Gavin Lamphere stepped up to the state tournament postgame dais sporting a Popeye the Sailor hat on Thursday afternoon.

It’s a “gift” bestowed to the Hibbing/Chisholm boys hockey team’s player of the game. Thursday’s Class A state semifinal in St. Paul made that selection process rather simple.

Lamphere tallied 43 saves, including 19 in the opening stanza, to power the top-seeded Bluejackets to a 4-2 victory over fourth-seeded Mahtomedi. Hibbing/Chisholm will make its first state title game appearance since 1994 on Saturday, when it plays third-seeded Warroad for the championship at noon at Grand Casino Arena.

“We know we’ve got the best backbone in the state,” senior forward Ben Galli said of his netminder.

It needed it on a day when the Zephyrs generated persistent pressure. No one knows the Class A state tournament as well as Mahtomedi, who again looked as though it belonged on the big stage.

“We executed our game plan pretty much to a T,” Mahtomedi coach Jeff Poeschl said.

Outside of the start, that is. Hibbing/Chisholm scored on the game’s opening shift, with Jackson Strukel potting a goal just 17 seconds into the affair.

Mahtomedi responded brilliantly, controlling play for the remainder of the period. Yet it couldn’t find a payoff.

Then the Bluejackets struck again early in the second on a power-play goal from Ben Galli. Later in the frame, Cole Swanson lit the lamp to make it 3-0.

Finally, 13 seconds after the Swanson goal, Will Seevers got the Zephyrs on the board with a goal from the slot off an excellent feed from Tommy Boe to make it 3-1. That’s where the score stood heading into the final frame.

Mahtomedi defenseman Cody Loida noted the Zephyrs kept saying they needed to “break the goalie.” But Lamphere wouldn’t budge.

“It was really hard,” Loida said. “He did a heckuva job just stopping everybody. We didn’t crack him.”

Not for a lack of trying.

“I was really pleased with their effort today. I thought they left everything on the ice,” Poeschl said of his players. “We had a lot of chances, we just needed a few more to find the way in. A little puck luck would’ve been nice.”

Hibbing/Chisholm found opportunities early in the third to break the game open, but Mahtomedi goalie Jackson Chesak took his turn standing on his head, stopping numerous breakaways and Grade-A chances. He tallied 20 of his 37 saves in the third period to keep the Zephyrs in the fight.

And he wasn’t alone.

It looked as though Hibbing/Chisholm was going to cash in on a shot from the slot in the middle of the third, only for sprawling defenseman Henry Sampair to get a skate blade on the shot to re-direct it wide of the net.

Finally, Whitaker Rewertz put the game away with an empty-net tally in the final minute. Of course, shortly after that was when Mahtomedi finally beat Lamphere for the second time on the day as Loida found the back of the net.

Too little, too late.

“We needed that second goal about eight minutes earlier,” Poeschl said.

“It’s just unfortunate. You run into a hot goaltender and he played a hell of a game,” Sampair said. “Tried our hardest.”

Poeschl has been on both sides of the equation in these thrilling semifinals and finals over the years. He noted plays like the kick save Sampair made are what kids will usually remember years from now, when the dust has settled and the pain of coming short of reaching an ultimate goal subsides.

Though this group of Zephyrs, specifically, may have another major takeaway from the experience.

“Without trying to be too philosophical, this group is a team — it’s a true team,” Poeschl said. “What they’re going to remember is the togetherness, and doing it together.”

Sampair concurred, noting everyone on this Mahtomedi team pursued a championship with total disregard for individual accolades.

“I feel like it’s really a culture thing,” said Sampair, who was in his first season on the Zephyrs varsity team after previously playing AAA hockey. “It was really beautiful to see.”

Warroad 6, Delano 3

Gavin Anderson and Casey Hontvet each scored twice as Warroad erased an early 2-0 deficit to win its state semifinal.

The game was tied 3-3 in the third before Anderson broke the tie just three minutes into the final period.

Warroad outshot Delano 37-26.

Daniel Halonen scored twice for Delano.

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Scammers are sending emails to residents involved in planning, zoning or land-use applications pretending to be Forest Lake city planning and zoning staff members, the city said Friday.

The city said the emails that appear to come from the Forest Lake Planning Department or Planning Commission include applicant names, real property addresses, parcel numbers, and project details, all of which make the emails appear legitimate.

The emails are asking people to pay invoices by wire transfer, often saying they need “prompt settlement of the invoice,” city officials warned in a press release Friday.

City officials said the city will never request payment by wire transfer through email. All legitimate payments are handled directly through the city with official payment methods. In addition, all official city emails will come from email addresses that end in: @ci.forest-lake.mn.us.

If anyone receives a suspected scam email, the city asks that residents don’t click any links within the email and don’t send money. All messages about an application or payment needs can be verified by contacting the Forest Lake Community Development Department at 651-209-9731.

Any resident that has sent money in response to the scam emails should call the Forest Lake Police Department at 651-464-5877.

The press release said that some of the scam emails contain the following details:

Are signed by City Planner Michael Birchland, Planning & Zoning Commission Chair Paul Girard. or other member of the Community Development Department.
Claim payment is due for an application review or approval fee.
Ask recipients to reply for wire transfer payment instructions.
Come from an email address ending in @usa.com.

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LAS VEGAS – There are plenty of statistics available to help evaluate players as the Minnesota Wild considered roster tweaks in the days and hours leading up to Friday’s NHL trade deadline. But for general manager Bill Guerin and coach John Hynes, the additions they eventually made to their playoff-bound roster went deeper than goals, assists and faceoff wins.

“You’re bringing in a player, but you’re also bringing in a person and you’re bringing in their family,” Hynes said following the team’s morning skate in Las Vegas ahead of their Friday night game versus the Golden Knights.

When the clock hit 2 p.m. CST and the deadline for 2026 passed, the Wild had not acquired any of the big-name centers that they were rumored to be in on for weeks. But in the addition of forwards Robby Fabbri and Michael McCarron, defenseman Jeff Petry, and the Friday morning acquisitions of forwards Bobby Brink and Nick Foligno, they feel they have players — and people — who will make a difference in the remaining regular-season games, and in the playoffs.

Brink is a native Minnesotan who starred at Minnetonka High School. Foligno is the older brother of Wild captain Marcus Foligno.

“I feel really good,” Guerin said, huddling with the media at the team hotel in Las Vegas on Friday. “We set out to create some depth up front and add to our group, and get a veteran D-man that could help us and could be there for us. So, I think we checked a lot of boxes in the last couple days and I’m excited to see what this group can do.”

Brink, 24, is coming home after spending the first three seasons of his NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers. Known as a puck-moving winger, he has 13 goals and 13 assists in 55 games this season.

The price for Brink was defenseman David Jiricek, who never found a consistent place on the Wild’s blue line after being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets 16 months ago. He played 25 games for the Wild without recording a point this season and played 24 games with Iowa of the AHL.

Brink, who was flying cross-country from Philadelphia to join the Wild in time for Friday’s game, was expected to fill a bottom-six, right-wing role, initially, with Danila Yurov at center, but Guerin saw offensive options in Brink, who led Minnetonka to the Class 2A state championship in 2018.

“In a perfect world, I would probably see him on our third line but that doesn’t mean he can’t bump up to two or one for spurts, who knows?” Guerin said. “Let’s see what happens and how he fits in. He’s a versatile guy.”

Nick Foligno is 38 years old and was in his third season with the Blackhawks after previous stops with the Ottawa Senators, Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. He had 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 37 games for Chicago this season after missing significant time due to an upper-body injury.

In the faceoff circle, Foligno has won a little more than 49% of his draws this season. He has done as well as 56% earlier in his career. Marcus is currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, so an actual reunion on the ice will have to wait a little bit longer.

Guerin joked that there were no hard feelings, despite the fact that he had tried and failed to sign the elder Foligno a few times in free agency previously.

“I tried to get Nick three times before, so I guess fourth time’s the charm,” Guerin said. “Just like his brother, he’s an A-plus human and you know, his experience, the way he plays the game, his character, all those things, he brings a lot to the table for us.”

In addition to Jiricek going to Philadelphia, the Wild sent fourth-line winger Vinnie Hinostroza to Florida for future considerations.

“We feel like we have a really good team, and not only a good team on the ice, but off the ice, and Vinnie was a big part of that,” Hynes said. “He worked hard for us, played an important role, and, so, I appreciate what he did and it’s tough to see him go.”

The Wild were rumored to be pursuing top-line centers like the Rangers’ Vincent Trocheck and Calgary’s Nazem Kadri but neither move materialized. Trocheck stayed put, while Kadri went to Colorado in a last minute move.

“There were some great players available, but you know, the asking prices were extremely high,” Guerin said. “I feel like we strengthened our team in different ways. At some point in time, you still have to be responsible and do the right thing.”

Most notably for the Wild, they held on to forward prospect Charlie Stramel and backup goalie Jesper Wallstedt — both first-round picks that were reportedly sought after by potential trading partners.

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Residents in the Twin Cities metro might wake to a light dusting of snow Saturday morning but can look forward to a possible high of 60 on Monday, according to the National Weather Service Twin Cities.

The Friday evening commute was expected to be mostly foggy with some drizzle or rain, with cooler temperatures setting in until later that night when there is a possibility of some light freezing or a “cosmetic” dusting of snowfall, said Brennan Dettmann, a NWS meteorologist.

However, drivers heading north or west should be cautious.

“Anybody in the metro area who might be traveling north, say to St. Cloud or west, say towards Hutchinson, that’s where there is a much better chance of seeing the impacts from freezing rain or ice this evening,” Dettmann said. “It could be pretty dangerous so make sure to check road conditions and current weather.”

On Saturday morning, residents in the metro might find one-half to one-inch of snowfall which should be over by 8 a.m., he said.

The rest of the weekend will be quieter with temperatures in the 40s, but then when Monday comes, there is the potential to hit 60s or upper 50s depending on how much sunlight the area gets, Dettmann said.

“Over the next week or so the temperatures will be up and down a bit,” he said, noting that Tuesday could see the 40s again but by the end of the week temperatures will bounce back up until the 50s.

However, the following week will turn cool again, he said.

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