Media Director
Upper Midwest High School Elite League
Despite suffering its first loss of the season, Team Southeast won two of three games to maintain first place in week 3 of the Upper Midwest High School Elite League season.
Despite suffering its first loss of the season, Team Southeast won two of three games to maintain first place in week 3 of the Upper Midwest High School Elite League season.
After losing 7-6 to Team Southwest on Tuesday night, Southeast rebounded Saturday with a 6-4 victory over Team Wisconsin. Trailing 4-3 after two periods, Southeast got goals from Jake Guentzel, Justin Kloos and Nate Flynn to earn the win. Scott Nelson of Eastview had two goals and an assist, while Eagan’s Sam Wolfe had a pair of assists. On Sunday, Southeast again came from behind in a 7-4 victory over Team Northwest. Down 2-0 after a period, Southeast exploded for four second-period goals, including a pair by Kloos. The Lakeville South senior completed his hat trick in the third period and added a pair of assists for a five-point game. Equaling that was Guentzel, with two goals and three assists.
Team Northeast enjoyed an unbeaten weekend, winning twice and playing Shattuck-St. Mary’s to a tie to move into a tie for second place. Playing in Duluth, Northeast got third-period goals from Lucas Kohls and Colin Hernon to rally for a 5-4 win over Team North. Kohls, of Bloomington Jefferson, added an assist while Maple Grove’s Dylan Steman recorded three assists. Saturday night, Hernon scored again and goalie Bryan Nies of Grand Forks Red River made 37 saves in a 1-1 tie with Shattuck. In the weekend finale, Stillwater’s Cody Corbett scored twice to lead a 7-4 victory over Team Great Plains and Northeast launched 53 shots in the contest.
Team Northwest is tied for second despite a 1-2 weekend. In Saturday’s first game in Somerset, Wisconsin, Northwest beat Team Wisconsin 4-1 as Connor Thie of Minnetonka had a goal and an assist. Sam Majka, T.J. Roo and Thomas Lindstrom also scored for Northwest, while goalie Justin Quale of Benilde-St. Margaret’s stopped 22 of 23 shots. Northwest went on to lose 5-4 to Team Southwest, and 7-4 to Team Southeast despite a four-point game (2 goals, 2 asissts) from Roo.
Team North also had a 1-2 weekend and dropped to fourth place. After the loss to Northeast, North bounced back with a 6-3 victory over Team Great Plains. Trevor Olson of Duluth East scored twice, while Greyhounds teammate Meirs Moore added a pair of assists. A third East player, Dom Toninato, had a goal and two assists. Adam Johnson and Conner Valesano then scored in a 5-2 loss to Shattuck.
Team Southwest began the week by handing Team Southeast its first loss of the season, 7-6 in Tuesday’s showcase game. Trailing 6-5 with less than eight minutes remaining, Southwest got goals from Erik Baskin and Zack Hnath – and 33 saves from goalie Nick Malvin – to earn the win. Vinni Lettieri also had a pair of goals in the victory. Lettieri scored again, and Max Coatta of Minnetonka recorded a hat trick, in a 5-4 win over Team Northwest. Edina’s Lou Nanne had four assists in the game, and his Hornet teammate Ben Walker had three helpers. Southwest ended the weekend with a 6-4 loss to Team Wisconsin despite a goal and an assist from Edina’s Matt Nelson.
Hosting games in Somerset, Team Wisconsin went 1-2 on the weekend. After losing 4-1 to Southwest and 6-4 to Southeast, the redshirts bounced back to defeat Team Southwest 6-4. Austin Vieth of Notre Dame Academy and Jason Ford of Waunakee each scored twice in the victory, while goalie Chris Nell made 34 saves.
Shattuck-St. Mary’s began its Elite League schedule with an unbeaten 2-0-1 weekend. Zachary Aman had a goal and two assists in a 6-2 win over Team Great Plains. After a 1-1 tie with Team Northeast, Shattuck got a goal and an assist from Ryan Schwalbe in a 5-2 win over Team North.
Team Great Plains continued to search for its first victory. After losing 6-2 to Shattuck, Great Plains got goals from Chris Forney, Tommy Hajicek and John Forseth in a 6-3 loss to Team North. On Sunday’s finale in Duluth, goals by Austin Swingle, Alec Rauhauser, Riley Soderstrom and Zach Yon were not enough in a 7-4 loss to Team Northeast.
NOTES: Lakeville South’s Justin Kloos continues to lead the Elite League in scoring with 22 points on 10 goals and 12 assists.T.J. Roo of Totino-Grace is second with 20 points on six goals and a league-high 14 assists. Kloos and Max Coatta of Minnetonka share the goal-scoring lead with 10 apiece, while Grant Besse of Benilde-St. Margaret’s has eight….Two cousins had big weeks for Team Southwest: Vinni Lettieri of Minnetonka had three goals and four points on the weekend, while Lou Nanne of Edina had a four-assist game. The two are both grandsons of former North Star Lou Nanne….Goalies Justin Quale of Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Dylan Parker of Duluth East entered the weekend tied for the league’s best goals-against average at 2.75….Tuesday’s showcase game features Team Northwest and Northeast squaring off in a 7:00 p.m. game at New Hope Arena. The rest of the Week 4 games will be played at ice Hawk Arena in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and Civic Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
