Hawks Go Unbeaten in TRF Holiday Classic Tournament

Jan 2

Wes Vork-NSO

The Hermantown Hawks returned from the 2010 Boys Holiday Hockey Classic tournament in Thief River Falls, which was played on Dec 28-20. And despite playing the best teams Northern Minnesota had to offer, the Hawks went 2-0-1 and left town yet unbeaten on the 2010-2011 season.

First up for Hermantown was the Crookston Pirates, who the Hawks handled with ease. The Hawks jumped out to a 3-1 first period lead and added four goal in the second period to put the game away. The Hawks blanked Crookston in the third period while scoring two additional goals for the 9-4 win.

Andrew Mattson led the efforts with a hat trick and an assist. Jared Thomas added two goals and three assists for a gaudy five point night. Jake Zeleznikar added three assists while Connor Lucas stopped 8 of 12 shots for the victory.

The second game brought a much stiffer test for the Hawks in the form of the host Thief River Falls Prowlers. Although TRF came into the game with a 5-4 record, they play in the tough Mariucci conference, which is virtually a who’s who of high school hockey. Although the Hawks outshot TRF 11-4, they were unable to get a shot past Prowlers goaltender John Narverud in a scoreless first period.

Prowlers leading scorer Micah Ranum got TRF on the scoreboard first, scoring the only goal of the second period at the 7:44 mark. Brady Meunier added a goal in the third period to put the Hawks on their heels with less than 12 minutes left in the game. Juniors Jared Thomas and Andrew Mattson responded for the Hawks, scoring two goals in the final three minutes to salvage a tie for Hermantown. Thomas’s goal came at 14:05 with Mattson assisting. Then at 15:53 Thomas returned the favor, assisting on Mattson’s goal. Connor Lucas made 15 saves on 17 shots in the game.

Playing in Thursday’s finale, Hermantown responded well from the tie game the day before to beat a tough East Grand Forks team by a score of 4-3. Goals by Jared Thomas and Garrett Skrbich were answered by Green Wave goals from Alex Robertson and Andrew Gregoire to finish the first period tied at two.

After a scoreless second period, Zack Lawdermilt scored a power play goal just 12 seconds into the third period to give EGF a 3-2 lead. That lead would be short lived however when Skrbich scored his second goal of the game for the Hawks to tie the game at three all. With only one tick left on the clock, Jared Kolquist scored for Hermantown to give the Hawks the 4-3 victory. Assisting on the goal were Skrbich and Thomas.

The Hawks will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Rival Duluth Marshall at the Hermantown Arena.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com