Hermantown Boys Tie Hibbing-Chisholm

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Feb 20

Kerry Rodd-NSO

The Hermantown boys hockey team is not accustomed to losing, nor are they accustomed to stumbling late in the regular season, but with two losses and a tie in their last four games the Hawks have struggled towards the end of the regular season and will look to change their fortunes in the playoffs.

On Friday the Hawks wrapped up their regular season with a 2-2 tie with Hibbing/Chisholm at the Hibbing Memorial Arena.

The Blue Jackets nabbed a 1-0 lead at 5:31 of the first period when Mike Pechnovik scored on assists by Adam Johnson and Nick DeCenzo. Hermantown bounced back with a goal by Jared Thomas at 8:01 with the assist going to Jared Kolquist and the first period ended even at 1-1.

Hermantown gained the lead at 2-1 at the 3:01 mark of the second period with Thomas picking up his second goal of the game and after two periods the Hawks were up by a goal and held a 27-14 edge in shots on goal.

Hibbing/Chisholm tied the game in a wild third period at 13:01 when Josh Bestul scored an even strength goal and that would be the final goal of the game.

Neither team scored in overtime, but both teams did manage three shots on goal in the extra session.

For the game the Hawks outshot the Blue Jackets 37-27.

Hermantown earned the #1 seed in the upcoming Section 5a playoffs and with it a first round bye. The Hawks will begin tournament play on Feb 24 when they host the Mora-Hinckley-Finlayson vs. Sauk Rapids winner with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:00pm

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com