The St. Paul Public Library system is once again offering free, limited-edition library cards adorned by a loon with laser eyes shooting upward.

Also available are Laser Loon cover-all stickers that existing cardholders can request instead of the new cards and without needing to create new library accounts.

The items proved hugely popular in mid-February, and branches quickly depleted their supplies.

“We hoped that the fun design would resonate with the community, but we did not anticipate the incredible response to the Laser Loon,” said Claire Huber, marketing and communications specialist who manages SPPL’s social media account, in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be providing another set.”

Once again, residents can stop by any library location to claim a Laser Loon item and receive a coupon for The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library’s online shop, which features Laser Loon merchandise.

New in the shop: a kid-sized T-shirt and mug.

The feathered mascot was inspired by a submission to the state’s flag and state seal contest, which drew some 2,600 submissions. The new flag design lacks a loon, as does the old one.

Related Articles

Bernice Steinke was born 100 years ago. She’s 25 now. We explain.

Check out Allianz Field’s new food items, with tips from the chef

St. Paul fire fatality is 7th of year, the most in 30 years

14 protesters cited for trespassing at temporary governor’s residence in St. Paul

St. Paul City Council walks out as Nelsie Yang attempts to introduce Gaza cease-fire resolution

The names have changed over the past decade plus, but the result rarely does.

Mahtomedi is again heading to the state boys’ hockey tournament.

Sam Harris scored his second goal of the night 26 seconds into overtime and the Zephyrs survived Southwest Christian/Richfield 3-2 Thursday in the Class A, Section 4 final.

“Great team win. Super proud of me and all the boys,” Harris said. “No better feeling than going to the tourney with all your brothers.”

Class A action begins Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center. Brackets will be announced Saturday.

Harris took a cross-ice pass from Wyatt Tarnowski just inside the blue line, and his wrist shot found its way through traffic and a screen by Gene Wegleiter to get past Jannes Kamp, the Stars’ 6-foot-7 goalie, who made tremendous saves all night.

Harris had just three goals in the Zephyrs first 27 games.

“I told my coaches I was saving them, I was putting them in the cookie jar, saving them for when it matters,” he said. “They were always telling me I was gonna score when it mattered.”

Coach Jeff Poeschl, whose team improved to 17-11-0, said Harris played 2 ½ years with just a lone empty-net goal.

“We joked, ‘how come you can’t score with a goalie in the net?’ The last six weeks he’s just been lights out, playing with such confidence and tonight it was fun to see him do his thing,” Poeschl said.

Mahtomedi played in the section final for the eighth straight season and 10th time in 11 years. It is 9-2 in those contests.

“I don’t know, other than you just get that feeling that you’re always going to the X,” said Jake Hodd-Chlebeck, who also scored.

Many high school hockey aficionados will say the section tournaments produce the best action throughout the season. This one surely qualified.

“There’s nothing like a section final, and this felt like a section final,” Poeschl said. “Southwest Christian had a great game plan, they played very hard and they should be very proud. I was very impressed with their effort.”

Jared Greiner scored twice for the Stars (17-11-0).

Tied at 1, it was a wild few minutes late in regulation.

Moments after Paul Horner just missed for the Stars, Harris whistled a low wrist shot that found the back of the net with 3:46 to play.

A penalty on Southwest Christian/Richfield penalty gave Mahtomedi a prime opportunity for an insurance marker, instead it was Greiner tying the contest with a shorthanded goal with just 2:31 remaining in regulation.

“It’s adversity and we just overcame it,” said Hodd-Chlebeck.

Down 1-0 entering the third period, Mahtomedi came out with an amped-up intensity. Hodd-Chlebeck scored 17 seconds into the frame, converting a pass from Harris to even things up.

Laken Decker appeared to make it 2-1 Mahtomedi barely two minutes later, but after a lengthy review officials determined the net was dislodged.

“I thought we were playing tight. I thought we were playing not to lose. I just said ‘This is not a game to play not to lose. We need to play to win this game,’” Poeschl said. “They loosened up, they started moving the puck and they kept pucks in the zone, we bottled them up and we were able to get a couple in.”

In their biggest game of the season, the Wild took a 1-0 lead on the Nashville Predators on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena, momentarily masking the fact that they had been outplayed for most of the game’s first 10 minutes.

Again, momentarily.

It took the Predators less than a minute to erase that deficit and take a lead they never relinquished in a 6-1 victory that kept Minnesota stalled six points out of the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot pending a late game between Los Angeles and Vancouver.

If the Kings were to win that game, Minnesota would be eight points out with 22 regular-season games remaining.

Yakov Trenin and Cole Smith scored goals 8 seconds apart in the first period, and Juuse Saros stopped 33 of 34 shots as Nashville put eight points between themselves and their Central Division rival.

Connor Dewar scored for the Wild, who have lost consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 25-27, as well as all the progress they had made during a 7-1-1 run out of the all-star break.

Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Ryan O’Reilly and St. Paul’s Ryan McDonaugh also scored goals for Nashville, which has won seven in a row to solidify its playoff position, seven points ahead of ninth- and 10th-place Calgary and St. Louis.

The Wild play the Blues, a point ahead in the standings, on Saturday at Enterprise Center.

“Obviously, we wanted that one tonight. We want every one,” Wild forward Vinni Lettieri told Bally Sports North. “We’re just looking at the next game. We can’t look ahead, we can’t look at the standings. Staying in the present moment is the biggest thing for us.”

Forsberg’s power-play goal at 17:55 of the second period made it 3-1, and Roman Josi — who finished with three points — scored at even strength 1:32 into the third period to make it 4-1 Nashville, which has hovered in and around a playoff spot for most of the season. The teams play once more this season, March 10 in St. Paul.

Consecutive losses to Nashville and Anaheim dropped the Wild seven points out of a playoff spot heading into the all-star break, but after back-to-back road wins in Edmonton and Seattle last weekend, Minnesota was back within two points of both the West’s two wild card playoff spots.

Two losses later — Carolina beat Minnesota 3-2 at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday — the Wild again find themselves in a deep hole.

Filip Gustavsson stopped 25 shots for Minnesota, keeping the Wild within spitting distance in a first period spent mostly in the Wild zone. Minnesota had a hard time getting the puck across the Predators’ blue line, and when they did, spent little time there.

The Wild opened the scoring on a rush when Brandon Duhaime threw a shot on net from the high slot that Saros couldn’t contain. Dewar followed, corralled the rebound and buried it for a 1-0 lead at 9:51.

But it didn’t last long.

The Predators quickly set up shop, again, in the Wild zone. Roman Josi took a pass at the point and skated across the circles, turning his back to protect the puck, before sending a backhanded pass to the crease. Trenin, camped behind Marco Rossi, beat Gustavsson to the puck and it was 1-1 at 10:40.

Nashville won the ensuing faceoff and threw the puck into the Wild zone. Declan Chisholm intercepted it between the circles but was picked by Smith, who skated around the defenseman to score at 10:48 a 2-1 lead.

Minnesota played a much stronger second period, but Saros made a pair of big saves on shots by Zach Bogosian and Joel Eriksson Ek, and the Predators finally scored on Forsberg’s power play goal with 2:05 left in the period. His wrist shot from atop the right circle was redirected by Jonas Brodin’s stick and past a sprawling Gustavsson for a 3-1 lead.

Briefly

Bogosian was playing his first game back from an upper body injury suffered Feb. 20 at Winnipeg.

Simley did something Thursday it had never previously achieved in the program’s storied history — win a sixth straight state title.

SilmeyÕs Derrick Dohmen celebrates after defeating Mantorville KeymoniÕs Jonah Coleman in the 145lb division during the Class 2A team championship of the State Wrestling Tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Thursday, February. 29, 2024. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

The Spartans did so by besting longtime rival Kasson-Mantorville 32-26 to win the Class 2A crown at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. And while the performance wasn’t quite as dominant as the Spartans have been in recent years, it was at least equally — if not more — impressive.

The Spartans graduated a lot of firepower from a year ago and lost three contributors from this year’s lineup to season-ending injuries midseason. And, in the end, it didn’t matter. Because, as it often does, Simley found a way.

Whether that was through wrestlers shifting spots in the lineup to make the lineup work or guys stepping up to make unexpected contributions, the Spartans refused to allow the program’s standard to slip. It certainly was upheld Thursday night in St. Paul.

Turner Ross and Austin Grzywinski delivered tech fall victories at 107 and 114 pounds to put the Spartans up 10-0. Those were expected victories for the Spartans. But it was at 121 pounds where Simley scored an important nail-biter, as Aiden Mincey edged Spencer Myers 7-6 to extend Simley’s lead to 13-0.

Simley’s first pin of the match came at 127 pounds from Jake Kos, who drew the fall in the waning moments of the second period. Justus Heeg scored a victory over Aiden Friedrich in another top-10 showdown to move the Spartans’ advantage to 22-0.

Kasson-Mantorville didn’t get on the board until the 139-pound match, when Owen Friedrich delivered a technical fall. Simley bounced back immediately, with senior captain Derrick Dohmen coming up with an upset victory at 145 pounds. Dohmen, ranked No. 10, edged fourth-ranked Jonah Coleman 3-2.

A win for Cash Raymond at 152 pounds in a match featuring a pair of top-three ranked wrestlers extended Simley’s lead to 29-5.

The cushion was necessary, as Kasson-Mantorville cut into the Spartans’ lead via a pair of pins to make it 29-17.

No matter, Vristol Short — nephew of Simley coach Will Short — secured the title in the following match with an overtime takedown.

STMA WINS 3A

St. Michael-Albertville lost a heartbreaker a year ago, squandering a 32-9 advantage to fall to Hastings in stunning fashion, with the Raiders finishing the duel with three straight pins to win the Class 3A state title by a single point.

There was no such collapse for the Knights on Thursday. A year later, St. Michael-Albertville got its state title in dominant fashion, besting previously unbeaten and top-seeded Mounds View 47-10.

On paper, the Knights and Mustangs figured to be an electric duel. Mounds View’s rise to the top of the state rankings this season has been nothing short of impressive. But St. Michael-Albertville always appeared to be a peer given the depth of talent each team sported.

But seemingly every expected close match Thursday went the way of the Knights.

St. Michael-Albertville scored a trio of coin flip victories to jump out to a 9-0 advantage.

Grant Bergeron topped Owen LaRose at 107 in a battle of top-seven ranked wrestlers, then fourth-ranked Lincoln Robideau pulled off a mini upset of second-ranked Brett Swenson in overtime. Then Brady Bergeron bested Will Schneider 6-2.

Chase Mills delivered a pin at 127 pounds, and the Knights were off and running with a 15-0 advantage.

Mounds View is strong in the middle and upper weights, where it has made its hay all season. The problem is the Knights are just as formidable at nearly every step. Mounds View’s Apollo Ashby is the No. 2 ranked wrestler at 152 pounds. But the Knights’ Landon Robideau is a dominant top-ranked wrestler who won via tech fall.

At the next weight, Jarrett Wadsen scored an upset via pin for St. Michael-Albertville in a top-five showdown to essentially put the duel away. St. Michael-Albertville’s Jed Wester put an exclamation point on the proceedings via a tech fall victory at 172 pounds over third-ranked Ethan Swenson.

Put simply, it was the Knights’ day, and their year.

Perhaps Mounds View will be the Knights of next season, getting back to the same stage and potentially getting over the top. The Mustangs will return five ranked wrestlers on next year’s squad, four of which are ranked in the top four at their respective weight classes.

OTHER RESULTS

— Chatfield won the Class A title with a 47-7 victory over Staples-Motley.

— Apple Valley fell 45-11 to Shakopee in the Class 3A quarterfinals. Shakopee went on to take third place.

— Hastings, the defending champ in Class 3A, lost tight quarterfinal 33-32 to Albert Lea. The Raiders reached the consolation final, where they fell to Willmar.

— Totino-Grace and Becker tied 30-30 in the third-place match in Class 2A