Hawks Finish Second In State

Wes Vork-NSO

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Mar 13

Kerry Rodd-NSO

T. PAUL – The magic for the Hermantown Hawks ended with 1:40 remaining in regulation of the Class A State Championship game on Saturday. The Breck School scored when Hermantown attempted to clear a puck away from the side of their net. The puck bounced off the body of Mustang player Mike Morin and found its way into the net for a 2-1 lead which stood up the rest of the way.
The goal went under review as it appeared the puck may have glanced in off of Morin’s shin pad.
However, the play was allowed to stand, giving Breck their second straight state title. Officials ruled that Morin did not try and redirect the path of the puck, thus allowing the goal.

“I don’t think we did anything wrong on the play,” said Hawks coach Bruce Plante after the game. “We separated the player from the puck, the kid was skating by and it hit him and went in. It was just one of those fluky things.”

In the semi finals, the Hawks had a call go their way when officials reviewed an apparent game-winning goal by Mahtomedi in a game that Hermantown eventually won.

Hermantown started strong in the first period by scoring the only goal at 10:17 on a power play by Chad Bannor with Willis Kantonen and Jared Thomas picking up the assists and the Hawks held a 1-0 first period lead.

“We created some opportunities,” said Bannor after the game. “We played hard and kicked the can a little bit; we definitely made some ruckus down here.”

Breck evened things at 7:53 of the second period when Riley Borer scored his third goal of the state tournament on assists by Morin and Tyler Fulton. After two periods it was tied 2-2, but the Hawks held a 19-13 shot edge and they had more scoring chances on Breck goalie John Russell.

The final score came when Morin broke into the zone and made a move on a defender. As Jeff Paczynski came over to swipe the puck to the corner, it hit Morin and slid into the far side giving Breck the lead.

“I felt the puck hit my shin pad, I was watching it and it hit the back of the net,” remarked Morin after the game. “I am thinking ‘oh man these guys are pressuring us’ and this guy [Russell] is standing on his head and then the puck hits my shin pad. Wow!”

Ironically, the Hawks had a goal disallowed in the third period earlier when officials blew the play dead despite the puck not being covered by the goaltender.

“The official said the goalie had the puck in his pads and by the time he got the whistle to his mouth, it came loose,” commented Plante.

For the game, the Hawks outshot the Mustangs 31-20 with Tyler Ampe making 18 saves for Hermantown and Russell finishing with 30 saves for Breck.

“We had our chances and like coach said the hockey Gods weren’t with us,” mentioned Adam Krause of Hermantown. “Everyone did their part and everyone left their hearts out there.”

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com