Perennial Class A powerhouse and the tournament's #2 seed, Hermantown advanced to the semifinals of the state tournament with a 6-3 victory over Luverne, but the story of the day may have been how well the Cardinals were able to hang with Hermantown.
The Hawks jumped out to a lead just 27 seconds into the game, and it looked like Section 3A's entry would once again be struggling just to keep the score from getting out of hand. But Luverne answered back to tie the game. The Hawks were by far the stronger team, and were eventually able to put the game away, but it was an impressive effort from Luverne, who came into today's game undefeated, but had many questioning if they even belonged in the tournament due to a seriously weak schedule. The Cardinals proved they belonged and then some in keeping up with one of the state's best teams.
In the second game of the morning session between #3 seed New Prague and Chisago Lakes, Chisago was able to keep things close for a period, before New Prague exploded for three goals in under two and a half minutes to start the second period, and rode that to a 5-2 victory. New Prague's top line was dominant, having a hand in all five goals scored by the Trojans. Augie Isaacson and Alex Gregor each had five points in the winning effort.
Hermantown and New Prague will meet in the semifinals at 11am on Friday, while Luverne and Chisago Lakes will meet tomorrow at Mariucci Arena in the consolation bracket.