Familiar programs, different matchups
Seven of the eight teams in this year's Class 2A boys hockey state tournament return from last year, though the quarterfinal matchups are all different. Minnetonka drew the top seed and is the only relative "newcomer," having last played in the tournament when it won the title in 2018.
Seven teams also have played in at least one state title game since 2017. Cretin-Derham Hall is the outlier, winning the title in 2006. Four of the past five state champions are back, too. Andover won last year, Hill-Murray in 2020, Edina in 2019 and the Skippers in 2018.
Lakeville South, Maple Grove and Moorhead all have plenty of recent state tournament experience, but each is still looking for its first state title. The Crimson got close last year, falling in double overtime to conference rival Andover. Lakeville South was in the title game in 2021. Moorhead, the only non-metro school in the Class 2A tournament, has eight runner-up finishes, the last coming in 2017.
The fifth seed, which is Lakeville South this year, has won three of the past six Class 2A championships. The other three titles in that span? The top seed took care of business.
Defending champ is back
For the first time since 2017, a Class 2A program has a chance to defend its state title as the Andover Huskies make their fourth consecutive and fourth overall state appearance. Hill-Murray, the champion in 2020, qualified for the 2021 state tournament but was not allowed to compete because of a COVID exposure and the Minnesota State High School League's COVID guidelines.
After upsetting its way to the title last year as a fifth seed, Andover returns as the fourth seed with one of the most productive top lines in the state in seniors Gavyn Thoreson, Cooper Conway and Cayden Casey. Andover has scored 156 goals this season (5.57 per game) behind Mr. Hockey candidate Thoreson's 36 goals and 90 points.
The Huskies are 2-3 against Class 2A state tournament teams, having fallen to Minnetonka and Maple Grove twice.
With the Crimson back in the tournament as well, this is also the first time since 2017 that both the previous year's champion and runner-up returned. In 2017, defending champion Wayzata was the consolation runner-up, while Eden Prairie took third place a year after finishing second.
The last back-to-back Class 2A champion was Edina in 2013-14.
Raiders look for redo
Cretin-Derham Hall was the No. 2 seed last season, in its first state appearance since 2009. It fell victim to Alex Bump, his five goals leading unseeded Prior Lake past the Raiders in the quarterfinals.
"Last year was really embarrassing for us," senior Jake Fisher said after his team's section final. "We lost 6-0 on the biggest stage. We've prepared this whole year to claim redemption for that."
This time, the Raiders are unseeded against No. 2 Maple Grove. They didn't talk about this game all season, coach Matt Funk said, but his senior group was determined to make a return trip to state.
"There was a lot of pomp and circumstance to it last year," Funk said, referring to the program's first state tournament in 13 years. "We did some things that got us off our routine. So we're going to stay together … and we're going to go in ready."
Hill-Murray's youth movement
Hill-Murray is a state tournament regular under longtime head coach Bill Lechner. The program has won four state championships, the latest in 2020 as a fifth seed. The Pioneers were upset in last year's semifinals by Andover before taking third place.
This year, it's a bit of uncharted territory for the Pioneers, making their 33rd trip to state since 1975. With only five seniors, it's definitely the youngest group Lechner has taken to the state tournament. Their record is 14-13-1, but this is more than a .500 team, the results heavy with losses to ranked teams and to teams in the state tournaments, plus key injuries that tested already-thin depth and, like a lot of teams, a bout with a flu bug.
"It was just kind of like the perfect storm this year," Lechner said. "Fortunately, the guys got healed probably about 2½ weeks ago now. We got everybody back and healthy."
The defensive core of sophomore Graham Greeder, freshman Casper Lang and sophomore Landon Cottingham is young but backstopped by a veteran goaltender, senior Jack Erickson. The forward line of sophomore Boden Sampair, senior Caden Sampair and junior Jude Bonin is the "heartbeat line," Lechner said.
Unseeded Hill-Murray drew top seed Minnetonka for Thursday's quarterfinal. The Pioneers lost to the Skippers early this season, dropping to 3-7 that day.
"Our opponents are great," Lechner said. "There's a lot of good teams there. But at least we have the pieces that we had in the beginning of the year back in place and thus, starting to have some success again."
The last time an unseeded Class 2A team won the state tournament was 2012 (Benilde-St. Margaret's) when four seeds all lost in the quarterfinals.
Top-10 goaltending
Three of the state's top 10 goaltenders in goals-against average will step into the crease at Xcel Energy Center in the Class 2A tournament. Minnetonka senior Kaizer Nelson is the best of them, with his 1.16 goals-against mark third-best in the state. Andover's Beau Altman has a 1.66 for eighth-best. Edina's Robbie Clarkowski has a 1.67 goals-against average, and his .942 saves percentage ranks third in the state.
