MN State Tournament Final Preview

Edina and Eden Prairie for all the marbles

Well, I asked for it and I got it. Other than the Edina and Eden Prairie faithful, I don’t think anyone else wanted this, but I’m glad because I’ve been watching a ton of hockey this week and this has the potential to be the best game of it all. I actually may like Eden Prairie (who went 0-3 against Edina this season) in this one, but what do I know. I’ll go through and give a more thorough breakdown of day 2 at the state tournament before I preview the title game here.

Tournament weekend reading: A nice look by KSTP on some of the legacies in the tournament off-the-ice.

Eden Prairie 4 - 3 Blaine

Blaine had a nice team, St. Thomas had a nice team, East had a nice team, even Lakeville South and Moorhead had their moments yesterday, but no one was nice enough to string five wins together at the end of the year — no one but the two golden suburbs of Minneapolis, Edina and Eden Prairie.

Eden Prairie opened the day with a Blaine game that could have gone either way. The Eagles have a great club but played three overtime frames the night prior. Captain Jack Jensen, Friday night’s hero, continued to prove his mettle as one of the better players high school hockey has seen, but it was senior defenseman Keegan Langefels who stepped up as the offensive catalyst on night two. In tandem with a strong outing by the brothers Mittelstadt, John and Luke, it was a bright night for the Eagles. “EP”, likely lacking the fresh legs to match the Bengals initially, would respond to a 2-0 hole early with four of their own unanswered in a ten-minute span during the second period. Langefels’ two assists and goal started the rally off. That, plus the Eagles generally carrying the play over the course of three periods, was enough to contain Blaine’s lethal scoring threats — despite Carsen Richels hitting a great-shot off a toe-drag in the waning minutes of the game.

Eden Prairie’s execution in the second period was the obvious difference. Blaine were skating up-hill all game, pressing and couldn’t get a lot interesting going. There were a lot of penalties which definitely impacted the game, particularly after a first day where I felt the referees let a good amount go. This Eden Prairie team have the personnel to punish on the powerplay, but Blaine are certainly loaded in the finishing department as well.

Speaking of finishing, Richels, a 2020 draft-eligible and 41-goal scorer for the Bengals this year, will have NHL scouts asking around about where he’ll be spending his senior year. Fellow Blaine forward Bryce Brodzinski is a finisher too, but played the role of facilitator with three primary assists on the day. Goaltender Joe Daninger, despite allowing four, kept the game closer than it could have been, serving up save after save and making the Eagles earn their notches.

Edina 6 x 3 St. Thomas

This wasn’t the best game I’ve seen all week. Edina seemed destined to win as though they knew Eden Prairie were lying in wait. Well, to be fair, they did. The Edina offense are deep, fast, talented and took no time showing it. They can attack off the transition, on sustained possessions, out of the blue... by the time St. Thomas knew what hit them (a trio of goals to close out the first period), it was over. It was kind of like the earlier game, except Edina didn’t slink into the early 2-0 hole that EP did. Tying the second period was a solid ‘win’ for the Cadets, but still down by three heading into the third, the story seemed to be writing itself. As though scoring on command, Rob Christy’s spark of life to bring it within two for the Cadets was snuffed away by a great effort via Brett Chorske and Liam Malmquist (below) just moments after.

Though St. Thomas would score another and threaten to make it interesting, nothing materialized to tie it all up.

Let’s talk about Edina some more. The Hornets are outscoring teams 51-16 since February, haven’t lost since a home-and-home with Hill (a 2-3 result), and are flat-out better than most of these other teams. From Wisconsin-bound defenseman Mike Vorlicky and Gopher recruit Jake Boltmann patrolling the blue line, to another Malmquist brother, Liam (four goals in two games), they’re scary on paper and in real life. A lot of people hate Edina, but you can’t deny they’re good. They took out a loaded Minnetonka team, who would have been undefeated in the regular season if not for them, twice! Just watching them for a few minutes in the state tournament you can observe that the level of talent is well above your average high school game. If we can grant that Edina, who have beaten Eden Prairie three times (with a combined score of 18-5) this year, are the favorites, we can get excited for the ‘under-dog’ Eagles to make it a tilt.

One of the things I love most about the state tournament is how many of these players have been playing with and against each other well before they ever got to high school. In the case of the Hornets, that is certainly the case, and you can see it on the ice. For St. Thomas, a private school, it isn’t quite the same, but they’ve got their own chemistry and workmanlike approach to the game. It is a big factor in why I wanted the Edina/EP match-up for the title, because the two neighboring varsity teams undoubtedly have more storylines between them tracing back to youth hockey to make the game interesting on tons of levels. Not only are the teams hyper-familiar with each other, they’re really good. It’s been a few years since Casey Mittelstadt returned to high school hockey for the Eagles as a senior, but the way his brothers are playing you’d be forgiven if you thought he was still here. Luke and John executed brilliantly in the offensive zone during their four-goal rally and make it seem like the Eagles should have a real battle with Edina tomorrow. There’s only one game to play and the Hornets, while loaded, still have to play the game.

A couple other notes from the day:

• Wes Gervais stopped two breakaways short-handed coming on in relief for St. Thomas. Pretty incredible to do that on that stage when your team needs you most.

• Brett Chorske has had a nice tournament, for a big guy he has hands and produces. Liam Malmquist’s goal (above) was 90% created off of his own speed and skill, but Chorske had a critical part to play there and did it to perfection.

• EP captain Jack Jensen better be ready for another heroic effort to close out his high school career, because the Eagles are going to need it. Edina are oozing confidence and competence on the biggest sheet of them all.

• One potential weak spot? Edina sophomore goaltender Louden Hogg. He’s been up to the task, but what task has it really been? The last time a team threw more than thirty pucks on his net was back in 2018. Most goaltenders in high school don’t have a defense this strong, and none have a group of forwards who keep the attack focused on the other team as well as Edina’s can. A couple penalties the wrong way and Edina could find themselves in a very unfamiliar position.