Feature Story

Feature Story

Return of MnJHL Showcase a smashing success

By Nick Clark

Welcome back Minnesota Junior Hockey League. At least that was the sentiment flowing around the Schwan Super Rink Dec. 15-17, as the MnJHL put on its first Showcase tournament in six years. Scouts showed up in numbers, and they were treated to nine games in three days, five of which were decided by a single goal, including all three on the final day of the event when a trio of division champions were crowned.

“I couldn’t imagine the return of our Showcase going much better,” said MnJHL Commissioner Bob Breu. “Scouts had an opportunity to come into this beautiful facility and our players treated them with what were three highly competitive divisions. In my opinion, this was a tremendous success.”

Here’s a quick recap:

Blue Division – The Blue Division featured each of the top three teams – based on winning percentage – from the first half of the season. And the grouping of the Granite City Lumberjacks, Twin Cities Northern Lights and Rochester Ice Hawks lived up to its billing.

Twin Cities opened the Showcase with a 3-2 overtime win over Granite City Tuesday, Dec. 15. Jonathan Barrick (Litchfield, Minn.) netted the winner, scoring his ninth of the year off a feed from Denis Gladkov 3:43 seconds into the extra session. But that was just minutes after Jake Vande Lune (Monona, Wis.) had tied it for Granite City on his 11th goal of the year with just 29 seconds to play in the third to force the overtime.

Rochester made its MnJHL Showcase debut Wednesday, and the Ice Hawks took little time introducing themselves. Korby Anderson (Owatonna, Minn.) scored the first of his two goals just 3:24 into Rochester’s match-up with Twin Cities. Thirty-eight seconds later, Shaun Walters made it 2-0, giving the Ice Hawks a separation that would end up being the difference in a 3-1 victory.

Thursday, on the final day of Blue Division play, Anderson scored on the opposite end of regulation, getting his stick on a puck Alex Campbell (Stewartville, Minn.) sent toward the Granite City goal, tipping it in with 3.9 seconds remaining to give Rochester a 4-3 victory over the Lumberjacks and a Red Division championship.

“I just went to the net,” said Anderson. “[Campbell] just threw it there instinctively because there wasn’t that much time left and I got a stick on it. It barely went in, but I didn’t really do much on the play, I just put the puck in the net.”

Like they did Tuesday, Granite City forced the late-game dramatics with a goal in the closing moments. Rochester had turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead with a pair of goals in the first 8:15 of the third, but Bobby Thompson (Centerville, Minn.) tied it with 1:57 to go, setting up Anderson’s tip-in

“That was obviously a big goal, and Korby has a knack for scoring big goals,” said Rochester head coach Nick Fatis. “It was exciting to have them like Granite City anywhere is awesome, and to do it in the Showcase; it’s really nice.”

White Division – In what as the most competitive of the three divisions, the three-team White Division ended up being decided by a tiebreaker. The Minnesota Owls, Edina Lakers and Wisconsin Mustangs spent three days taking each other out, as each team finished 1-1 in their two games. Therefore, the lone-two goal game in the division ended up handing Edina the White Division championship.

Wisconsin started off the Showcase with a 2-1 win over the Lakers Tuesday, and Mustangs could have clinched a division title with a victory over Minnesota Thursday. But the Owls would have none of it, getting a goal from Robert Erickson (Coon Rapids, Minn.) with 4:34 to play, providing the difference in what was a 3-2 victory.

On Wednesday, Tom Glomski (Waupun, Wis.), Mark Pontow (Appleton, Wis.) and Mitch Wynia (St. Louis Park, Minn.) each scored for Edina in the first 10 minutes of its match-up with Minnesota, and Cody Essel (Hopkins, Minn.) finished off the win with a goal late in the third to give the Lakers a 4-2 victory over the Owls.

“We didn’t start well [Tuesday], but we played progressively better as the game went on,” said Edina head coach Wes Durand. “[Wednesday], we had a great start, and we finished the game with a solid third. That was good to see.”

As was the trophy that showed up at Minnesota Made in Edina later in the week, as the Lakers two-goal victory Wednesday proved to be enough to give them the division title. The Lakers won it by virtue of a goal differential of plus-1. The Mustangs finished even in goals for and against, and the Owls were minus-1.

Red Division – The Minnesota Flying Aces entered the Showcase with a 9-2 victory over Hudson from the previous Sunday. By Thursday, the win streak had stretched to three, and the Flying Aces were Red Division champions. They beat the Minnesota Wildcats 4-1 Wednesday behind a three-goal second period which included markers from Neal Schumacher (Pine City, Minn.), Tai Larson (Warroad, Minn.) and Shay Klitzke (Annandale, Minn.) to put away the Wildcats.

On Thursday, Minnesota once again turned to the second period, this time getting goals from Larson, Kevin Kassulat (Barrington, Ill.) and Lee Melde (Protor, Mich.) in a six-minute span of the middle period to lift the Aces to a 3-2 victory over the Hudson. Hudson responded with goals from Jordan Prescher-Smerud (Alden, Minn.) and Cory Welnicke before the period ended, but a scoreless third followed the second period fireworks, and the Aces skated away with their third straight win.

“We would have liked to see a little bit more of a killer instinct and finish a team off when you have a 3-0 lead, but it was good to close it out,” said Minnesota Flying Aces co-head coach Brett Shelanski. “They did come back a little bit, but I thought we responded well and buckled down defensively and did what we had to do to make the three goals stand.”

Had they completed the comeback, the Crusaders would have won the White Division. Hudson opened the Showcase with a 9-1 victory over the Wildcats. Dan Shilts (New Richmond, Wis.) recorded a hat trick and set up two others and Prescher-Smerud had a goal and two assists in the Crusader victory.

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