Was going to say, hey that's 17-1! Then I remembered the Year Of Todd Wentworth. Heh.
Lee
Yeah, that was a Thing.
None more impressive than this one. I still can't believe that just happened. I'd written the opening lines of a eulogy after the first period. Oh, me of little faith.
With #16, Randolph surpasses Tom Saterdalen for sole possession of 2nd place on the all-time list of Tourney appearances by a coach. You wonder if he'll stick around to go after Ikola (19).
Why not? Three more years should do it, right?
Like you, I'm still in shock. After that bowel obstruction of a first period, I didn't give them any chance. The kids showed heart and tons of energy.
mnmouth wrote:State tourney needs a AA representative from NE Minnesota. Section 7 is a northern section, and Sarsland apologetically said as much back in 1999 when they beat Hibbing for the title. It's unfortunate that for the foreseeable future 7AA will need some south teams to round out a playoff field, but ya gotta wonder if the Hockey Gods keep stepping in on behalf of tradition.
jonandrews13 wrote:Insanity! Great job Hounds! Was hoping they would pull it out, but would have been fine with Elk River going too. 7AA!
Proctor's Garrett Worth scores the game winner for East! Hey, had to be fair to Hermantown. They aren't the only ones winning with Proctor kids. But at least East is AA. Glad to see the Northern AA team win. Good job Hounds!
jonandrews13 wrote:Insanity! Great job Hounds! Was hoping they would pull it out, but would have been fine with Elk River going too. 7AA!
Proctor's Garrett Worth scores the game winner for East! Hey, had to be fair to Hermantown. They aren't the only ones winning with Proctor kids. But at least East is AA. Glad to see the Northern AA team win. Good job Hounds!
Congrats to the greyhounds! DE somehow righted the ship after losing to both Anoka & Blaine late in the season. I said earlier in this thread ...that ER was a goaltender short of being a great team...but I never thought a 4th year varsity player would take a checking from behind penalty while leading 3-0. Give DE credit for converting on the PP. Hard to believe a team as talented as ER...could lose 2 sections finals in a row, in the manner they did.
grindiangrad-80 wrote:I said before yesterday that whoever won the East-GR game was going to state. I didn't see anything at that game to change my mind. If Howg continues to play in net like he did Saturday, they will be hard to beat.
East 3-1 with an ENG.
jonandrews13 wrote:Insanity! Great job Hounds! Was hoping they would pull it out, but would have been fine with Elk River going too. 7AA!
Proctor's Garrett Worth scores the game winner for East! Hey, had to be fair to Hermantown. They aren't the only ones winning with Proctor kids. But at least East is AA. Glad to see the Northern AA team win. Good job Hounds!
Congrats to the greyhounds! DE somehow righted the ship after losing to both Anoka & Blaine late in the season. I said earlier in this thread ...that ER was a goaltender short of being a great team...but I never thought a 4th year varsity player would take a checking from behind penalty while leading 3-0. Give DE credit for converting on the PP. Hard to believe a team as talented as ER...could lose 2 sections finals in a row, in the manner they did.
Yes, congrats to the Greyhounds and congrats to Proctor for the East and Hermantown win. Garrett Worth from Proctor scored the game winner for East! And Hawk, Samberg, Judnick and Aamodt won the title for Hermantown. Imagine if these kids would have stayed home and played for Proctor. We might have Proctor, Elk River and Marshall at the State Tourney instead. Just something to ponder.....
We East fans are blessed. I feel like a little kid again tonight.[/quote]
Did you play for Randolph? Seems like you have a lot of inside scoop and knowledge about him. I do think he's a good coach, but I think the players deserve more credit. To me it just seems like a lot of hero worship and its kind of strange.
HUGE congratulations to the Hounds!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a win and couldn't have happened to a better coach than Coach Randolph!!!! A class act all the way!!!
You know... I don't follow high school hockey as much as I used to, but I was at this game. Seems like there are a lot of Elk River people who should be eating some crow. Personally I thought East had a shot but not a great one.
The reality is neither team played good. At all. East's defensemen really couldn't keep up with Elk Rivers forwards for the most part. Forwards made bad decisions and easily the worst passing Randolph team I have ever seen. Howg looked very shaky as well. The three final ER goals (didnt see the first) were decent shots, but ones that have to be stopped. That being said, East knew all of this coming in. ER was clearly the more talented team.
After ER went up 3-0 I told my buddy the only way East could come back is if they popped a couple quick ones and the Elks got shaky. I noticed that in the first period the ER goalie was giving up some juicy rebound and not seeing the puck that well. East easily could have had 3 in the first period as well. I figured he had a high chance of cracking if they peppered him with well placed shots. Remember when I said how much more talented the Elks are? Well towards the end of the first it was clear that East was outhustling them. They were getting to all the loose pucks and winning the corner battles.
The major penalty was well deserved, happened right in from of me. I won't say this cost Elk River the game (the 5 goals given up did) but it was a major turning point. After a largely apathetic beginning to the PP East popped in two and the rest is history. I will say though, poor Jeanetta must have had flashbacks a few times in that third period. Twice did the puck squirt through Howg and come oh so close to the line, but both times East was there to clear.
Was not a great game by any means, lots of missed passes, falling, and bad goals, but it was damn sure entertaining!! Really fun to be at. Congrats to East... but its going to be a tough road at State. Was also nice seeing the student section loud again, disappointing not a single chant made against Elk River though... but cool seeing the glass bent at an odd angle from everyone leaning on it.
Officiating was a non factor in this game. We are hearing less whining about East's advantage but it would be nice to see them hit the road to say St. Cloud but after seeing the crowd and atmosphere I Get why it is there. Duluth is a great hockey town and the section needs the gate receipts.
We East fans are blessed. I feel like a little kid again tonight.
Did you play for Randolph? Seems like you have a lot of inside scoop and knowledge about him. I do think he's a good coach, but I think the players deserve more credit. To me it just seems like a lot of hero worship and its kind of strange.
Congrats to the Hounds and good luck at state!
No, didn't play for him. I did a very, very long interview with him for the Hub preview book a few years back and milked it for all it was worth, but most of this is observation and appreciation from some distance. The point of the blog post was to point out 1) the little things he does that other coaches don't--and I spend more time watching other teams than I do watching East these days, so I have good grounds for comparison; and 2) the fact that this widespread love for Randolph wasn't the case just 3 years ago. I would have put myself among the critics at times, too. Not anymore.
Obviously the players deserve a ton of credit, and I do think they've been underestimated some by others around the state. As I've said at times this year, sometimes Randolph's systems can hold point totals down, too--it's not all perfect. But it's all with the end goal of a State Tournament in mind, and when the kid who scores the game-winner tells the Hub "Mike Randolph is a freaking legend" unprompted in the interview, you know he's doing something right.
mnmouth wrote:State tourney needs a AA representative from NE Minnesota. Section 7 is a northern section, and Sarsland apologetically said as much back in 1999 when they beat Hibbing for the title. It's unfortunate that for the foreseeable future 7AA will need some south teams to round out a playoff field, but ya gotta wonder if the Hockey Gods keep stepping in on behalf of tradition.
From today's Duluth News Tribune -
“We knew they had a lot of character on their team and it was a hard-fought game right to the end,” [coach Gordie] Roberts said. “Obviously, the hockey gods going forward will hopefully be better to us.”
mnmouth wrote:State tourney needs a AA representative from NE Minnesota. Section 7 is a northern section, and Sarsland apologetically said as much back in 1999 when they beat Hibbing for the title. It's unfortunate that for the foreseeable future 7AA will need some south teams to round out a playoff field, but ya gotta wonder if the Hockey Gods keep stepping in on behalf of tradition.
From today's Duluth News Tribune -
“We knew they had a lot of character on their team and it was a hard-fought game right to the end,” [coach Gordie] Roberts said. “Obviously, the hockey god going forward will hopefully be better to us.”
“We knew they had a lot of character on their team and it was a hard-fought game right to the end,” [coach Gordie] Roberts said. “Obviously, the hockey god going forward will hopefully be better to us.”
“We knew they had a lot of character on their team and it was a hard-fought game right to the end,” [coach Gordie] Roberts said. “Obviously, the hockey god going forward will hopefully be better to us.”
