Upper Midwest High School Elite League

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Shattuck captures Nike Bauer NIT title

By Tim Droogsma

Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a prep school in Faribault, Minn., won the 2008 Nike Bauer National Invitational Tournament with a 6-2 win over Minnesota Red in the title game at the New Hope Ice Arena.

Shattuck was in control from the start as Jean-Paul LaFontaine and Andrew O‘Leary scored first-period goals for a 2-0 lead. In a penalty-filled second period, James Polk and Brad Robbins scored power-play goals for Shattuck, as did Nate Schmidt for Minnesota. Sam Alfieri scored for Shattuck to make the lead 5-2. Jake Williams of Minnesota and Jason Clark of Shattuck exchanged third-period goals.

Goaltender Garrett Jensen of Shattuck made 25 saves to earn the win.

Minnesota White takes third

Marshall Everson scored the go-ahead goal with 5:17 to play, then added an empty-netter to lead Minnesota White to a 4-2 win over Malmo, Sweden in the third-place game of the Nike Bauer NIT.

Minnesota outshot Malmo 52-25, but was shut out through two periods by Malmo goalie Alexander Bengtsson. Malmo scored just 40 seconds into the game when Linus Olman scored, and the lead grew to 2-0 in the second period on Axel Wemmenborn’s goal.

Minnesota finally broke through in the third when Edina’s Anders Lee scored on a power-play goal just 18 seconds in. Lee then assisted on Danny DeLisle’s power-play goal, tying the score at 9:30 of the period.

Everson’s goal, also on a power play, gave him a tournament-leading five goals. The Harvard-bound forward then hit an empty net to complete the scoring.

Wisconsin earns consolation crown

The wildest finish of the tournament came in the consolation title game between Wisconsin and Michigan. Wisconsin held a 7-2 lead with 13 minutes left in the game, but found itself clinging to a 7-6 lead with 7:47 left. After Michigan nearly tied the game in the final minute, Wisconsin ended the comeback with an empty-net goal.

Day 1 Recap

• Minnesota Red 9, LA Selects 1

Minnesota jumped on LA early as Bill Simon scored just 1:57 into the game, and Red built a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period. Little Falls’ Izaak Berglund scored and Breck’s Joe Rehkamp added a pair of goals. Simon scored again in the second period for a 5-0 lead, and four different Minnesota players – Cody Hotchkin, Max Tardy, Berkley Scott and Danny Mattson added third-period goals. Alexandria goalie Matt Hemingway turned aside 15 of the 16 shots he faced.

• Minnesota White 13, Wisconsin 2

This version of the “border battle” quickly became one-sided as Minnesota jumped to a 7-1 lead, then pumped in six goals in the third period. Edina’s Marshall Everson, headed for Harvard next fall, scored three goals and added three assists to lead the Minnesota attack, while Edina teammate Anders Lee added a pair of goals and three assists. In all, 11 Minnesota skaters had multiple-point games, including New Prague’s Schyler Adams who scored two goals, and Blaine’s Nick Bjugstad, who had three assists.

• Malmo Redhawks 6, San Jose Jr. Sharks 1

The tournament’s second hat trick went to Malmo’s Victor Ohman, who scored in each period, and added a pair of assists to pace the Swedes. Sebastien Dyk, Andreas Ahlberg Silverberg and Linus Molin also scored for Malmo. Goalie Fabian Sivnert stopped 23 of the 24 Sharks’ shots he faced as Malmo earned a rematch with Shattuck, whom they tied -2 in an exhibition game earlier this week.

• Shattuck-St.Mary’s 4, Michigan 1

Four different players scored for Shattuck in a very even game that was tight until the third period. Sebastien Nillson put Shattuck on the board with a first-period power-play goal, and the lead went to 2-0 in the second when Blake Matejcek found the net. Michigan’s Mac Olson scored on a power play to make it 2-1, but Shattuck’s Joe Basaraba scored with just 1:17 left in the period. Jean-Paul LaFontaine scored midway through the third period to put the game out of reach. Shattuck goalie Garrett Jensen stopped 28 of 29 shots to earn the win.

Day 2 Recap

• Minnesota Red 5, Minnesota White 3

Minnesota Red earned a spot in the finals of the Nike Bauer NIT with a 5-3 victory over Minnesota White. Lakeville’s Bill Simon scored two first-period goals, then completed a pure hat trick early in the second period to put Red up 3-0. That lead grew to 4-0 when Joe Rehkemp scored for Red. White then mounted a comeback, scoring a pair of goals just 1:50 apart, with Nick Bjugstad of Blaine and Willie Hess of Centennial scoring to cut the lead to 4-2. Danny Mattson of Holy Angels scored for Red to put the margin back to 5-2.
White dominated the third period, hitting several pipes, but scored only once, when Anders Lee scored at 18:42. Red goalie Alex Fons of Hopkins made 32 saves in the win.

• Shattuck-St. Mary’s 4, Malmo Redhawks 3 (OT)

Erik Haula’s goal at 1:03 of overtime gave Shattuck-St. Mary’s a dramatic win over the Swedish team from Malmo. After falling behind 3-1, Malmo stormed back with two third-period goals, the second one coming with 36.3 seconds left by Andreas Ahlberg Silverberg to tie the game at 3-3. Shattuck jumped to a 3-1 lead on goals by Jean-Paul LaFontaine, Kevin Tuohy and Brad Robbins. A power-play goal by Ziga Grahut pulled Malmo to within 3-2 with 6:51 remaining in regulation. Malmo goalie Fabian Sivnert turned away 36 Shattuck shots in the loss.

• Wisconsin 4, LA Selects 2

Connor McBride scored a pair of goals and goalie Andrew Martin made 28 saves to lead Wisconsin past the LA Selects in the consolation semifinals.

• Michigan 4, San Jose Jr. Sharks 1

Michigan got goals from Martin Gruse, Camden Wojtala, Patrick Brown and Justin Kovacs in defeating San Jose in the consolation semifinals. Sharks goalie Luke Hernandez made 52 saves in the loss.

Tournament Notes

• Victor Ohman of Malmo, who had nine points in the tournament, is the son of team General Manager Roger Ohman, who was the second-round selection (No. 39 overall) of the Winnipeg Jets in the 1985 NHL draft.

• More than 70 scouts and college coaches were in attendance over the weekend. Virtually every NHL team was represented – the Toronto Maple Leafs alone had three different scouts here over the weekend – and University of Minnesota coach Don Lucia and St. Cloud State’s Bob Motzko headed a list of colleges represented, including New Hampshire, Yale, Boston University, Michigan State, Princeton, Minnesota Duluth, Air Force, Providence and Colorado College.

• At least a dozen tournament players have already made college commitments, including future Golden Gophers Nick Bjugstad, Christian Isackson, Nick Leddy and Nate Schmidt. Others included Danny DeLisle and Max Tardy (Minnesota Duluth), Marshall Everson (Harvard), Derek Forbort and Danny Mattson (North Dakota), and Tyler Pitlick (Minnesota State).

• Anders Lee of Minnesota Red ended up as the leading scorer in the tournament, with four goal and seven assists for 11 points. Bill Simon of Minnesota Red and Marshall Everson of Minnesota White tied for the tourney lead in goals with five apiece.