Hermantown boys hockey coach Patrick Andrews on his club opening the season with a pair of brutally challenging Class 2A games this weekend – "Well, the 'preseason' is done. We had five great scrimmages against some stiff competition. As always we learned a lot about our team, our players, and most importantly our team's compete. The boys competed very hard and were willing to take coaching which is an excellent sign. As I have said before, we will be young and inexperienced in many positions from the goalline out. Still, the youth and experience also mean a tremendous opportunity for growth and development. Our senior leadership has been outstanding with River Freeman (captain) and Henry Peterson (assistant captain) returning from juniors providing much-needed experience and exceptional talent. Senior Charlie Marchand (assistant captain) also played juniors this fall but was able to be at home all week, which allowed him to lead the boys through fall workouts and skates providing outstanding consistency and leadership entering the season.
The week ahead will be exciting and incredibly challenging as we take on two AA powers in Cretin Durham Hall and Hill Murray. We open at home on Friday with a tremendously deep, talented, experienced, and high-flying Raiders team that is very well-coached. CDH will challenge our young back end and goaltending as they are traditionally exceptional in transition and have a few key snipers who know what to do with the puck. We follow that up with a trip to Maplewood on Saturday afternoon to take on the most consistent high school hockey program in the state, Hill Murray. Hill provides a challenge of a different sort. While Cretin will fly and press the attack from all over, Hill tends to play a more structured game but with equally talented players and high-powered scores. Coach Lechner is the definition of class and is the most successful and respected high school coach in the state. It is a tremendous honor to play such a storied program. We always have tremendously hard-fought battles with the Pioneers."
2024-25 Hermantown Hockey Schedule
Friday – Cretin-Derham Hall, 7 p.m.
Saturday – at Hill-Murray, 3 p.m.
Dec. 6 – East Grand Forks, 7 p.m.
Dec. 10 – at Duluth Marshall, 7 p.m.
Dec. 13 – at Centennial, 7 p.m.
Dec. 14 – Maple Grove, 5 p.m.
Dec. 17 – Duluth Denfeld, 7 p.m.
Dec. 20 – at Rosemount, 7 p.m.
Dec. 26 – Delano, 3 p.m.
Dec. 28 – at White Bear Lake, 3 p.m.
Jan. 2 – Rock Ridge, 7 p.m.
Jan. 4 – at Eden Prairie, 2 p.m.
Jan. 7 – Proctor, 7 p.m.
Jan. 9 – St. Cloud Cathedral, 7 p.m.
Jan. 11 – at Warroad, 3:15 p.m.
Jan. 17 – at Hibbing-Chisholm, 7 p.m.
Jan. 18 – Shakopee, 3 p.m.
Jan. 21 – at Superior, 7 p.m.
Jan. 24 – at St. Thomas Academy, 6 p.m.
Jan. 25 – Mahtomedi, 2 p.m.
Jan. 30 – Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, 7 p.m.
Jan. 31 – Moorhead, 7 p.m.
Feb. 7 – Benilde-St. Margaret's, 7 p.m.
Feb. 11 – Grand Rapids, 7 p.m.
Home games listed in boldface.