Minnesota 1A boys hockey matchups: Will No. 2 Warroad get another chance to beat No. 1 Hermantown?
Get to know the leading scorers for each team, meet the goaltenders and find out about all eight qualifiers in the Class 1A tournament, which begins Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center.
By Heather Rule
March 5, 2024 at 2:18PM
SCOUTING THE NEW ULM EAGLES
State tournament trips: seventh.
Top three scorers: Austin Uecker, senior F (38 goals, 41 assists); Kaden Larson, senior F (25 goals, 33 assists); Bryer Lang, senior F (20 goals, 34 assists).
In goal: Bryer Hoffmann, senior — 19-5-0, 2.20 GAA, 91% saves, six shutouts.
Did you know? New Ulm is in search of its first state quarterfinal win in program history; the Eagles are 0-12 overall at state.
SCOUTING THE WARROAD WARRIORS
State tournament trips: 25th.
Top three scorers: Carson Pilgrim, senior F (29 goals, 34 assists); Taven James, junior F (20 goals, 37 assists); Murray Marvin-Cordes, senior F (24 goals, 27 assists).
In goal: Ben Norris, senior — 23-5-0, 2.16 GAA, 89.5% saves, four shutouts.
Did you know? Carson Pilgrim is one of two Mr. Hockey finalists from Class 1A programs.
Northfield (22-4-2) vs. No. 3 seed St. Cloud Cathedral (23-4-1), 1 p.m.
SCOUTING THE NORTHFIELD RAIDERS
State tournament trips: third.
Top three scorers: Jake Geiger, senior F (26 goals, 38 assists); Cayden Monson, senior F (21 goals, 36 assists); Kam Kaiser, senior F (36 goals, 19 assists).
In goal: Max Frank, junior — 14-3-1, 1.58 GAA, 92.1% saves, four shutouts; Trey Shimota, senior — 8-1-1, 1.97 GAA, 90.3% saves, two shutouts.
Did you know? Watch out for Northfield’s 40.4% power play, led by Kaiser, who scored 15 of his goals with the man advantage.
SCOUTING THE ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL CRUSADERS
State tournament trips: 12th.
Top three scorers: John Hirschfeld, junior F (24 goals, 51 assists); Andrew Dwinnell, senior F (26 goals, 41 assists); Joey Gillespie, junior F (29 goals, 31 assists).
In goal: Nick Hansen, senior — 16-0-1, 1.44 GAA, 93.6% saves, four shutouts.
Did you know? John Hirschfeld leads the state in assists with 51.
Alexandria Area (18-9-1) vs. No. 1 seed Hermantown (18-8-2), 6 p.m.
SCOUTING THE ALEXANDRIA AREA CARDINALS
State tournament trips: eighth.
Top three scorers: Evan Anderson, senior F (17 goals, 18 assists); Gavin Olson, senior F (19 goals, 15 assists); Leonard Kompelien, senior F (14 goals, 18 assists).
In goal: Brady Metcalf, senior — 15-8-1. 2.03 GAA, 91.9% saves, three shutouts.
Did you know? Alexandria won the Section 6 championship by outscoring opponents 24-1 in three games.
SCOUTING THE HERMANTOWN HAWKS
State tournament trips: 20th.
Top three scorers: River Freeman, junior F (19 goals, 22 assists); William Esterbrooks, senior F (13 goals, 22 assists); Bradford Skytta, sophomore F (16 goals, 18 assists).
In goal: Dane Callaway, senior — 18-8-2, 1.75 GAA, 93.8% saves, five shutouts.
Did you know? Hermantown’s only loss to a Class 1A opponent this season was a 4-1 decision against Warroad on Jan. 13.
No. 5 seed Orono (20-8-0) vs. No. 4 seed Mahtomedi (17-11-0), 8 p.m.
SCOUTING THE ORONO SPARTANS
State tournament trips: 11th.
Top three scorers: Jackson Knight, sophomore F (20 goals, 22 assists); Joey Mugaas, senior D (10 goals, 25 assists); Rory Kvern, sophomore F (15 goals, 14 assists).
In goal: Peyton Anderson, senior — 15-7-0, 1.92 GAA, 91% saves, three shutouts.
Did you know? Coach Sean Fish was the 2022 Class 1A state coach of the year after leading the Orono girls team to third place.
SCOUTING THE MAHTOMEDI ZEPHYRS
State tournament trips: 15th.
Top three scorers: Jake Hodd-Chlebeck, senior F (25 goals, 22 assists); Jimmy Egan, sophomore F (nine goals, 37 assists); Gene Wegleitner, senior F (11 goals, 22 assists).
In goal: Charlie Brandt, senior — 10-6-0, 3.23 GAA, 89.8% saves, three shutouts; Wes Strub, junior — 7-5-0, 2.06 GAA, 92.5% saves, two shutouts.
Did you know? Because of a challenging schedule, the defending Class 1A champions hadn’t won more than two games in a row this season until their current eight-game winning streak.
about the writer
Heather Rule
Special to the Star Tribune
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
