Feb. 27, 2008
Duluth
News Tribune
Lake Superior Conference could place 4
teams in state tourneys
By Rick Weegman
The 8-team Lake Superior Conference — known
for its depth — has three teams that easily could earn a state
tournament berth. A fourth, Superior, already did.
As usual, the Lake Superior Conference is well-represented
in the high school boys hockey playoffs.
Just how deep is the eight-team conference? Half
of the members could qualify for a state tournament berth.
Regular-season champion Duluth Marshall, Duluth
Denfeld and Cloquet-Esko-Carlton all earned spots in this week’s
Minnesota section tournament finals and are one win from playing
at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center next week. Superior already
has qualified for the Wisconsin state tournament a seventh straight
time and is seeking an 11th state title later this week in Madison.
The conference is so deep that defending Class
A champion Hermantown, which went through the 2006-07 season undefeated
yet couldn’t win the LSC, was just a middle-of-the-pack team
this season that lost in the Section 5A semifinals.
“I’ve said it before, that I think
our conference is one of the toughest conferences in the state,”
Denfeld coach Kevin Smalley said. “Year-in and year-out we
have four or five teams battling to get a state tournament berth.
The more teams that we have that are competing at this level in
our conference, the better output we’re going to have in tournament
play.”
The Hunters battled the momentum game in Saturday’s
5A semifinal against Sauk Rapids-Rice.
A 3-0 lead turned into 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 ties.
Cody Hotchkin eventually ended matters in Denfeld’s favor
by scoring with 20 seconds remaining.
Smalley says that’s been the Hunters’
trait all season, and he doesn’t expect anything different
for today’s 7 p.m. section final against fifth-ranked St.
Cloud Cathedral in Cloquet.
“These guys won’t quit until the final
buzzer goes off, a perfect example was Saturday night,” Smalley
said. “Things didn’t go well in the second period and
[Sauk Rapids] took the momentum from us. And once you lose momentum
in high school hockey, it’s tough to get it back.
“But they got behind in some games earlier
in the year and never quit. They showed a lot of character, that’s
just the nature of these kids.”
If that characteristic lasts one more game, the
Hunters will be going to the state tournament for the first time
since 1989.
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