Duluth Area Wins ANG All-Stars Hockey Series

Wes Vork-NSO

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Mar 18

Wes Vork-NSO

DULUTH – The Duluth Area All-Stars won an overtime mini-game to take the 12th annual Minnesota Army National Guard All-Star hockey series two games to one over the Iron-Range All-Stars Wednesday evening at the Heritage Center in Duluth. Duluth Area leads the series over the Range All-Stars which included a sweep in last year’s event.

Mitch Kontny of Superior scored just 1:19 into the first period of the sudden death mini-game to give the Duluth Area All-Stars a two game to one victory in the series.

Duluth Area won the first game at Miners Memorial Building in Virginia on Tuesday night by a score of 6-4. Jack McFarlane set a single game record with six points coming off of two goals and four assists.

The series moved to the Heritage Sports Center in Duluth for the second game of the series. With just 19 seconds left in the first period, the Iron Range All-Stars won the faceoff and sent the puck to the right circle where Christopher Little one timed it past the Duluth Area goalie for a 1-0 lead after one period.

Duluth Area tied the score at 1 apiece when Mitch Kontny redirected a Chad Bannor slapshot from the point. Range All-Stars answered, however, when with a 5 on 3 advantage, Pat Moore’s shot from the left point found its way through a screen and into the net to put the range back up 2-1. A minute and a half later Ryan Johnson rifled a shot from near the same area past the goalie for a 3-1 Range lead after two periods of play.

John Skrbec put the Range team up 4-1 when he scored an unassisted shorthanded goal 1:13 into the third period. Adam Krause scored for the Duluth All-Stars at the 13:06 mark of the period but that was as close as Duluth Area would get.

Goalies Dom DeGuiseppo and Casey Myhre combined for 30 saves for the Range All-Stars. Bret Gitar and Derek Robinson exactly matched that 30 saves for the Duluth All-Stars.

With the series tied one game apiece, a mini game was used to decide the series winner. Kontny made short work of the mini-game by scoring his second goal on the night 1:19 into the sudden death period. Assisting on the goal were McFarlane and Kyle Lutzka. The point was McFarlane’s seventh, which netted him series MVP honors.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com