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South St. Paul 5, Chisago Lakes 3

Roddick Simons had the most prolific game of his career at Aldrich Arena on Friday, February 23, with four goals and an assist.  Unfortunately, Simons plays for the South St. Paul Packers, and his scoring binge led the sixth-seeded Packers to a 5-3 upset of the third-seeded Wildcats in the quarterfinal round of the Section 4A boys’ hockey playoffs.  The loss abruptly ended the season for the Wildcats, who appeared to be poised to make a deep playoff run.

Landon Kerkow scored midway through the first period, assisted by Zach Carlson and Quin Ryan, to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.  But Simons scored two power play goals early in the second period, at 1:32 and 5:01, to put the Packers up 2-1.  Jack Bakken scored an unassisted goal just 15 seconds after Simons’ second goal to tie the game at 2-2.  Simons assisted on a goal by Ray Rozales at the 12 -minute mark of the period to give South St. Paul a 3-2 lead.  Bakken scored a power play goal at 2:10 of the third period to tie the game at 3-3, with the single assist going to Andrew Swanson.  Simons responded with his third power play goal of the game just two minutes later, and the Packers again took a one-goal lead at 4-3.  The Packers shut down the Wildcat offense for the rest of the period, allowing just four shots on goal.  Simons put the icing on the cake with his fourth goal of the game, an empty-netter with 20 seconds remaining, to make the final score 5-3.

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