Boys Hockey Class A Quarterfinal --- Little Falls 2 Delano 1

Little Falls, which hasn’t played in the Minnesota State High School League’s boys hockey tournament since 2012, extended its stay this season with a 2-1 victory over Delano in the final Class A quarterfinal on Tuesday, March 30 at the Xcel Energy Center.

Junior defenseman George Moore snapped a 1-all tie on a nifty wrister from just inside the blueline with 9:56 left in regulation time to lift the No. 4-seeded Flyers (14-4-1) into the semifinals on Friday against unseeded Dodge County. Moore’s shot was initially slowed by Delano junior goalie Tommy Huotari, but it had enough momentum to trickle past him and into the goal.

Earlier, senior defenseman Joe Majerle opened the scoring for Little Falls on a power-play goal at the 9-minute mark of the first period. Late into the second period, however, sophomore forward Will Brown lifted Delano (14-7-1) into a 1-all tie with 2:22 remaining in the second period on a nifty wrist shot that sailed over the left shoulder of Little Falls senior goalie Dane Couture. Through two periods of play Couture had made 21 saves. He finished with 33.

Delano played the final 40.1 seconds of regulation with an empty net, but couldn’t find the equalizer.