Hermantown Shuts Out Breck For Class 1A Hockey Title
St. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Hermantown coach Bruce Plante entered Saturday afternoon's Class 1A boys hockey championship nervous how he'd react win or lose.
The Hawks made sure their coach could finally leave the Xcel Energy Center with a smile.
Ryan Sandelin and Cole Koepke each had a goal and two assists, Luke Olson stopped 23 shots and Hermantown ended a six-year string of title game losses by beating Breck 5-0.
"It's very emotional for me, as in the relief part of it," said Plante, in his 27th year at the helm. "I was very scared what was going to happen to me personally if we lost this game. They'd have probably taken me out of here in a straitjacket or something. I just didn't know if I could handle another loss in this game."
Jesse Jacques, James Lindberg and Logan Judnick also scored for the Hawks (27-2-1). It is the second title for the public school near Duluth.
Linden Olness had 13 saves for Breck (26-4-1), a private school in Golden Valley.
"We were confident all the way through the game," said Breck captain Chase Ellingson. "It's just too bad we didn't make the comeback we wanted to."
Koepke scored his 40th goal of the year at 9:47 of the first period for a 1-0 Hermantown lead by converting a pass from Sandelin.
Jacques scored three minutes later and Lindberg scored from a bad angle, perfectly placing a shot over the shoulder of Olness and under the crossbar with 4.5 seconds left in the period for a 3-0 lead.
"That was a big pick-me up," Lindberg said. "I just saw a little hole up top and figured I may as well go for it."
Judnick scored on a rebound in the second period and Sandelin scored short-handed late in the third.
"I think everyone on our team played well today," said Wyatt Aamodt, who had two assists. "We figured if we could get out there and jump on them early we'd be fine. That's what we did and we kept going with it."
Hermantown outscored its six playoff opponents 52-6, including three shutouts. It blanked just three opponents in its 24 regular-season games.
Thief River Falls beat St. Paul Academy 4-1 for third place; St. Cloud Cathedral beat Mankato West 4-2 for the consolation crown.
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