Blue Devils beat Alexandria 4-3 at state

Exhale, Blue Devils fans. Your team finally won a hockey game at state.

Granted, it doesn’t take all of the sting out of losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Hermantown in the state quarterfinals Wednesday and being relegated to playing at Mariucci Arena, but Thursday’s thrilling 4-3 victory over Alexandria means Virginia/MI-B will be playing for some hardware in this, their third trip to the best high school tournament on earth.

Alexandria scored two goals in the game’s opening 2:27, providing that “oh, no, here we go again” feeling for their fans, which saw the Blue Devils go two-and-out in both their inaugural trip to state in 2005 and last season.

But Virginia/MI-B proved resilient. The group that seethed after losing to Rochester Lourdes in the consolation semis a season ago, rallied to tie the game on a pretty wrist shot by senior Jordan Krebsbach and a beautiful set-up by Travis Eddy - their most impressive player in this tourney - that was ripped home by Troy Nichols at the 9:49 mark of the first.

Blue Devil hockey fans at the state tournament are Kara, Kaitlin and Kelsey Knutson and friend Joe. Photo by Tammy Berglund. In the second, the Blue Devils took their first state tournament lead of any kind since Matt Niskanen’s quick goal in Virginia/MI-B’s first-ever state game against St. Thomas Academy in 2005. It was offi cially ruled a power play goal by Garrett Hendrickson, but it appeared that one of the Cardinals accidentally poked the puck across the line in a scrum in front of the net at the 4:56 mark. It was a sigh of relief for the Devils, whose lackluster power play (0-for-3) contributed to its loss to Hermantown the day before.

But the Cardinals didn’t quit, putting a flurry of shots on goaltender Casey Myhre during a 5-on-3 power play later in the second. Myhre batted or caught all of those shots, but he couldn’t stop Garrett Skinner’s great individual effort to tie the game at 5:37 of the third. Alexandria, much like Hermantown, was the better team in the third period, but it was Eddy and Nichols, again, to the rescue as the clock ran down.

Eddy carried the puck the length of the ice, walked around a defender in the right circle and put a low hard shot on the pads of the Cards’ goalie. The rebound caromed to the slot, where Nichols was to pound it home with just 2:41 to play.

As the clock ran out, the boys in blue bounded off the bench to mob Myhre, who turned away 25-of-26 shots after giving up the two early goals. As their reward, the Blue Devils will get another shot at Rochester Lourdes in the consolation championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday morning at Mariucci Arena. (Tune in to iSportsNorth.com for the live call of the contest.)

The Devils were clearly disappointed to lose to the Hawks in their tournament opener, a game in which they were a better team when 5-on-5 through the first two periods before running out of gas in the third. But they can take consolation in this: a win Saturday and they would bring home the first state hockey hardware in school history.

Here’s one writer’s congratulations to coach Keith Hendrickson, his staff and all of the players and managers. It’s much deserved.

Basketball Jones

Wow, does time fly. It seems like yesterday that I was down covering the state hoops tournaments for Minnesota Basketball News. Next week, the girls basketball tournament kicks off at the Target Center. They say time passes faster as you get older. I must be getting old.

If you are a hoops fan, Saturday’s girls Section 7A final is sure to be a good one as defending section champion Bigfork (23-3) takes on Nashwauk- Keewatin (22-4). Despite the fact that the Huskies defeated the Spartans during the regular season, somehow N-K was seeded first and Bigfork second in the subsection. Doesn’t make sense to this guy. Expect the Huskies to defend their section title once again.

The boys basketball playoffs are underway as well, and it’s time for a bold prediction. I’m picking a No. 6 seed to make the finals in Section 7A, and, no, that won’t be surprising. Mesabi East drew that seed because of one of the toughest schedules of any Class 1A teams in the state (Crosby-Ironton, Minnesota Transitions, Virginia, Cloquet to name a few). On the other side of the bracket, it should be top-seeded and defending section champion Chisholm, which would make for a great final. The Giants tipped the Bluestreaks 60-59 in Chisholm when the two teams met earlier this season. If Mesabi East can reach state, it would be the first time since 1987, when the school was just Aurora-Hoyt Lakes.

In Section 7AA, it appears that Virginia and Braham are once again on a collision course in the finals. Both teams are seeded No. 1 in their respective subsections. The Blue Devils beat the Bombers in the title tilt a year ago to end a four-decade-plus state tournament drought. Virginia lost four starters off that team, but haven’t missed a step, winning another Iron Range Conference title while losing just two games all season and winning 23. It would be quite an accomplishment if coach Rich Odell’s squad can parrot the boys hockey team and repeat as section champions.

That’s all I’ve got this week on the road at the boys state hockey tournament. See you next time.