Hibbing/Chisholm falls short to East Grand Forks in Class A state boys hockey semifinals
Friday afternoon the top-seeded Hibbing/Chisholm (20-10) boys hockey team saw their state title race fall short as they fell 7-5 to fourth seeded East Grand Forks (15-13-2) in the Class A state semifinals at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Bluejackets defeated Luverne 7-0 in the quarterfinals to earn their first semifinal berth since 2011. East Grand Forks beat Northern Lakes in their quarterfinal 3-0 Wednesday.
RELATED STORY: No. 1 Hibbing/Chisholm boys hockey shuts out No. 8 Luverne in Class A state quarterfinals.
“I’m really proud of these guys for this season,” head coach Aaron Jamnick said post-game. “When we get on the puck we get going, playing the right way, good things happen. And yeah, we can score in waves and yeah, they responded well and it was back and forth all game.”
Rex Walli stood strong in net for Hibbing/Chisholm to hold off the Green Wave in the first half of the first period. Then with 6:55 left in the frame Tate Swanson broke the ice scoring the game’s first goal with an assist by his younger brother Cole Swanson, putting the Bluejackets up 1-0. East Grand Forks’ Jace Van Eps tied it 1-1 with 1:11 left in the first, but seven seconds later Ben Galli scored to put the Bluejackets back on top 2-1. Cole Swanson put home a tricky bounce with 15.9 seconds to go, giving Hibbing/Chisholm the 3-1 lead after the first. The Bluejackets led in shots on goal 13-11.
In the second period East Grand Forks was the first to strike, with Tucker Lovejoy scoring at the 5:50 mark to trail just 3-2. However, it took the Bluejackets less than four minutes to score two more goals from Whitaker Rewertz and Isaiah Hildenbrand to lead 5-2.
“I thought that was huge to get the 2-goal lead back, get the momentum in our favor, but it was too early in the game,” junior forward Isaiah Hildenbrand said.
Hunter Varnson helped keep the Green Wave close, scoring with 1:55 to go in the second to trail 5-3. Then Judd Pesch popped in another with less than a second to intermission to make it 5-4 after two. The Green Wave took over the lead in shots on goal with 24-21.
“When someone scores in the final minute, just steal any momentum you have. Should have came out harder in the third, kind of lackadaisical,” junior forward Tate Swanson said.
“We were kind of hanging our heads a bit, but we still had the lead going into the third and we should have been more like up and ready to go than we were. And I think that’s a big reason why we came out in the third flat,” senior forward Jace Kampsula said.
East Grand Forks came out firing in the third period scoring two goals in the first minute from Cole Bies to lead 6-5, his second goal coming on the power play. East Grand Forks completed their comeback with an empty net goal to defeat Hibbing/Chisholm 7-5. In the end, Bluejackets’ netminder Rex Walli made 28 saves to Noah Schindele’s 21 for the Green Wave.
The No. 1 Bluejackets (20-10) will next face No. 6 Orono (16-11-3) in the third place game Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Xcel Energy Center.
“This weekend and or week has been absolutely everything I’ve ever dreamed of. And I wouldn’t have it any other way with any other people. It’s just more fuel to the fire to get back here next year,” Swanson added.
No. 4 East Grand Forks advances to the Class A state championship where they will take on No. 2 St. Cloud Cathedral (20-8-2), who beat No. 6 Orono 4-1 in their semifinal. The Class A title game is set for Saturday at 12 p.m. at the Xcel Energy Center. For the full bracket, Click Here.
