51 Hours of Fury: Bonin family sees both sides when White Bear Lake takes on Hill-Murray

Editors note: Starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday and going through about 10 p.m. Friday, 16 boys' hockey teams in Minnesota will win their section tournaments and earn spots in the Class 2A and 1A state tournaments. Here's where you can keep up with all the action. Come back for updates as the pregame anticipation builds and the scores come in from around Minnesota.

Section scores and schedules | Prep hockey hub

Brian Bonin, arguably White Bear Lake's favorite hockey son, drew the scorn of old comrades for enrolling his three sons at Hill-Murray, the Bears' despised rival.

A tradition-rich private school program, Maplewood-based Hill-Murray has attracted many would-be Bears contributors and standouts through the years. Then those Pioneers would help end White Bear Lake's section playoff runs.

"There's some venom out there," said Bonin, named Mr. Hockey as a senior at White Bear Lake in 1992. "I'll get, 'How dare you have your kids go to Hill-Murray.' My best memories are all from White Bear Lake. I will always be a Bear. But my kids get to make their own memories."

Of course, all three Bonin boys play hockey. Middle son Brendan is a second-line senior forward, one more subplot in tonight's game.

White Bear Lake, the No. 2 seed, aims to topple favored Hill-Murray in the Class 2A, Section 4 championship game at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood, Hill-Murray's home rink. Don't bother showing up looking for a ticket. They sold out several hours after going on sale Thursday.

Tonight marks the Bears' and Pioneers' 19^th section final meeting since 1984-85. Hill-Murray has won 13 of 18, including three of the past four.

"This rivalry is awesome," Bonin said. "And it's a no-lose situation for me. White Bear Lake is my team, and my son is at Hill-Murray."

Yeah, about that. Turns out, Brian is the rare bear in the Bonin family. His father, Phil, was a 1964 Hill graduate who played forward on the hockey team. Phil told Brian to make his own choice about high school, and Brian opted to stay with his White Bear Lake youth hockey teammates.

As a sophomore, Bonin helped the Bears to the 1990 state tournament — where they lost the quarterfinal game. To this day, White Bear Lake is 0-for-19 all-time in the first round of the state tournament.

Bonin later finished his college career with the Gophers by winning the Hobey Baker Award in 1996. He lives in White Bear Lake now with his wife, Rachel, and their three sons, Ben, Brendan and Jude.

"My wife went to St. Cloud Cathedral, and I was raised Catholic," Bonin said. "When we were looking at high schools for our boys, No. 1 was our faith. Still, picking Hill-Murray was not an easy decision."

Brendan Bonin has added eight goals and eight assists to the Pioneers this season. He's won about 75% of his faceoffs. And he's helped create offense in clutch moments. In three Hill-Murray overtime victories this season, Brendan's line, which includes Anthony Madigan and Ben Miller, has scored all three times. He got the winner against Mahtomedi on Jan. 15.

An overtime loss of sorts still lingers as the teams get ready for tonight's game.

A year ago, defending state champion Hill-Murray beat White Bear Lake 5-0 in the section final — only to have its ensuing state tournament trip nullified. COVID-19 restrictions last season shook up the entire tournament. The event was pushed out by several weeks to accommodate a late-starting season. Quarterfinal games in Class 2A started Wednesday instead of Thursday.

Then a COVID-19 exposure case involving a White Bear Lake player meant the Pioneers, under virus guidelines, could not play again until Thursday. Though opponent Wayzata agreed to postpone Wednesday's scheduled game by 24 hours, the Minnesota State High School League didn't budge. Hill-Murray was done.

Conspiracy theorists deemed it an intentional effort by White Bear Lake to oust Hill-Murray by any means necessary. Neither White Bear Lake coach Tim Sager nor Pioneers coach Bill Lechner spoke of carrying ill will over to this season. Hill-Murray beat the Bears 2-1 on Dec. 23.

"We're not going down that road," Sager said. "It's in the past, and we've moved on from it."

Lechner said: "Some people have told me to use it as fuel, but I don't want our kids stepping out from what we're asking them to do to win this game."

The last two section final games are being played tonight. White Bear Lake plays Hill-Murray for the 4AA title at Aldrich Arena and Mahtomedi plays Chisago Lake at Roseville Arena in 4A. Livestreams of the games are available for purchase through PrepSpotlight TV. You can order them here. Opening face-off for both is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Lakeville South once again captured the Class 2A, Section 1 crown over Lakeville North for a trip to the Class 2A state tournament.

Marko Belak posted a shutout in the section final over Eastview, and Cretin-Derham Hall will take an 18-game winning streak to Xcel Energy Center.

Maple Grove never trailed in its triumph over Rogers on Thursday that sent the team to the Class 2A state tournament.

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Last month, when the Minneapolis city co-op program started attracting attention, we profiled how the program has grown into a state tournament contender after beating some of the schools that had had dominated them in the past. You can read that story here.

Also, one of the questions that came up after Minneapolis defeated Delano for the section title was this: What happens if Minneapolis teachers go on strike next week? Will the team still go to state? The answer is here.

Josh Storm, a 2000 Lakeville graduate, remembers rivalry games against Burnsville and other Lake Conference schools when he skated for the Panthers hockey team.

Five years later, Lakeville opened a second high school. These days, legacy North and "newbie" South reside at the top of each others' rivals list. Both reside in the South Suburban Conference and Class 2A, Section 1. Quite often, one must beat the other to reach the state tournament.

Thursday's game at the Rochester Recreation Center marks the ninth time since 2010 the Lakevilles will decide the Section 1 championship at the other's expense. They split the previous eight meetings.

These are the hallmarks of a rivalry. Storm hasn't needed to finish his first season coaching South to understand what's at stake when the Cougars and Panthers hook up.

"It's a really big deal, and it doesn't matter if either team is good or average," Storm said. "Everyone wanted to talk about it before the regular-season games this year. You heard a lot of, 'We've got North tonight.'"

Jake Taylor, in his third season as North head coach and 10^th overall on the Panthers staff, knows the climate well.

"It's a cool experience for the most part," Taylor said. "It can get a little heated at times.

"At the end of the day, these kids' lives are intertwined. There aren't always a lot of high school hockey games that have a buzz around them. The kids in Lakeville get two, and a lot of times three, of those games every year."

Thursday's match is North's chance for payback. South won 6-3 and 3-0 in South Suburban Conference action. Both games were competitive. North led 3-2 after two periods in the first meeting. And the Cougars led just 1-0 entering the third period of the rematch.

South (24-3) holds the No. 1 seed in the section, followed by No. 2 seed North (21-6).

Funny things can happen to the favorite come playoff time. In 2010, 2011 and 2018, the Lakeville team that swept the two conference meetings during the season fell in the all-important third game with a trip to St. Paul on the line.

"I actually talked to the guys about that the other day, a year when South beat us in the finals," Taylor said. "The rivalry and the emotions level the playing field. Typically, the group most hungry is the group that wins."

The Cougars are starving to get back the state tournament after falling in double overtime of the championship game last spring. And Storm is eager to make the trip.

Thursday marks Storm's first section final as a head coach. He was a Rosemount assistant in 2008, when the Irish fell one game short of state, losing to Woodbury. Storm, who coached the past 10 years at Owatonna, solicited advice from peers this week.

"They told me, 'Be the rock. Stay steady. Even if you're nervous inside,'" Storm said.

South is the three time defending section champion and "has kind of taken over as the more dominant team lately," Taylor said. "But we stack up pretty well. Our kids have matured into becoming good players and I'm excited to give South our best."

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Delano boys' hockey coach Gerrit van Bergen isn't conceding.

Not a bit.

He "1,000 percent" wants the Tigers to beat Minneapolis in Wednesday's Class 1A, Section 2 championship game at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center and advance to the state tournament for the fifth time in six seasons.

He also knows what's at stake for a Minneapolis program last represented in the state tournament 28 years ago. And van Bergen understands what it means for a program to achieve success after many frustrating finishes.

"As a fan, it's good to see new teams in the tournament," van Bergen said. "You might be miserable that it's not you, but you can appreciate what the other team accomplished."

Not long ago, van Bergen's now-solid program was the one on the verge. Five times in six seasons from 2011-16, Delano lost to Breck in the section playoffs. With internal expectations soaring for a talented team to break through, finally, in 2017, the Tigers slayed their nemesis in the section championship game and reached their first state tournament.

Parallels exist for Minneapolis. The nickname-less team, which draws players from several of the public schools within the state's largest city, earned the No. 1 seed for the Section 2 playoffs. The past eight seasons, the team never drew better than a No. 4 seed and never won a semifinal game.

Legitimacy came over six days in January when Minneapolis beat section opponents Orono and Delano on the road. This newspaper and a few local television news stations took notice.

"The attention is fun," said van Bergen, recalling his Tigers' spotlight turn back in 2016-17. "And the kids deserved it. They were working to change the story of our program, and that created a lot of excitement. But that's where it has to stop. Kids have to compartmentalize. You still have to work hard, get better and play for each other."

Delano players on the 2016-17 roster put each other first. None bolted early to pursue a junior hockey opportunity. Fortunately, van Bergen said, they were rewarded with a state tournament appearance.

Minneapolis, which endures handfuls of youth association players each year choosing private schools, is buoyed this season by a critical mass of hockey-first players vs. good kids who play hockey. The team is crafting the most impressive season in coach Joe Dziedzic's decade behind the bench.

"I think the kids playing for them see the varsity team having success and realize they don't have to take off or transfer to have the experience of what high school hockey could be," van Bergen said.

When Delano, about 30 miles west of Minneapolis, finally overthrew metro-area private school Breck, state tournament observers cheered the arrival of a new team from a small town.

Facing Minneapolis in an all-important rematch doesn't mean Delano becomes the villain. But the Tigers are no longer the sentimental pick, either.

"It's new for us," said van Bergen, a former Delano player. "I told our kids, 'We're the No. 2 seed and we've already lost to them. In many ways, you're the underdog.' It's a little different, for sure."

One of the final scenes in the mob movie "Donnie Brasco" finds Al Pacino as gangster Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero receiving a phone call to attend a meeting he knows will end with his death. Lefty had vouched for the title character played by Johnny Depp — an undercover FBI agent.

Before leaving the apartment, Lefty tells his girlfriend, "And listen to me, if Donnie calls... , tell him ..., tell him, uh ..., if it was gonna be anyone, I'm glad it was him."

The scene came to mind when van Bergen said, "If it's not us, it would be cool to see Minneapolis go."