Three senior Minnesota high school hockey players turned in their skates once the season was over and exchanged them for wheels.
Blaine senior defensemen and twins, Clayton (#14W) & Jay Wagamon, race their WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds primarily at their home track, Princeton Speedway, in Princeton, MN. Princeton Speedway's season opener is Friday, April 24th. Last Saturday, Clayton started the season early and headed down to Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN. Out of 36 Midwest Modifieds, Clayton finished 14th in the A-Main. He started 20th.
The Blaine Bengals finished third in the Minnesota Class AA State Tournament defeating Cretin-Derham Hall of St. Paul, MN, 3-1. The team finished with a 26-4-1 record. Clayton scored two goals in the tournament. For the season, Clayton finished with 5 goals, 8 assists for 13 points in 31 games played. Twin brother Jay finished with 1 goal, 3 assists for 4 points in 27 games played.
Rochester Mayo senior goaltender, Jordan Yaggy, did well at stopping a speeding puck from getting by him into the net during the winter. This summer, Yaggy will showcase his own version of speed behind the wheel of his #77 WISSOTA Late Model. Late Models are arguably the premier class in dirt track racing. He too started the season early at Deer Creek Speedway last Saturday. He started 22nd out of 24 cars that night and finished 16th.
Yaggy raced Slingshots in 2008 at Deer Creek Speedway. It is no small jump going from racing Slingshots with those ranging in ages from 6 years old on up (including older adults) to the big guns in the WISSOTA Late Models.
Yaggy's hockey team, the Rochester Mayo Spartans, finished as runners-up in the Class AA, Section 1 tournament. They lost to Rochester Century, 7-3, in the championship game. On the year, Yaggy finished with 17 wins, 9 losses, a 3.06 goals against average, a .886 save percentage, and he had three shutouts.
If you know of any other varsity high school hockey players that are now racing on dirt this spring/summer, please email me. You can find out more on the Minnesota dirt track racing scene at Dirt Warriors.
