Coach Patrick Andrews on his Class A/No. 1-ranked Hermantown hockey team (3-0-1), which visits No. 9 Denfeld on Tuesday and No. 5 Orono Thursday:
"The team is competing hard, which is all we can ask as coaches. In addition, this team has proven to be very coachable as they are trying hard to fix mistakes when they occur and they are listening to the coaching staff and making progress every day.
We have two tough games this week with playoff implications. First we have Denfeld which is always a battle and obviously has section seeding implications and Lake Superior Conference points on the line. We then 'play a very dangerous Orono team, one of the best teams in Class A. If we are to make our way to state, Orono is a team that we could see there so its big for seeding implications and it will be a good measuring stick to see where we stack up against a top team.
We have seen our seniors step up. Captains George Peterson and Wyatt Carlson have been playing outstanding, providing leadership both on and off the ice, as well as senior Matt Kauppinen anchoring our top line. In addition, we have seen underclassmen depth at forward with Dallas Vieau, Josh Kauppinen and Evan Gunderson all playing great, and Will Esterbrooks, Drew Nelson and Henry Peterson all playing well on the back end. Our goaltending has been timely and stingy as Garron Opsahl and Dane Callaway have played well so far."
Hawks boys basketball coach Andy Fenske on his team's impressive start: "Record wise, you can't ask for a better start. Sitting at 3-0 is a good spot to be in, however, after having two games moved it adds a bit more stress going 12 days between our games. Our practices this week will be huge in determining our success over the next two weeks.
It's been great seeing so many guys in positions to score and lead us on the court. What impressed me the most was our second-half effort against Minneapolis Edison when we rallied from 17 down at the half to win in OT. The last nine minutes of it was when we found out what type of determination we have.
We have a tough road ahead of us from here. We're heading down to North Branch (Thursday) for a section game. We went wire-to-wire with them last season in the section semifinals, so we need to be ready to get after them right from the opening tip. Then, heading into the holiday break, we see Big Lake (4-0) in our first matchup, who's ranked a Top-15 team, then we'll hopefully get a matchup against Delano (5-1)
another Top-15 team. Once we get through that grind, we finally get our first home game vs. Rock Ridge who's been able to put up points in bunches followed by a back-to-back with Sauk Rapids-Rice, who we snuck out a win in overtime last season.
It's hard to pick just one or two guys who have been our top players. At any moment, each one of our eight guys can step up and do some great things. Abe Soumis is a few rebounds shy of averaging a double-double in the first three games. Blake Schmitz is a leader on both ends of the court. Drew Schmitz took over in the second half against Edison, scoring all 13 points and leading the charge to get us a chance to win. Keaton Christianson has been a consistent threat beyond the arc for us. Broc Sundland has been a guy who's knocking down shots and getting to the rim with ease this year. Peyton Menzel has been a spark off the bench, causing some havoc with his defense and getting defenders to fly past him on his shot fake to his mid-range game. Nathan Hill has been another spark off the bench to get us momentum with a handful of buckets and rebounds in the early part of the season. Brayden Lundeen has had some great reps off the bench, he's in a spot where we need him to be like a microwave, get hot quick!
Our boys have been eager to get some more games in. We hopefully come off of this snow break with a fire and desire to keep going. As I stated earlier, we're in a unique spot where we get to play the villains of the north, yet the underdogs as we head down south in terms of teams overlooking us. While our biggest test against Orono got pushed out, we have two top-15 teams we get to see in a few weeks to measure up with where we're at against some of the outer metro-schools in AAA.”
📷 Shawna Jokinen | Freeway North Photography