Four Local Hockey Players Lead Mn Senior All-Stars

Apr 23, 2012

Kerry Rodd-NSO

The Minnesota Senior All-Stars Hockey Tournament was held late last week and over the weekend with a strong showing by Team Minnesota. Team Minnesota was coached by four coaches including Bruce Plante of the Hermantown Hawks and featured three of his own high school players and one player from Cloquet-Esko-Carlton.

Players for Hermantown on the squad were; Jared Kolquist, Jared Thomas and Brian LeBlanc. John Scheuer of Cloquet was also on the team.

The team opened up with a preliminary round win over North Dakota by a 7-4 score with Thomas pumping in three goals and an assist, Kolquist added an assist and Scheuer made 15 saves on 16 shots on goal to get the win.

In tournament play Team Minnesota opened with a 3-2 win over Wisconsin as Thomas scored a goal, Leblanc added an assist and Scheuer made 14 saves on 15 shots to get the win in goal while playing the second half of the game. All games were played with two halves instead of the standard three periods.

In the second round Team Minnesota dropped a 5-2 decision to Michigan with Leblanc getting a goal and Scheuer making 17 saves on 18 shots on the second half.

Team Minnesota then lost 5-4 to North Dakota in the final game of the tournament, with Scheuer making 11 saves on 15 shots in the second half.

Jake Zeleznikar, also of Hermantown, played in the U18 Hockey Tournament where the team from Minnesota went 2-1 and lost to Michigan in the finals 6-4. In the first game of the tournament, Zeleznikar an offensive minded defenseman tallied an assist in a 3-2 victory over North Dakota.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kery@northlandsportsonline.com