Bar-down. Tic-tac-toe. Spin-o-rama. Highway robbery. From youth to high school, college to professional, and of course the Olympics, Minnesotans are making 2021-22 a memorable year with their sick skills.
Here’s a collection of 20 plays of the year for your viewing pleasure.
To kick off our highlights, let's take a look at a few from 2022 Minnesota State High School Boys Hockey Tournament as it had no shortage of top plays. In the Class AA quarterfinals, Prior Lake’s Alex Bump scored a fistful and eventual State Champion Andover won a nail biter against Moorhead when Cayden Casey intercepted a mid-air neutral zone pass and fed Gavyn Thoreson for the double-overtime winning backhand deflection. Watch below.
#1 - Prior Lake's Alex Bump scores FIVE goals (and an assist) in the Lakers first-ever State Tournament game.@PLboyshockey | @PLLakers | #TourneysOn45#SCTop10 @SportsCenter @Buccigross
— Chris Long (@ChrisLongKSTP) March 11, 2022
**Semifinals Friday on @kstc45, stream at https://t.co/BElG6eu6EW**
(4/4) pic.twitter.com/bezlBBqPJx
Warroad’s Jayson Shaugabay serves Daimon Gardner a five-star saucer pass, and the Mr. Hockey finalist one-times it into the back of the net during the Class A state tourney semifinals. Watch
Delano’s Ben Meyers buries one for the Americans en route to Team USA’s first Olympic victory against Canada in 12 years. Watch
Blaine’s Riley Tufte tallies first NHL goal against his hometown Wild. Watch
Plymouth’s Dani Cameranesi ties the game against Canada in the preliminary round, her second goal of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Watch
Northfield’s Andy Carroll enters the zone with speed, catches a pass, and sends it into the top shelf where mom keeps the cookies. Watch
Centennial’s Gabbie Hughes gets it done on and off the ice. Patty Kazmaier and Hockey Humanitarian Award finalist is an elite player and person. Watch
Apple Valley’s Zach Driscoll makes sprawling overtime saves to help North Dakota clinch NCHC Penrose Cup. Watch
Cloquet’s Taylor Nelson delivers the game-tying backhand spin-o-rama against the top-ranked Gophers. Watch
Grand Rapids’ Blake McLaughlin goes five-hole after a filthy toe-drag around the defenseman. Watch
Overtime goal sends Marshall girls’ 12U B hockey to the State Tournament for the first time. Watch
WCHA Player of the Year Taylor Heise or Red Wing busts out the backhand toe-drag to navigate around a defender, then roofs it past the goalie in tight. Watch
Woodbury’s Jake Guentzel blows through Carolina’s defense, feeds Sidney Crosby with a perfect pass. Watch
Roseau’s Aaron Huglen comes oh-so close with the between-the-legs backhand, but he stays with it and smartly banks it off the goaltender into the back of the net. Watch
The relentless Kelsey King from Elk River forechecks hard, strips the puck from a Badgers defender, curls to the net and buries a backhander into the top shelf. Watch
Returning from a cancer diagnosis just months earlier, Cohasset’s Zach Stejskal makes a huge impact to help UMD take down Denver. Watch
Buzzer Beaver: Blaine’s Paige Beebe earns the No. 1 play on SportsCenter’s Top 10 with game-winning empty-net stunner against top-ranked Ohio State. Watch
Thunderstruck: North St. Paul’s Allie Thunstrom, the Premier Hockey Federation’s leading goal-scorer, buries a tic-tac-toe play. Eden Prairie’s Meaghan Pezon with the secondary assist. Watch below.
Minnetonka’s K’Andre Miller with an end-to-end beauty against the Florida Panthers. Watch below.
Allie Thunstrom from Lexie Laing and Meaghan Pezon. She just keeps scoring. Gorgeous passing from both Pezon and Laing to set up Thunstrom. Not much Chuli can do here. pic.twitter.com/U0sqH8AK0r
— Mike Murphy (@DigDeepBSB) February 12, 2022
K'Andre Miller goes end-to-end. What a goal. pic.twitter.com/Fff5jLR3nD
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) November 9, 2021