State Tournament Summary
By Howard Voigt
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| The Hilltoppers, of The Marshall School in Duluth, took a commanding lead in the first period, added to it in the second period and held it in the third period to skate their way to a quarterfinal victory. In their second consecutive state tournament appearance, the Hilltoppers defeated The Blake Bears, 4-2, to advance to the semifinal round. Juniors Bob Gutsch and Matt Dodd and seniors Rob Bordson and Phil Nelson each netted a goal for the Hilltoppers. The Marshall School, Duluth will meet Little Falls on Friday in semifinal action. |
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State Tournament Box Score
By Howard Voigt
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Bears Fall to Marshall School
By Blake Staff
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2006 Varsity Boys’ Hockey Updates
State Class A Quarterfinal Contest @ Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, MN
Wednesday, March 8
The Blake School 0 1 1--2
Duluth Marshall 3 1 0--4
First: DM--Gutsch (Bordson, Mahoney), 8:57; DM--Bordson (Mahoney, Gutsch), 10:36; DM--Dodd (Nelson), 13:03.
Second: Bla--Louwerse (Holm), 11:13.; DM--Dodd (Nelson, Connolly), 16:05.
Third: Bla--Holm (Louwerse, Barnes), 15:46.
Saves: Blake School-Patterson-6-12-3—21; Duluth Marshall- Paul-11-7-6--24.
The Blake Bears took on the 26-1-1 Hilltoppers of Marshall School in Duluth in game number 2 of the 2006 Class A Boys’ Hockey tournament. This is the third trip since 2001 for the Hilltoppers who finished third in 2005. The Bears last made the trip to State in 1999.
Marshall School entered the tournament as the number 1-ranked team in the State and the Bears were unable to change that. The Hilltoppers light the lamp three times in the first period and the Bears were playing catch-up for the rest of the game.
Blake junior Mike Louwerse got the Bears on the board at 11:13 of the second period assisted by senior Owen Holm. Minutes later, it appeared that Blake had cut the deficit to one, but the goal was disallowed. The Hilltoppers netted a back-breaker with less than a minute let in the second period to regain control and momentum going into the second intermission.
The Bears came out flying in the third frame but a steady Marshall School defense kept the Bears at bay until 15:46 when Blake narrowed the margin to two when senior Owen Holm netted a second goal for The Blake School from Louwerse and Barnes.
With 2:20 left in the game Bear’s coach John Hamre pulled goalie Kent Patterson for a sixth attacker. The Hilltoppers rode out the man-advantage and move into the semifinals against Little Falls on Friday.
Tomorrow, the Blake Bears will travel to Mariucci Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota and take on the Mankato East/Loyola Cougars (15-12-1) at 10 am.
The Cougars earned their way to Saint Paul by defeating Mankato West 5-3, Austin 3-2 and Marshall 4-1
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