The second big night of high school boys hockey section tournament play again went very much according to seed.
Wednesday’s action included only one lower seed winning, with fifth-seed Andover (9-14-3) beating No. 4-seed Totino-Grace 2-0 at the Brooklyn Park Community Center. KJ Sauer and Chase Nadeau scored for the Huskies, who lost 3-2 to Totino-Grace (16-10) in the regular season. Taylor Hatton made 37 saves for the Eagles, but Wyatt Riemer stopped all 19 shots he faced for Andover.
The Huskies will face top-seed Maple Grove, which dispatched eighth-seed Anoka 7-0 on Wednesday. The Crimson got goals from Samuel Biederwolf, Luke Steen, Jaden Roueche, Grady Kranz, Henry Miller, Matthew Johnson and Wyatt Kuznik in the decisive win. Ryder Skanson only needed to make nine saves in goal. Landon Pender stopped 59 shots for Anoka.
Andover and Maple Grove will play Saturday in the semifinals at the Furniture and Things community event center in Elk River.
On the other side of the bracket — with the semifinals also set for Saturday in Elk River — No. 2-seed Blaine beat No. 7 Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids 6-1 on Wednesday. Krewz Harper opened the scoring for Blaine before Adam Kish tied the game early in the second period. But the Bengals controlled play the rest of the way, with Harper adding a second goal, Brody Lockman scoring twice, and Franklin Loo and Dylan Olson also scoring. Wesley Andrle made 19 saves for Blaine. Zach Bushy made 40 saves for Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids.
Third-seed Centennial will face Blaine in the semifinals after a 5-3 win against No. 6 Champlin Park.
Here is Wednesday’s other section quarterfinal results:
Class 2A, Section 2 quarterfinals
Top-seed Minnetonka cruised to an 8-0 win against eight-seed Chaska, and will face No. 4 Eden Prairie, which beat No. 5 Prior Lake 5-3, in Saturday’s semifinals at 3 p.m. at Braemar Arena in Edina.
Eight different players scored for Minnetonka on Wednesday, with Ethan Sturgis, Cash Hardie, Liam Schultz, Cooper Rannow, Danny Browning, Tate Hardacre, Caden Lindsay and Jordan Johnson all tallying goals. Chaska’s Nathan Brandt faced 60 shots, stopping 52. Chase Jerdee had 11 saves for Minnetonka.
Eden Prairie pulled away after Prior Lake kept battling back in the other quarterfinal. Jack Peterson and Riley Wolkove scored in the first period for the Eagles, but Gavin Lind and Brayden Lake eventually tied the game for the Lakers. Owen Konrad and Peterson scored for Eden Prairie before Parker Wenkus brought Prior Lake back within a goal. However, Konrad added his second goal of the game to finish the scoring.
Second-seed Shakopee got past No. 7 Bloomington Jefferson 6-1 with Landon Huh scoring twice for the Sabers. Tristin Wassengeso, Dylan Schmitz, Cody Sawyer and Cole Davis also scored for Shakopee after Chayton Lueck opened the scoring for Bloomington Jefferson. Jack Frein made 32 saves for the Jaguars, while Niklas Huson had 17 saves for Shakopee.
The Sabers will face No.3-seed Chanhassen, which beat No. 6 Holy Family 5-1. The semifinal is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at Braemar.
Class 2A, Section 6 quarterfinals
There were just two quarterfinal games in Section 6, with fourth-seed Wayzata beating fifth-seed Buffalo-Annandale 5-2 at the Plymouth Ice Center and No. 3-seed Holy Angels beating No. 6 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 2-1 in overtime at the Richfield Ice Arena.
Buffalo-Annandale opened the scoring against Wayzata with Brandon Rodenwald scoring in the first. Eli Molde and Evan Lyke scored in the second for the Trojans. Evan Hinnekamp brought Buffalo-Annandale within a goal before Kruz Sauer had two goals and Tommy Colmenero added another in the third for Wayzata.
Logan Preugschas had 21 saves for Buffalo-Annandale, while Ryan Pellinger stopped 15 shots for the Trojans, who will face the winner of No. 1 Rogers and No. 8 Hopkins in Saturday’s semifinal at Bloomington Ice Garden at 4 p.m. Rogers and Hopkins play Thursday in Rogers at 2 p.m.
Overtime was needed with Holy Angels and Benilde-St. Margaret’s with Cole Cheeseman scoring in the extra session to advance the Stars to Saturday’s semifinal at noon in Bloomington. After a scoreless first period, Benilde-St. Margaret’s struck first with a goal from Tyler Kirschner in the second. But Avi Kasargod scored before the end of the period and the two teams played a scoreless third.
Alex Beaton made 36 saves for the Red Knights. George Sill stopped 24 shots in goal for Holy Angels, which will face the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between second-seed Edina and No. 7 Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Braemar Arena.
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