Hawks Remain Perfect With 6-0 Win

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Dec 21

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Hermantown blew open a tight game with a strong third period and the Hawks went on to beat Virginia-MIB 5-2 in boys hockey on Tuesday night.

Jake Zeleznikar gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the first period unassisted goal at 7:54 and that’s how things stood after the opening stanza.

Billy Grillo pushed the Hawks lead to 2-0 at 8:28 of the second period with assists to Chris Benson and Owen Stauber, but the Blue Devils cut the gap to 2-1 on a goal at 13:41 by Garrett Hendrickson.

At 3:50 of the third period Owen Stauber gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead and then Andrew Mattson and Bo Gronseth scored back-to-back tallies at 7:14 and 10:46 to make it 5-1 for Hermantown. Tom Norlander tried to get the Blue Devils back into the game with a goal at 15:04, but that would be all Virginia-MIB could muster the rest of the way.

Hermantown put 40 shots on Blue Devils goalie Andy Milbridge, while Hawks netminder Connor Lucas faced 26 shots and made 24 saves.

With the win the Hawks remain perfect on the season with a 6-0 record. They are averaging 6.33 goals per game while giving up only an average of 1.83 gpg. Hermantown will be back in action on Thursday when they take on the combined Denfeld-Central programs new-look Trojans at the Heritage Center.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com