The Hastings boys hockey team played their final two games of the season last week, a lopsided win to start things for the week, and a lopsided loss to end the season. For sections, Hastings opened the tournament as the eighth seed which meant a play-in game against the ninth-seeded Apple Valley/Burnsville Eagles.
Home vs the Eagles
The Raiders scored seven times, four in the first period. The first goal went to Blake Vandehoef with assists to Jon Harris and Connor Zgoda at 7:49 and that opened the floodgates. At 8:42, Will Savage scored assisted by Lukas Niederkorn. The third goal came at 13:57 when Sawyer Tjomsland scored assisted by Sawyer Zaruba and Brody Carlson. With four seconds left in the period, Harris nabbed a goal assisted by Zgoda and Vandehoef.
The second period slowed down a lot for scoring with Harris scoring a shorthanded goal assisted by Zgoda at 6:50. The most penalties of the game were called in the second so there was still a lot of action in the second period.
Head Coach Matt Klein had an interesting conversation between the second and third periods, he spoke to goalie Ryan Clemens about taking over in the third period as they had planned before the game.
“We had plans to get Ryan in the whole game,” he explained. “When I talked to him about warming up, he said ‘nope, it’s Brooks’ game’ because he wanted his teammate to get the shutout. It was really selfless, just a high-character move.”
The odds are, if the roles were reversed, Brooks Smyrski would have said the same thing. Instead, Smyrski came out for the third having already stopped the 29 shots he faced previously. Hastings scored their sixth goal at 2:16 into the third, this time off the stick of Brody Geib, assisted by Tjomsland and Carlson. A minute later, the shutout was broken making the game 6-1. Brayden Krauth scored goal number seven of the game at 10:09 and he was assisted by Johnny Teigland.
The game finished with Hastings leading in all the metrics used for reporting. They had the 7-1 win, outshot the Eagles 34-25, and scored one of the two powerplays they had to Apple Valley’s 0-for-3 efforts with a player advantage. Hastings also led in trips to the penalty box with 10 minutes on five infractions to the Eagles eight minutes on four infractions. Brooks Smyrski finished the game stopping 24-of-25 shots for a save percentage of .960.
“I thought we were really good away from the puck whether we had possession or not,” explained Klein. “I think we took ice away from them which obviously allows you to win the puck in different areas. I thought once the puck moved, we were taking some pretty good routes to get it back and to find the next one if it was put to the net.”
At Eastview
The win sent the Raiders to Apple Valley to play their other team, the number one-seeded Eastview Lightning and this outing was the opposite result. This game saw three five-minute major penalties, with two of them on Hastings. The first penalty of the game was the major against the Lightning for checking from behind, it also warranted an ejection plus a 10-minute misconduct. Four penalties were called against Eastview and one against Hastings. The issue with the one Hastings penalty is that it gave Eastview all the confidence it needed to begin dominating the game. Because the penalty took place during the major penalty, the teams were at even strength.
Apple Valley scored five seconds into the power play and with the even strength piece, the Raider skater stayed in the box. A minute later, Eastview scored again on the same Raider penalty. Apple Valley scored a third time with less than a minute to go in the period and Hastings made a change in goal, Clemens replaced Smyrski at 16:07.
The second period went no better for Clemens in net with Eastview scoring four additional times. The game stayed exciting on the penalty side of things with three penalties in the second and six more infractions called in the third. Each period had one five-minute major and in total, there were 14 penalties called for a total of 61 minutes served.
Eastview eliminated the Raiders by a score of 7-0 from the section tournament and ended their season at 16-10-1 overall, 6-6 in the conference. The loss ends the high school career of 12 special young men who will graduate in the class of 2024.
A summary and some observations
A full season of Hastings Boys Hockey showed fans that the team is full of many high-character young men who also play hockey. Before you email upset, read on. These wonderful young men also play hockey and they usually do so very well. The Raiders play their regular season in a solid conference of supposedly similarly sized schools.
That is supposed to be the plan in sections as well, but here is where that plan fails. Unlike football where there are seven classes, hockey has two. The cities of Lakeville and Apple Valley are so big that they each have two high schools. Rosemount is growing exponentially and is catching up with its two neighbors. St. Thomas Academy and Cretin-Derham Hall recruit the best kids they can to their private school, Eagan and Two Rivers have populations that are similar to Lakeville, Apple Valley, and Rosemount. Lakeville was moved out of the hockey section this year, but the point remains the same, Hastings is statistically at a disadvantage in many team sports.
Hastings does not have the same kind of pool of residents as these other bigger cities have. Hastings does not normally have bigger kids either. That poses a certain set of limitations for the sports teams so even as talented as these kids are on the ice, the smaller size has vulnerabilities. At times, the smaller size and speed of the Raiders helped them win games, other times it has hurt them and unfortunately, once the tournament starts, small size can be taken advantage of more often than not.
The upside of this team was their heart, these boys played with heart and determination. They have been together for quite some time and the knowledge they had of each other really showed the chemistry they have. Games like the one to start the playoffs showed that as did the close games, win or lose.
These kids fought through a lot of adversity on and off the ice even before varsity action. The underclassmen have a bright future in Hastings’ hockey with the lessons learned from those 12 seniors.
As is customary for me when writing about the end of the season, I break the journalism rules. I get the honor of hanging out on the sidelines in the fall, on the benches in the winter, and this spring, in the dugouts with many of these kids. I say ‘honor’ is the best word to use, but I do not believe that is strong enough of a description. I’m lucky enough to get to know these kids and even their families through sports and there is a connection built. With that, I simply want to say ‘thank you’ to all the wonderful young people I have had the pleasure of being around this winter season. You ladies and gents have given me a lot of hope over the last few years and this class will be missed greatly. We at the Journal wish you all nothing but the best in your future.
