Prep athletes of the week: Lakeville North junior heats up in hockey sections

After a season spent largely eschewing personal glory in favor of her team, the junior center got a chance to enjoy the spotlight in the first two rounds of the Class 2A, Section 1 playoffs.

She scored a career-high four goals and had two assists in a 13-2 thumping of Rochester Century, then added three assists and an empty-net goal in a 5-2 win over Dodge County. After the first week of section playoffs, Antonakis leads the state in scoring with five goals and 10 points; she scored eight goals in the regular season.

"That felt good," Antonakis said of her four-goal night. "We just kept popping them in. The whole game went really smoothly."

Antonakis switched from left wing to center during the season because of her willingness to be a two-way player. "I'm good at supporting the 'D' and getting the puck to our wings to set up the offense," she said. "And backchecking."

While she enjoyed the rare scoring binge, the team result remains foremost on her mind.

"It's fun that we're on a hot streak," she said. "Hopefully, we can continue it [in the section finals] against Farmington.

The junior forward and future Gopher scored a goal in a 2-2 tie with Blake, then had a career-high six goals in an 8-1 victory over St. Michael-Albertville, clinching the Mississippi 8 title. He has 28 goals and 50 points.

Schneider, a junior, trailed by 17 seconds after the freestyle half of the Section 6 meet but made up the time, and then some, in the classic-style race to defeat top-seeded Charlie Reinhardt of Mound Westonka with a pursuit time of 21:53.5.

The junior forward helped the Hornets to two victories with back-to-back double-doubles. She had 21 points and 11 rebounds in a 72-52 victory over North Branch, and 10 points and 10 rebounds in a 49-36 win over Cambridge-Isanti.

The senior guard guided the Islanders past two highly ranked teams. He scored 23 points and had eight assists in a 75-67 victory over Class 4A, No. 1 Hopkins and had 22 points and seven assists in an 82-60 rout of Class 3A, No. 3 Holy Angels.

At the Section 4 meet, the junior won the classic portion in 16:12.5 and the freestyle in 14:24.7 for a winning pursuit time of 30.37.2, almost a full minute ahead of the runner-up.

JIM PAULSEN