Hawks Advance To Section Finals

Wes Vork-NSO

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Feb 27

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – The ability to control emotions in sports is a huge asset. On Saturday afternoon the Hermantown Hawks showed a lot of self control on their way to a 6-0 victory over the Rogers Royals in Cloquet in the Section 5 Class A semifinals.

After taking a 6-0 lead and putting the game into running time in the third period, the Hawks had to withstand a slew of penalties by the Royals. One of these penalties was an unsportsmanlike conduct call at the end of the game as a trio of Rogers players ran Hermantown goalie Tyler Ampe.

“I am really proud of our kids and how they handled things at the end of the game,” commented Bruce Plante head coach of the Hawks. “They kept their poise and that says a lot about them.”

Hermantown struck for a pair of power play goals in the first period to gain a 2-0 lead. Connor Hady gave Hermantown the only goal they would need at 4:48 of the first with Garrett Skrbich and Chad Bannor picking up the assists. At 8:37, it was Skrbich picking up a goal from the side of the net on a rebound off assists from Jared Thomas and Jared Kolquist.

Thomas made it 3-0 at 6:28 of the second period with Kolquist assisting on an even strength goal and then less than a minute later it was a goal by Kevin Danielson that pushed the lead to 4-0. Before the second period ended, the Hawks went up 5-0 as Brett Ludwig hammered in a goal with Cody Christopherson and Jeff Paczynski adding assists.

The entire game was marred by a ton of penalties, but the third period was a constant parade to the sin bin by the Royals. Of 10 penalties in the period, the Royals picked up 7. Included in the debacle were slashes, contact to the head, cross checks and hits from behind. In other words, the Royals appeared more willing to hurt the Hawks than to play hockey. The final mess occurred after the Hawks had scored the sixth goal of the game to put the affair into running time. With 1:32 remaining, a trio of Royals took aim at Hawks goalie Tyler Ampe and proceeded to steam roll him into the cage. Obviously, the Hawks took exception and the parade to the box amplified. Fortunately for the Hawks, Ampe appeared to be okay following the game.

“Our goaltending was excellent and they had a number of chances, especially in the first period,” explained Plante. “Our best penalty killer is our goalie.”

Ampe finished with 29 saves to get the shut out and Royals goaltender Austin Eakman finished with 32 saves on 38 shots.

In a rematch of an earlier regular season game, which the Hawks won in overtime, Hermantown will
face off against Dulut
Denfeld
Friday night in the Section 5A championship game at 7pm at the Cloquet Area Recreation Center.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com