State tournament hockey gossip: Brady and Sarah are going to prom in Luverne

Luverne senior forward Brady Bork pondered a promposal on Wednesday morning ahead of his team's Class 1A boys hockey state tournament quarterfinal against Hermantown at Xcel Energy Center. He thought the on-ice, on-TV player introductions might be a good spot for it because he "had to say something when I went up there."

"Everybody says, 'Hey, Mom' or 'Hey, Dad,' or whatever," Bork said. "But I kind of wanted to switch it up. I hadn't done a promposal yet, so I figured, get it out of the way at the X."

He took one of his backup hockey sticks, taped it up in the locker room and asked for a Sharpie. He wrote, "Hey Sarah, Prom?" on his stick blade, flashing it to the camera when he skated to the blue line for pregame introductions.

So, did he get an answer? His coach, Phillip Paquette, was curious in the postgame news conference, too. Bork found out afterward that @MinnyHockey had posted a Tweet with side-by-side photos of Bork's promposal and, presumably, Sarah's answer, "Yes!" also written on a hockey stick.

"That's a victory for the day," Paquette said.

Both the girls and boys teams from Luverne reached state tournaments this year. Each of the teams has played at state three times, all since 2014.

Paquette, who played for Luverne, never imagined such success.

Unfortunately for Luverne, the boys Cardinals have drawn Hermantown in the quarterfinals every time, and they're 0-3. The Cardinals lost 6-3 to Hermantown in the 2014 quarterfinals, then 3-2 in overtime in 2017 before a 6-0 loss on Wednesday.

Corey Bohmert bumped his season goal total from eight to 11 with a hat trick in Wednesday's victory for Mahtomedi. It wasn't his first great performance in the quarterfinals of a state tournament during his senior year.

Bohmert was a standout running back for Mahtomedi's football team. In the Class 5A state quarterfinals against St. Thomas Academy in the fall, Bohmert had a season-best 46 carries and season-best 284 rushing yards on the way to a 20-14 overtime victory.

"I don't know what's up with that," Bohmert said of the quarterfinal magic. "But I'm just hoping to get a better semifinal outcome."

Elk River defeated Mahtomedi 38-21 in the football semifinals.

Comstock, whose father, Derrick Comstock (assistant coach), and sister Katy Comstock brought home the girls Class 1A state tournament title two weeks ago, helped his boys team take its first step toward a state championship with a 5-1 defeat of St. Cloud Cathedral. He was credited with second assist on each of the Warriors' first three goals.

"He's so smart back there," said coach Jay Hardwick, a former Warroad defenseman. "He doesn't panic with the puck. And he makes the right play. He's smooth, and when he dishes it to guys like [Pilgrim and Shaguabay] it all comes together."

His teammates offered Comstock an assist after the game, naming him owner of the best hockey hair.

"I like his curly hair," Pilgrim said.

No. 3 seed Mahtomedi and No. 2 seed Hermantown advancing to the Class 1A semifinals on Friday sets up a rematch of this year's outdoor game on Hockey Day Minnesota in January in White Bear Township. Hermantown won that game 6-3.

"I like the scenario when you know you go into the game knowing you're going to have to play your best," Poeschl said. "We know that we're going to have to be rock solid and play our best on Friday.

"We know what our game plan needs to be."