Hermantown Begins Playoffs With 11 Goal Outburst

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Feb 23, 2012

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Thursday night’s Section 5A boys hockey quarterfinal game between Hermantown and Moose Lake Area brought with it some questions. Many of those questions were answered loud and clear in the Hawks 11-1 victory over the Rebels.

All season long the Rebels ran up huge scoring numbers, but many people questioned whether their schedule would hurt them come playoff time when they faced the likes of the Hawks. That question was answered by a 71-13 shot advantage for Hermantown, which spent the night swarming Rebel goalie Gage Mohelsky, who actually had a great night, Even though Mohelsky gave up 11 goals, he turned in a 60 save performance.

Another question was if Hermantown would get complacent come playoff time? Obviously a 71 shot effort and an 11 goal outburst prove they were more than ready to show they want to defend their sectional championship and continue their currently undefeated-untied season.

The Hawks also answered the question as to if it would take a wakeup call by the high-scoring line of MLA to get them up and running and ready to play. That was quickly answered when Andrew Mattson scored just 1:03 into the first period. In fact, the Hawks pumped home three more goals in the period to take a 4-0 lead after the opening stanza. Travis Koepke scored at 9:36, then at 11:46 it was Brian LeBlanc and finally it was Grant Sega adding a goal at 11:18 to end the first period outburst.

Hermantown then pounced on the Rebels with five straight goals in the second period to gain a 9-0 lead before the state’s leading scorer Josh Cisar finally broke the ice to make it 9-1 after the second period. Jared Kolquist opened the second with a power play goal at 1:31, then at 3:47 it was Kori Ochs scoring and that was followed by another goal at 5:47 from Bo Gronseth, another power play goal from Owen Stauber at 7:18 and finally another LeBlanc goal at 9;18.

Ochs and Gronseth added third period goals to propel the Hawks to the victory and a chance to now move on to the semi finals.

The Hawks will be home for the semi-final round on Saturday and will face Proctor. The Rails won in dramatic fashion on the road against Sauk Rapids-Rice on a short-handed overtime goal for a 6-5 win.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com