished with three points. All are sophomores, except for Cavanagh, who is a freshman.
When Section 8 was able to possess and move the puck (which it did well for stretches early on), the Grays proved fundamental and disciplined by shutting down passes lanes with stick work and routinely worked to take away space. The little things counted big as the effort congested a White team offense that had not had difficulty scoring prior to Sunday, and matched Section 6’s seven goals through the first two rounds.
In a tournament where goaltending was generally solid, especially in the earlier two rounds, White finished with eight goals, which was about on point with the eight-team tournament average.
Also scoring from a Lake Conference squad was Henry Sweeney (Hopkins), who had two for the tournament. Other skaters with two goals for the tournament from the Gray team were Chorske, Matt Gleason (Cretin Derham-Hall), and Jonah Jangula (Robbinsdale Armstrong-Cooper).
Section 8’s lone goal came on the power play with 13:12 left when Jacob Braccini (Buffalo) struck from the top right circle to tie the game for a brief time at 1-1. Assists on goal with the man advantage went to Nicholas Hastings (Brainerd) and Nathan Thelen (Rogers).
Braccini also finished with a pair of goals for the tournament, as did teammate Luc Laylin (St. Michael-Albertville), who scored twice during the second period of Friday’s win over Section 1.
Gray goaltender Noah Amundson (St. Cloud Cathedral) pitched the shutout in the second half, and Danny Fraga (Wayzata) stopped 11 of 12 shots he faced in the first. Fraga finished with a save percentage of .897 with four goals allowed on 39 shots, and Amundson allowed just one goal on 35 shots for a save percentage at a tournament-best .971.
Section 5A/AA goalie Brandon Benson (Blaine) stops a scoring chance during a scramble for the puck during the second half of Sunday's game. Section 5 (blue) tied Section 2A/AA 4-4 before a shootout decided third place.
Pinoniemi's shootout goal clinches third place for Section 2A/AA over Section 5A/AA
Garrett Pinoniemi (Delano) scored the team’s first goal and the last to lead Section 2A/AA to a shoot out victory over Section 5A/AA during the third place game Sunday afternoon at Plymouth Ice Center.
Section 2 (Orange) prevails 2-1 in the shootout following a 4-4 tie after regulation.
Pinoniemi patiently and confidently swooped in on Section 5 goaltender Brandon Benson (Blaine) and made five dribbles before launching a snap shot from his forehand that beat the blocker side to secure third place for Orange.
It was Section 5 (Sky Blue) that would strike first when Creighton McMahon (Spring Lake Park) scored the first of his two goals at 8:03 of the first half. After Pinoniemi leveled the score with five minutes to go before the half, Sky Blue would take the lead 36 seconds before the break with a goal by Tuli Eisenbeis (Minneapolis).
Sky Blue would reclaim its lead with two straight goals, coming from a pair of Maple Grove Crimson teammates Trevor Kukkonen (6:54) and Tyler Kostelecky (13:54) as momentum swung back and forth.
Less than a minute after Kostelecky’s score with 10:06 to go, Orange’s Andrew Kittelson (Holy Family Catholic) notched an unassisted goal that was followed quickly when Shane LaVelle buried a pass from Chaska teammate Will Magnuson that gave Orange a lead with 8:18 left.
Backs against the wall, Sky Blue evened things up with 1:18 left when McMahon scored his second goal of the day to push for overtime.
Following a scoreless extra session, Orange won the shootout 2-1 to seal the victory for third place.
In net for Orange, Ben Bullis (Chanhassen) stopped 13 of 16 shots, after Jon Howe (Minnetonka) made 12 saves on 13 shots in the first half.
For Sky Blue, Ethan Haider (Maple Grove) save 10 of 12 first half shots, followed by Benson’s 22 of 24 effort that followed.
Section 3A/AA Green forward Logan Kittleson (Burnsville) fights for the puck along the boards with Section 1 Red forward Joey Wiczek (Winona) during Sunday's game at Plymouth Ice Center. Photo by Drew Herron
Christy’s overtime goal lifts Section 3A/AA past Section 1A/AA to clinch consolation title
Rob Christy launched a wrist shot into the far side top shelf a minute into overtime to push Section 3A/AA past Section 1A/AA 4-3 and lock down the consolation title Sunday afternoon at Plymouth Ice Center.
Section 3 (green) raced out to a 2-0 lead after a pair of early goals. Kyle Heffron (Rosemount) got things going just 3:42 into the game with a quick close-range wrist shot, followed 10 minutes later by William Randall’s (Eagan) goal.
Section 1 (red) answered shortly after when Grant Silianoff (Shattuck) put his team on the board by converting on a breakaway attempt to break red’s silence.
After Nick Vega (St. Thomas Academy) scored for green 1:18 into second half to reclaim a two-goal lead at 3-1, Section 1 went to work. First, Tyler Rollwagen (Shattuck) scored midway through the period to pull red within one, then Silianoff netted his second of the game with 4:22 remaining to level the score. Joey Wiczek (Winona) assisted on both second-half goals, and finished with three on the day for Section 1.
In overtime, Christy made the most of an odd-man rush and buried the wrister over the reach of red goalie Ryan Flanders’ glove to end things.
Flanders (Austin) finished with 13 saves on 15 shots for red, after Caleb Mayer (Lakeville) stopped 16 of 18 in the first half.
At the other end, Will Tollefsen (Rosemount) made nine saves on 10 shots in the first half, and was followed in the second with Ethan Kapps (Apple Valley) making 10 saves on 12 shots.
Section 7A/AA Gold was all smiles Sunday morning when they hammered out eight goals in the first half. Here the team celebrates Brady Baker's (Hermantown) hat trick.
FAST START HOLDS UP AS SECTION 7A/AA TOPS SECTION 4A/AA 8-4 TO TAKE SEVENTH PLACE GAME
Section 7A/AA did not waste any time taking care of business Sunday morning when it scored five goals over the first five minutes en route to an 8-4 thrashing of Section 4A/AA in the seventh place game at Plymouth Ice Center.
It took just 17 seconds for the gold squad to get things going when Brady Baker (Hermantown) scored the first of his three goals on the half, and 40 seconds later he added his second as Section 7 raced out with command of the game early.
Gold quickly added to its lead with goals from Dalton Saltness (Forest Lake), Charlie Schoen IV (Andover) and Baker again in a span of five minutes as Section 7 rolled.
Over the final 10 minutes of the first half, Cade Moreland (Virginia), Nathan Coldagelli (Virginia) and Tristan Birdsall (Hibbing) added more goals as the gold squad kept its foot to the pedal.
After regrouping at halftime, Section 4 stopped the bleeding and cut the deficit in half over the next 24 minutes, but it would prove to be too steep a hill to climb.
Billy Rose (White Bear Lake) broke the drought and got blue on the board when he scored at 5:53 of the second period. It was followed by goals from Adam King (Roseville), Colin Hagstrom (Mahtomedi) and Bradley Mauder (Woodbury) as Section 4 did its best to make a game of it.
In net for the blue squad, Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi) stopped all 12 shots he faced in the second half after Wyatt Vint (Hill-Murray) labored through the first, stopping 19 of 27 shots.
At the other end, Ben Fritsinger (Andover) shut things down in the first half with 12 saves before stepping aside in the second to Cole Manahan (Hermantown), who made saves on 13 of the 17 shots he faced.