Shane Gersich of Holy Family Catholic and Mario Bianchi of Holy Angels also scored twice for Team Southwest in the wild victory over the Rampage, a U-18 AAA squad that went 0-3-0 but kept all three games close.
Team Northwest also finished the opening weekend without a loss, going 2-0-1 with victories over Colorado and Team North and a tie with Team Southeast.
Team Northwest goaltender Chase Perry of Andover finished the opening weekend as the league’s leader in save percentage (.947) and goals-against average (1.71).
Team Northeast’s T.J. Moore is the league’s scoring leader, posting eight points (three goals, five assists) in three games. Team Southwest’s Connor Hurley of Edina ranked second with seven points (one goal, six assists).
Team Southwest’s Mario Bianchi of Holy Angels and Daniel Labosky of Benilde-St. Margaret’s each scored four goals to share the league lead with Team Northeast’s Jake Wahlin of White Bear Lake.
Team Southeast, Team Northeast and Great Plains each posted 1-1-1 records.
NOTES: Team Northwest’s Grant Besse of Benilde-St. Margaret’s, who scored all five goals for the Red Knights in their state Class 2A championship victory over Hill-Murray last March, suffered a cracked tibia and is expected to miss four to six weeks. Besse is expected to be a Mr. Hockey frontrunner during the high school season. . . . Team Southwest’s Alex Funk, Jason Samuelson and Karl Krecke of Rochester Lourdes all missed the opening game of the weekend. Funk and Samuelson were taking their ACTs in Rochester and Krecke is nursing an injury that kept sidelined him for the weekend. . . . The opening weekend’s games were played at Blaine’s Fogerty Arena because of renovation work being done at New Hope Arena, the league’s home rink. Next weekend the league plays at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine in conjunction with the NAHL Showcase. . . . An all-star team from the Minnesota Elite Prep Development League will replace the Colorado Rampage as the league’s eighth team next weekend.
For a complete list of statistical leaders, click here.
Week 1 Scores:
Saturday:
Team Northeast 6, Team Southeast 5
Team Southwest 5, Team North 3
Team Wisconsin 3, Team Great Plains 3
Team Northwest 5, Colorado Rampage 2
Team Great Plains 4, Colorado Rampage 3
Team North 5, Team Wisconsin 2
Team Southwest 10, Team Northeast 6
Team Southeast 2, Team Northwest 2
Sunday:
Team Northeast 4, Team Wisconsin 4
Team Northwest 4, Team North 2
Team Southeast 6, Team Great Plains 4
Team Southwest 8, Colorado Rampage 5
For the complete 2012 schedule, click here.
