Hawks Back In Championship Game

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Mar 11

Wes Vork-NSO

ST. Paul – The stage at the Minnesota State High School League was set for a thrilling game on Friday afternoon when Hermantown and Hibbing/Chisholm met for a chance to go to the finals. Even after Andrew Mattson scored late in the third period to give the Hawks a lead the game was still in doubt, but a spectacular play by Jared Kolquist with his team a man short helped Hermantown to a 6-4 win.

The win propels Hermantown into the finals for a second straight year. “It’s a great feeling, we didn’t have many players returning but our goal at the beginning of the season was to be right back in this game again.” Senior Captain Garrett Skrbich, one of four returnees commented after the game.

Nick DeCenzo gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead in the first period as the game started somewhat slowly, but nobody could have envisioned the wild and crazy finish that would ensue.

The game started to reach a fever pitch in the second period when the Hawks rallied for four straight goals to build a 4-1 lead. At :41 seconds it was Garrett Skrbich from Andrew Mattson and that tied the game. Then at 3:04 it was Jesse Dyson from Joe Hicks and that was followed by another Skrbich goal and an impressive goal by Travis Koepke on a wheel around shot that sailed into the H/C net for a three-goal Hawks lead.

Things got incredibly nuts when the Blue Jackets reeled off back-to-back goals with under a minute to play in the second period by Adam Johnson at 16:05 on the power play and then at 16:29 at even strength to cut the lead to 4-3 and sending the H/C fans and team into the third period in a frenzy.

“It all started when they got the power play goal, they got another one and then you are in a fight. The Hermantown-Hibbing games are always like this, it’s pretty commonplace for us to end up battling like this.” Hermantown Head Coach Bruce Plante mentioned

Hibbing-Chisholm continued their feeding frenzy early in the third period. The Blue Jackets had the Hawks on their heels and then Hermantown took a cross checking penalty which put H/C on the power play. Johnson converted a chance on a cross-ice pass from DeCenzo and that put the teams even at 4-4 just 2:34 into the period.

“That kid should be playing at UMD right now, boy is he good”, Coach Plante commented. He’s an unbelievable player; if you let him loose, he will eat you up every time.”

After the pure hat trick by Johnson the game went beyond fever pitch into a whole new stratosphere. Both teams put on pressure, and both teams had chance but were unable to score, until Mattson collected a rebound off a shot from Skrbich and buried the puck at 10:50 giving Hermantown the lead back at 5-4.

With just 1:30 remaining in regulation the Hawks took a penalty as Skrbich went to the box for interference and that turned an already wild, crazy game up a few more levels. The Blue Jackets put the pressure on Connor Lucas and a couple of times had shots go off the back, or side of the net.

That all ended when Kolquist gloved a puck in mid-air, dropped it to the ice and slid it towards the empty net with the H/C goaltender already having been pulled for an extra attacker. Kolquist’s shot resembled a curling shot that was carrying just enough weight to hit the button, but in hot pursuit was Johnson of the Blue Jackets trying to rein it in before it crossed the goal line.

Unfortunately for Hibbing/Chisholm the puck had just enough momentum to slide into the net with :50 seconds remaining giving the Hawks a 6-4 lead and a chance in the state title game on Saturday. Following the game Kolquist talked about his shot that iced the game. “I was just trying to get the puck out (of the zone), but I did see the net and wanted to make it somewhat close. I just wanted to get the puck out so they wouldn’t get a scoring chance.”

Skrbich, who was in the penalty box at the time had a perfect view of the slow motion shot. “My first thought was come on get into the net, come on, you can get there. Then I saw Johnson chasing it and hoping he didn’t have enough energy left to catch it.” Adding, “As soon as it went in I had to give the guy
running the penalty box a hug.”

As an added bonus for Skrbich, his first goal broke the Hermantown single season scoring record, a record that Skrbich didn’t realize he was close to until a teammate pointed it out on the bus ride down. “It’s really a huge honor, there have been some unbelievable players come out of Hermantown, in just the past few years we have had some great players come out. It’s a huge honor to have my name up there with them.” Skrbich went on to explain Getting goals 40 and 41 is icing on the cake, I wasn’t thinking about that, I was just trying to help my team get back to the championship game. It’s a great feeling.”

Hermantown will play the winner of the Thief River Falls vs. St. Thomas Academy game at noon on Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com