Hermantown Stays Undefeated With 3-2 Come From Behind Victory

Dec 7, 2012

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Hermantown spotted Hopkins an early two-goal lead in the first period and then bounced back to yank a victory away from the Royals on Friday night in boys hockey. The Hawks downed the visiting Royals 3-2 while outshooting Hopkins 54-20 in the process.

The Royals put a scare into the hometown Hawks by scoring back-to-back first period goals at 5:02 and 6:51. Collin Sween scored the first goal for Hopkins on an assist from Anthony DeGuido. Then it was a power play goal for Hopkins when Josh Lavan scored from Ryan Kimbrel and the Hawks were facing an uphill battle.

Hermantown answered with two goals of their own in the remaining minutes of the first period with both being scored by defenseman. The Hawks first tally was by Neal Pionk at 9:18 and then it was Jake Zeleznikar hammering home a goal at 11:40 to end the first period at 2-2.

The only goal the remainder of the game was scored at 10:55 of the second period and it proved to be the game winner for Hermantown’s Chris Wasbotten with Grant Sega on the assist.

Josh Kuehmichel was busy in the net for the Royals and ended the night with 51 saves on 54 shots, while Hawks goalie Adam Smith made 18 saves on 20 shots to pick up the win.

The win improved the Hawks record to 3-0 on the season. The Hawks will have a quick turnaround when they travel to the Northwest corner of the state to take on Thief River Falls at 3:00pm on Saturday.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com