Minnesota HP-18: 5, North Dakota: 3
Minnesota HP-18 jumped out to an early lead when Grand Rapids’ Micah Miller flipped one over the shoulder of North Dakota’s Jordan Elliot less than two minutes into the game. Roseau’s Bryden Stoskopf tallied another for Minnesota HP-18 at 9:17 to make it a 2-0 game. North Dakota’s Grant Johnson slipped one past the line with little more than one minute left in the first period however to bring it back within one.

Miller opened up the second period with another goal at almost the exact same time as his first period goal to bring Minnesota HP-18’s lead back to two. But North Dakota applied the pressure, controlling the majority of the period including some excellent opportunities down low that were turned away by Minnesota HP-18 and Minnetonka goalie Matthew Muller, and later by Waconia netminder Trevor Rowe who split time in the net with Muller. North Dakota managed to get on the board twice in the second half of the period with Braden Costello potting one and Johnson adding his second of the afternoon to knot the game at three.

The third was a back-and-forth battle between the squads until 8:49 when Hermantown’s Jesse Jacques walked it in to make it 4-3 in favor of Minnesota. Delano’s Ben Meyers added the insurance goal with four minutes remaining and Minnesota HP-18 took home the win in the weekend’s opening game.

Minnesota Seniors: 4, Michigan HP-18: 0
It was Minnesota Seniors’ game from start to finish, but credit should be given to Michigan HP-18’s netminder, Brett Miller, who played the entire 54 minutes and was peppered with 44 shots in three periods.

The scoring for Minnesota opened mid—way through the first when Anoka’s Michale Talbot capitalized on the power play for the 1-0 lead. Five minutes later Burnsville’s Cade Borchardt took a centering pass from Blaze teammate Nolan Sawchuk to make it 2-0.

The second period was a scoreless battle, with both teams getting gritty. Michigan HP-18 looked to have the advantage heading in to the third with two late period penalties from Minnesota. Starting the third short-handed, Minnesota won the opening faceoff and made a quick rush down the ice. With just 30 seconds ticked off the clock, Borchardt notched his second of the night with a 3-on-5 shorthanded goal to make it 3-0. Crookston’s Doug Larson added one more for good measure toward the end of the period as Minnesota sealed it, 4-0.

Wisconsin Seniors: 10, Massachusetts: 1
The Wisconsin Seniors team never let their foot off the gas pedal in the third game of the night. Alex Nagel scored twice and added an assist en route to a 10-1 win over the team from out East. Also tallying Gs for the Wisconsin Seniors were: Jacob Thousand, Dylan Ross, Brady Beekman, Sam Storlie, Trenton Bliss, Sean Driscoll, Blake Ripley and Davis Bunz. Owen Brewster scored the lone goal for Massachusetts.   

Michigan Seniors: 4, Wisconsin HP-18: 2
A physical game leading to plenty of penalties also resulted in plenty of power play and short handed goals. A late first period slashing penalty put Wisconsin HP-18 down a man, but ahead a goal when Grant Reichenbacher shelved one for the 1-0 lead. A Wisconsin holding penalty midway through the second put Michigan on the man advantage again, this time Ian Melrose capitalized to tie the game at 1-1. A late-period bench penalty for too many men on the ice put Michigan on the penalty kill, but Melrose again took control of the puck and fired it to the back of the net to make it 2-1 after two. Michigan’s Logan Jenuwine tallied another powerplay goal to make it 3-1 Michigan, and Nicholas Macari added another one minute later. Wisconsin’s James Furey added another goal at 9:19 in the third but it wasn’t enough as Michigan held on for the 4-2 win.