The Robbinsdale/Hopkins/Mound-Westonka adapted floor hockey team won the PI championship and Anoka-Hennepin won its second consecutive state title in the CI division in Saturday's state tournament finals at Bloomington Jefferson High School.
PI division In the 18th annual state tournament, the no. 1-seeded Robins were determined not to go home empty-handed after losing last year's state PI (physically impaired) championship in double overtime. Robbinsdale/Hopkins/Mound-Westonka earned the championship by beating Brainerd/Pillager 6-3, ending a 16-0 season.
"It feels awesome, especially going undefeated," said sophomore Mike Madson, who finished the game with four goals, giving him 11 in the state tournament.
Robins coach Marcus Onsum credited goalie Charlie Wittmer with a great effort.
"Charlie gets so dialed in, he's tough to beat," Onsum said. "I scrimmage against him every day and I'm lucky if one gets in."
Onsum also couldn't say enough about Madson.
"Mike has more heart and effort than almost any other kid I've ever coached," he said. "I couldn't be happier for this group of kids."
In a slow first period, Madson had the only goal. Brainerd/Pillager came out strong after the break, tying the score on a power-play goal by senior Tyler Theien.
The Robins went on an offensive run three minutes later, sparked by an unusual goal by Harrison Lerner. The senior scored an unassisted goal from behind the Robbinsdale/Hopkins/Mound-Westonka net at 4:29. The Robins added another two goals in less than 20 seconds, both scored by Madson.
Once the Robins took a 4-2 lead, they never looked back. Wittmer played hard all game, making key stops in the third period.
CI division For the second consecutive year, Anoka-Hennepin (14-0) took home the CI (cognitively impaired) trophy. The Mustangs capped off their unbeaten season by beating Dakota United 13-6.
The score was tied 5-5 after one period, but the 1-2 punch of sophomore Zach Theroux and junior Tyler Kurkowski proved too much to handle for the Hawks (12-1).
Those two combined for nine of the Mustangs' 13 goals. Kurkowski scored 20 goals in the tournament, breaking the record for most goals in one tournament. The previous record was 18 by Owatonna's Jeremy Webster in 2004.
"We said we wanted to win, have fun, and play defense," Kurkowski said.
Mustangs coach Bill Newell elaborated on their strategy facing a fellow undefeated team. "We've been passing well all year and we wanted to play good enough defense," Newell said. "We've got a system that has worked well."
Theroux couldn't hold back the emotions after the Mustangs victory.
"I just can't believe we won back-to-back floor hockey championships," he said.
