A trio of Hermantown High winter sports teams have continued their strong starts to the 2022-23 season.
The defending Minnesota Class A state champion Hawks boys hockey team, ranked No. 2 in 1A, is 9-0-1. Hermantown will host St. Cloud Cathedral at 7 p.m. Thursday and visits 1A/No. 1 Warroad (11-0-0) at Gardens Arena Saturday at 5 p.m. The Hawks defeated Rosemount 4-3 last Tuesday and Eden Prairie 6-2 Saturday. Team scoring leaders include junior forward Dallas Vieau (19 points, including nine goals), senior defenseman George Peterson (17, 4), senior forward Wyatt Carlson (16, 9) and junior forward Joshua Kauppinen (12, 10). Senior Garron Opsahl (5-0-1, 1.46 gaa, .927 svs%) and junior Dane Callaway (4-0-0, 2.00, .895) have alternated in goal.
Meanwhile, the defending Section 7AAA boys basketball team, ranked No. 10 in Class AAA, is 6-0. The Hawks defeated Rock Ridge 108-77 and Sauk Rapids-Rice 83-57 last week. Abe Soumis and Blake Schmitz are 1-2 in scoring. Hermantown will visit Duluth East on Tuesday, before playing host to Cloquet at 7:15 p.m. Thursday and Grand Rapids at 5 p.m. Saturday.
“A lot of our success is coming down to the boys’ ability to play well together, get some key stops defensively, and move the ball around regardless of whoever puts the points up on the board,” said Hermantown coach Andy Fenske. “The selflessness of this team is crucial to the success we’ve had thus far. We’re averaging just over 60-percent of our makes from assisted passes, which is better than normal but a bit low for our standards. However, once you factor all of our fast breaks into that equation, it makes a lot more sense why that number is lower.
“This week we have three games coming up — as we will for the majority of our season now. We start off with a tough one at East tomorrow night, a big AAAA rival that has had a lot of success early on this year. Then we’re on a two-game home stretch with Cloquet coming Thursday and Grand Rapids on Saturday. Those two are both conference and section match-ups which we put a lot of value into. Both of those teams are looking for their identity but not someone you sleep on at all. Rapids just went wire-to-wire with Superior and then beat Denfeld so they’re gaining some traction.”
And, the defending Minnesota Class A state runner-up Proctor-Hermantown girls hockey team, ranked No. 3 in 1A, is 10-3-2. The Mirage, who fell to host Andover 7-2 on Saturday, has won three of its last four. Proctor-Hermantown will visit Chisago Lakes on Thursday and Hibbing-Chisholm Friday, before facing Breck at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Luke’s Sports & Events Center.
Other local teams enjoying strong seasons:
. Esko boys basketball, ranked 10th in Class AA
. Two Harbors boys basketball, 18th in AA
. Cherry boys basketball, third in A
. Grand Rapids girls basketball, 6th in AAA
. Cloquet girls basketball, 8th in AAA
. Duluth Marshall girls basketball, 17th in AAA
. Mountain Iron-Buhl girls basketball, second in A
. Grand Rapids boys hockey, 19th in AA
. Grand Rapids girls hockey, 19th in AA
. Duluth Marshall girls hockey, 9th in A
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Minnesota Duluth powered past Bemidji State 5-2 in a nonconference college men’s hockey game Saturday night at Amsoil Arena in Duluth. The teams skated to a 1-1 overtime tie Friday night in Bemidji.
Fifth-year senior forward Jesse Jacques of Hermantown and junior forward Luke Mylylok scored power-play goals in the second period for the Bulldogs. Junior defenseman Darian Gotz, also of Hermantown, recorded his third goal of the season late in the first period.
UMD (9-10-1, 4-6-0 NCHC, 13 points, tied 5th place with Western Michigan) will visit Omaha (9-9-2, 4-5-1, 15 4th) in a NCHC series next Friday and Saturday nights. The teams split a series Nov. 11-12 in Duluth, with the Mavericks winning 3-2 in the opener and the Bulldogs rebounding with a 3-2 overtime win Saturday.
UMD has lost four of its last five NCHC games.
Next Weekend’s NCHC Series Bulldogs at Omaha | Broadcast: NCHC.tv, Radio Western Michigan at North Dakota Colorado College at St. Cloud State Miami at Denver
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Winnipeg Jets defensemen and Hermantown natives Neal Pionk and Dylan Samberg each recorded a second assist in their team’s 7-4 home win against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday afternoon. Samberg was plus-3.
Kyle Connor had three goals for the Jets, who moved into first-place in the 53 points in the NHL’s Western Division, and Pierre-Luc Debois had four assists
đź“· Shawna Jokinen | Freeway North Photography