Junior power forward Dallas Vieau, a Penn State commit, scored two first-period goals to lead Hermantown past Shakopee 4-3 in a nonconference high school game Saturday afternoon at historic Hermantown Arena.
River Freeman and George Peterson also scored goals for the 1A/No. 2-ranked Hawks (7-0-1), who led 4-1 heading into the third period and outshot the Sabers 48-18.
“I was very proud of our effort, third game in four days, and after getting home at 1:30 in the morning Friday after EGF (East Grand Forks, a 3-0 road win),” Hawks coach Patrick Andrews said afterwards. “We made it hard on ourselves in the third today with some decisions and turnovers but at the end of the third period we were the better team and worked ourselves into a position to win the game.
“Great efforts by the (Wyatt) Carlson, (Matthew) Kauppinen, (Joshua) Kauppinen line, Dallas Vieau with two goals, and defenseman George Peterson who scored again from the back end. Both (Dane) Callaway and (Garron) Opsahl played great this week in nets to put us in a position to win.”
Hermantown visits nonconference Rosemount (3-7-0) Tuesday night.
Despite conceding two third-period goals off of flukey defensive zone turnovers, the Hawks continue to find a way to win hockey games, said Will Peterson, who provided play-by-play of the afternoon game for MNHockey.TV.
“The Hawks thoroughly controlled play for large stretches of today’s contest, but failing to step on the gas in the third nearly proved critical,” Peterson said. “A pair of gritty shot blocks from Wyatt Carlson and River Freeman in the last minute of play helped ice the game for Hermantown. Although it didn’t cost them today, failing to bury teams could come back to haunt the Hawks, both on January 14’s titanic matchup with Warroad as well as in February and March’s playoff contests. They have an opportunity to bury 3-7 Rosemount on January 3 before a January 7 matchup with 4-6-1 Eden Prairie.”
📷 Shawna Jokinen | Freeway North Photography