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Pine City 5, Chisago Lakes 4

The Pine City Dragons hockey team took a 5-2 lead midway through the third period, and a Wildcat comeback fell just short as the Dragons hung on for a 5-4 win Monday, February 9 at Chisago Lakes Arena.

Carson Purdy’s goal with just over a minute to go in the first period, assisted by Quin Ryan, tied the game at 1-1. Pine City scored two minutes into the second period to take a 2-1 lead.  But Max Koch put one in the back of the net just over two minutes later to tie the game at 2-2. The Dragons answered with two goals midway through the period, including one on a power play, to go up 4-2 heading in to the second intermission.  Pine City scored another power play goal hallway through the third period to stretch the lead to three goals.  Colton Horak scored at 10:17, with assists going to Jacob Kletti and Austing Slettom, to cut the lead to 5-3. Slettom scored with 1:13 left in the game to pull the Wildcats within one, assisted by Kletti and Koch, but the Dragons hung on for a 5-4 win.  Things got ugly at the end of the game, and Koch and Whiterabbit were both assessed roughing majors and misconduct penalties.

Hibbing/Chisholm 6, Chisago Lakes 3

The second-ranked Hibbing/Chisholm Bluejackets visited Chisago Lakes Arena for the final regular season game for both teams and came away with a 6-3 win Thursday, February 12. They outshot the Wildcats 40-25 for the game.

The Bluejackets drew first blood with just under three minutes to go in the first period, but Ausitn Slettom answered for the Wildcats at 15:59, assisted by Jacob Kletti and Colton Whiterabbit, to tie the game at 1-1.  The Bluejackets scored three goals in the first half of the second period to go up 4-1. Austin Slettom cut the lead to 4-2 with a goal at 5:43 of the third period, with the assists going to Zach Carlson and Ashton Warnke. Hibbing scored at 11:39 to stretch the lead back to three. Quin Ryan answered exactly one minute later, assisted by Kletti and Whiterabbit, to make the score 5-3. But the Bluejackets scored with 82 seconds left in the game to seal their 6-3 win.

Section Preview

The 19th-ranked and second-seeded Wildcats (14-8-3) appear to be on a collision course to meet the fifth-ranked and top-seeded Mahtomedi Zephyrs in the Section 4A championship game at Aldrich Arena for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The Zephyrs have won all three of the previous section championship matchups.  But they games are always competitive, and the Wildcats could have the firepower this season to spring the upset and get the Wildcats to the state tournament for the third time in school history.

The Wildcats will open the tournament against the seventh-seeded Simley Spartans (9-17-0) tomorrow night at 5 p.m. at Aldrich Arena.  The Wildcats beat the Spartans 5-0 a month ago and, if they play a solid game, should have no problem beating the Spartans and heading to the section semifinals. In the section semifinal game next Tuesday, February 24 at Aldrich Arena at 7:30 p.m., the Wildcats will likely match up with the third-seeded Irondale-St. Anthony Knights (14-10-1). The Wildcats are 22nd in the QRF rankings, while the Knights are 37th. If the Wildcats get solid goaltending from Jacob Schaeppi and stars such as Max Koch, Colton Whiterabbit, Austin Slettom and Jacob Kletti step up, the Wildcats should have no trouble winning their semifinal game and moving on to next Thursday’s section championship. If the Wildcats win their semifinal game, we will preview the section championship game in next week’s Press.

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