Five Hermantown varsity winter sports teams will be in action this week.
Boys Hockey -- The defending Minnesota Class A state champion Hawks, who finished 29-2 a year ago, open with games against 2A powers Cretin-Derham Hall on Friday and Hill-Murray Saturday in the Champions Cup at Eden Prairie Community Center. Hermantown's marquee players are senior forwards Wyatt Carlson and Kade Kohanski, senior defenseman George Peterson, junior forward Dallas Vieau (Penn State commit) and junior goaltender Dane Callaway.
Girls Hockey -- Proctor-Hermantown (3-1) will visit nonconference Champlin Park-Coon Rapids on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Mirage are riding a two-game winning streak (9-0 over Bloomington Jefferson and 6-3 against South St. Paul, both at historic Hermantown Arena before Thanksgiving). Junior forward Hannah Graves has scored a team-high nine points, including three goals, followed by senior forward Reese Heitzman, who has a team-high five goals and seven points.
Girls Basketball -- The Hawks will play host to North Branch on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m., and will visit Cloquet on Thursday at 7:15 p.m., before hosting Irondale on Saturday at 2 p.m. Hermantown is led by seniors Liv Birkeland, Emma Herstad, Kellyn Biondi, Lauryn Biondi, Jadyn Lind and Amari Nunez, and underclassmen Bailey Zagelmeyer, Zoe Bergerson and Mikayla Sweeney.
Boys Basketball -- The defending Section 7AAA champion Hawks open at Cloquet on Friday at 7:15 p.m. Hermantown returns a trio of ultra-elite guards: seniors Blake Schmitz (who scored a team-high 22 points per game last season) and Keaton Christianson (14.9 ppg last season) and junior Abe Soumis (11.5 ppg).
Girls Dance -- Hermantown will participate in a multi-team invitational at Forest Lake starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.
HAWKS NEST
Zam Plante has scored one shorthanded goal and collected two assists in his first five games for the USHL’s Chicago Steel, since returning to the lineup following a shoulder injury suffered last spring.
Meanwhile, Zam’s younger brother, Max, recently had a goal and two assists to lead the U.S. National Development Under-17 Team past the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders 4-3. Max Plante has one goal and 17 points in 19 games (4th in team scoring) for the U.S.
Zam and Max Plante are Bulldogs recruits, along with defenseman Ty Hanson.