Elk River defeats Wayzata in Spirit of Duluth bantam final

Grant Bunker buried a wicked slap shot, top-shelf, from the high slot at :19 in the second overtime to power top-ranked Elk River past No. 2 Wayzata 4-3 in the Spirit of Duluth bantam championship game Sunday afternoon at Duluth Heritage Sports Center.

In their only previous meetings this season, Wayzata (22-9) won 4-3 in triple-overtime, in the Eden Prairie Thanksgiving tournament championship game, and 2-1 in Elk River.

"I felt our size and strength down low, in the offensive zone, wore them down," Elk River coach Jake Fleming said after his team's impressive win over Wayzata.

Brady Artwohl, Chase Springman and Peter Jones also scored for Elk River (13-4-4).

Brian Machut, Jack Sorensen and Evan Fleming had Wayzata goals.

"I had nearly the same chance in a triple-overtime loss to them earlier, and missed it, but I wasn't going to miss a second one," said Bunker, an Elk River High School freshman.

"Rem, arguably, has the best hands we've seen in our program," said seven-year Wayzata coach Marc Sorensen. "He leads us in scoring, with something like 50-plus points, and he's very, very crafty. I've watched him come up through the program, but I didn't realize how hard a worker he is until he joined us this season."

Wayzata also features defenseman Chandler Lindstrand and forwards Chase Heising and Machut.

"Chandler is a big, strong kid, with a big-time shot," said Sorensen. "Chase is one of our most consistent scorers, and Brian is a bull, a big, strong power forward who has great speed."

Elk River was 4-0-1 and Wayzata 4-1 in Duluth, and Sorensen and Fleming said their teams stepped up against a strong, 16-team field.

"Edina spanked us 6-0 last Sunday at Braemar (Arena), which was quite a wake-up call for us," said Sorensen. "So, winning four straight to advance to the championship game has taught our young players the rewards of coming to play every night."

Elk River defeated Edina 4-3 in overtime in a Spirit of Duluth semifinal game Sunday, as Jones scored the winning goal.

"Peter scored on a bang-bang play, on a nifty pass from a teammate who beat a defender on the corner boards," said Jake Fleming. "Edina has a highly skilled team, and we felt we outworked them."

Elk River is a big, physical team.

"We prefer to tie teams up in their own end, cycle the puck down low and find ways to score," said Fleming. "We fought back from three-goal deficits in two of our wins this weekend, coming back to beat Eden Prairie and to tie Duluth East.

"Jake Jaremko, a first-year defenseman, is one of our top players. Kyle Badger and Chase Springman have good offensive skills."