Warroad nips EGF for title
Click Here to order news photos
Steve Gust
steve@page1publications.com
The Senior High boys hockey team’s incredible late season run ended in the Section 8A title game last Thursday evening in Thief River Falls.
Warroad won its fifth section title in six years with a 2-0 victory over the Green Wave in front of estimated crowd of more than 2,000 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the Green Wave that included section wins over Kittson Central and Park Rapids.
“We’re pretty happy with the way we came together the last few weeks of the season,” Green Wave head coach Cory Chupka said. “We put together a pretty good run.”
Warroad took advantage of two second period power plays in a span of less than two minutes to earn the victory.
“When it was 5-on-5, it was two evenly matched teams,” Chupka noted. “But they have a tremendous power play.”
Senior High out-shot Warroad 25-22 in the game. Warroad goaltender Jared Paquin was strong throughout the game while earning the shutout.
The loss ended Senior High’s season at 12-13-1. It was the first time the Green Wave made it to a section title game since 2002.
The team had 12 seniors on its roster including several talented goal scorers, a few solid defenseman and its top goaltender.
“We lose a lot of talent, but hopefully the we can take a negative and make it into a positive,” Chupka explained. “Our younger guys saw what it takes to be successful.”
Seniors Joey Wikoff, John Grabanski, Kody Vizenor and Alex Christiansen, along with sophomore Jake Useldinger, were selected to the Section 8A all-star game to be held March 12th in Warroad. The Class A section all-stars will play the top players from Class AA in the event.