Greetings from snowy St. Paul!  The Mankato West band has just launched into their first song of the day (”Get Ready”- the Temptations), and so it must be hockey time at the Xcel Energy Center.  I, Jon Marthaler, will be with you throughout the tournament, from the drop of the puck today through the trophy presentation Saturday night.

The first game of the day pits Duluth Marshall, the Section 7A champions, against Mankato West, the winners of Section 1. Marshall begins the tournament looking to end a somewhat ignominious streak; the Hilltoppers have lost in the state title game two years in a row, and would much rather end this season with the big trophy. This is their fourth consecutive tournament appearance, and fifth in school history.

For Mankato West, it’s just good to be here; the Scarlets are in the state tournament for the first time, and they did it by winning one of the most difficult sections in the state. Five of the top 20 teams in the final statewide poll were in Section 1A; Mankato West beat #13 Albert Lea in the semifinals and #10 Rochester Lourdes in the section final to earn their trip to St. Paul.

The Hilltoppers are led offensively by senior David Hafferty, who has 22 goals and 25 assists on the year, including a team-leading five power-play goals. Senior defenseman Dano Jacques had 25 points on the year, including an overtime goal to beat #16 Hibbing in the Section 7A final. The Scarlets get most of their scoring from two seniors; right wing Ricky Litchfield leads the team in points with 96 (and 38 goals), while center Corey Leivermann leads West with 48 goals (and 86 points).

In goal, junior Tyler Bruggeman posted a 21-2-0 record and a .932 save percentage for Mankato West this year. Juniors Matt Messina (13-0-0, .925 save percentage) and Willie Paul (10-5-0, .915) split time in the Marshall net.

Preps guru Jim Paulsen’s notes in today’s paper that Duluth Marshall is feeling a bit slighted; he also takes a glance at Mankato West’s “dream season.”

We have about 45 minutes on the clock until the drop of the puck in game one; the West sousaphones are belting out the bass line to “Gimme Some Lovin”.  Nothing like a little Spencer Davis Group to make you feel like it’s tournament time.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 10:31 am and is filed under Boys\' Hockey, State tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.