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The Chisago Lakes Wildcats Boys B1 Bantam hockey team played in the District 10 tournament in late February and earned the number two seed in the Maroon Regional Tournament at Bielenberg Sports Center in Woodbury the first weekend in March. The Wildcats played well in the double-elimination regional tournament, with a decisive win and two nail-biting losses, ending their season.

The Wildcats opened the regional tournament Friday, March 3 by beating Edina Green, the fourth-ranked team in the state, 6-3. Tommy Johnson led the Wildcats with two goals and two assists, and Mitchell Benson had a goal and two assists for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats lost their next game 3-2 to Blake on Saturday, March 4. The Wildcats trailed 2-0 after two periods, including a second period filled with several penalties against the Wildcats. In the third period, Johnson scored twice to pull the Wildcats within a goal, both times assisted by Benson. However, Blake managed to get a goal between the two Wildcat goals to secure the victory.

Eagan knocked the Wildcats out of the tournament on Saturday night, winning 3-1. Eagan sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 13 seconds left. Derek Budde scored the Wildcats’ only goal of the game. Wildcat goalie Tyler Krumm played very well in the game, stopping 23 of 25 shots he faced.

The Wildcats lost their opening game of the district tournament to Princeton 5-2 Sunday, February 19, but came back to beat Andover 6-0 February 21 and Pine City, in overtime, 5-4 February 25. They won the tiebreaker with Andover and Pine City to advance to the championship game against Centennial Red at the Anoka arena on Super Sunday, February 26. The Wildcats lost to Centennial Red 5-0, but advanced to the regional tournament by virtue of their second place finish.

The B1 Bantam level in District 10 was very competitive this season. Only five points separated the first place team, Centennial Red, from the eighth place team, the Wildcats.

The Wildcats finished with an 11-5-1 record in District 10 play and 22-11-1 overall.

They played in three tournaments, finishing second at Mankato and Hibbing and winning the consolation championship in Roseville.

“We lost the first two games of the season,” said Wildcat head coach Tom Johnson, “and the boys came back to do very well after that. We had a lot of fun this season. And, it shows the strength of our district that two District 10 teams, Centennial Red and Princeton, advanced to the state tournament from the same regional we played in.”

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