By Tim DroogsmaA race that was expected to go down to the wire did just that, with Team North and Team Northwest finishing in a flat-footed tie for the regular-season championship in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League. Both clubs had 13-7-1 records, but North will go into this weekend’s Elite League playoffs as the top seed, by virtue of winning their season series with Northwest, two games to one. That included a victory over Northwest on the last Sunday of the regular season.
North earned its share of the crown with a three-game sweep on the final weekend that began with a 7-2 win over Team Southwest. North scored the first seven goals of the game, including a pair by Duluth Marshall’s Jacob Bushey.
Then came the must-win game against Team Northwest, and coach Pat Guyer’s team fell behind 3-1 before Patrick Moore, Wes Judnick and Garrett Skrbich exploded for three goals in a 65-second span of the second period (with South St. Paul’s Adam Barlow assisting on all three scores) to grab a 4-3 lead. Moore’s second goal of the game and Judd Peterson’s empty-netter sealed the 6-4 victory.
To guarantee a share of the title, however, North still needed two points from their Sunday game with Team Great Plains. That game was tied 1-1 midway through the third period before Garrett Hendrickson, Moore and Hunter Bergerson scored to break it open.
Team Northwest opened the final week of the regular season with a 6-2 win over Team Southwest. After falling behind 1-0, Northwest scored five straight goals – two by Benilde’s Grant Besse – to take control. Elk River goalie Anders Franke stopped 47 of 49 shots for the win. Northwest then set themselves up for the showdown with North by beating Great Plains 4-3. Osseo’s Tim Bonner scored twice, while Elk River’s Ryan Jamerko had a goal and an assist. Even a tie against North would have given Northwest the outright championship, but the 6-4 loss – their second loss in three games with North – dropped them to the second seed in the playoffs.
Also coming oh-so-close was Team Southeast, which swept all three games on the final weekend, only to finish one point short with a 12-7-2 mark. Southeast opened the weekend with a 5-0 shutout of Shattuck as Burnsville goalie Bodhi Engum made 42 saves and A.J. Reid scored a pair of goals. They then kept their title hopes alive with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Team Northeast. After falling behind 3-2 in the third period, Southeast rallied on Hudson Fasching’s second goal of the game and Michael Dockry’s game-winner. In the weekend’s final game, Southeast beat Wisconsin 3-2 on goals by Zach Schroeder, Taylor Fleming and A.J. Michaelson.
For Team Wisconsin, it was the second loss in a weekend that began with the team in title contention. The two defeats dropped them to fourth place, four points out of first. The lone victory came Saturday when they beat Team Northeast, 8-3. Garret Clement, Brett Skibba and Simon Leahy each scored two goals in the win, while Brad Navin added a goal and two assists. Wisconsin’s title chances ended Sunday morning with a 4-2 loss to Shattuck. Middleton goalie Eric Smith almost stole the game against Southeast, stopping 47 of 50 shots in the loss.
Team Great Plains picked up a victory on the final weekend as goalie Bryan Nies of Grand Forks stopped 34 shots in a 3-0 victory over Team Southwest. Shane Omdahl, John Simonson and Jordan Aamot scored in the game, which was sandwiched around a 4-3 loss to Northwest and a 5-2 loss to Team North.
Team Southwest lost 7-2 to Team North, then fell 3-0 to Great Plains, and fell to seventh in the league standings. Team Northeast also had a rough final week, losing to Shattuck (4-2), Wisconsin (8-3) and Southeast (4-3).
NOTES: With three teams separated by just one point, it was the closest championship race in Elite League history. Three players – Kyle Rau of Eden Prairie, Tony Cameranesi of Wayzata and Team Wisconsin’s Brad Navin of Waupaca – tied for the league goal-scoring title with 16. Rau will have a chance to win the title outright when Southwest and Shattuck played a rescheduled game Oct. 27. Cameranesi lead the league in scoring with 33 points (16G, 17A). Team Southeast, which finished a point out of first place, ended the season with a seven-game winning streak. They lost a pair of one-goal games to co-champion Team North, including an October 9th game when they led 4-3 with less than five minutes to play, but lost 5-4. Team North goalie Alex Lyon (Lake of the Woods) had the lowest goals-against average (2.76) and highest save percentage (.930) among goalies who played at least 10 games. Team Great Plains’ Michael Bitzer of Moorhead had a 2.98 GAA and .926 save percentage despite facing an average of 42.4 shots per game over his last nine starts.
