They got over their first-round demons with a 70-61 victory over the No. 3 seed Benilde St. Margaret’s.  That set up a semifinal against the No. 2 seed DeLaSalle.  This was a game that was back and forth from the opening tip until the final buzzer.  It would take two overtimes for Grand Rapids to pull out the 57-53 victory and advance to the first state title game in team history.  However, that meant they would have to play St. Paul Johnson.

Johnson had defeated the top-ranked team in the large-school division earlier this year making their claim as the best basketball team in the state.  Nationally, the Governors were ranked 42nd and their stock was rising with each week.  While it took Grand Rapids two overtimes to get to the finals, the Governors won by 25 in their semifinal game and 43 in their opening round contest.  On paper, it didn’t look like it was going to be close.  Urban vs. rural.  Top-dog vs. underdog.  David vs. Goliath.  But that’s why they play them.

In the championship match, each team held big leads–Grand Rapids by six and St. Paul Johnson by nine.  Late in the second half, it looked like Johnson was pulling away as they carved out a 10-point lead, but Grand Rapids thundered back to bring it to within one with 30 seconds to go.  They got the ball on a missed Governors’ shot, but were unable to get a shot off as Johnson forced a turnover.  Grand Rapids ended up losing 59-55, but to play that close in a game that nobody was giving them a chance showed that this team belonged in the championship–seeded or not.

Here are a few photos from my time at the Target Center.  I’m now going to be transitioning into the wedding season so we’ll start seeing some more wedding and engagement blog posts.

Stacy Perreault (center) prays during the second of two Grand Rapids' free throws with classmates Gabby Menges (left, holding sign) and Christian Adams (right, jersey #22) in the second half of the Thunderhawks' game against DeLaSalle during the Class AAA state semifinal game.

LEFT: Grand Rapids' Austin Pohlen (left) fights for possession of the ball with DeLaSalle's Bretson McNeal (right, 25) during their Class AAA state semifinal game. RIGHT: Winona's Anthony Inman (23) bowls over St. Paul Johnson's Anthony Lee (right, 1) during a Class AAA semifinal game.

Grand Rapids' Austin Pohlen (right, 23) begins to celebrate the Thunderhawks' victory over DeLaSalle in the final seconds during the Class AAA state semifinal game.

DeLaSalle's Jonah Travis (middle, white jersey) runs into a stiff Grand Rapids' defense that included Michael Johnson (3), Brian Akre (left, 53) and Kevin Rabbers (2nd from right, 43) during the Class AAA state semifinal game.

Grand Rapids' Michael Johnson slips on the floor in the first half of the Thunderhawks game against DeLaSalle during the Class AAA state semifinal game,

LEFT: Grand Rapids' Eric Stark (left, 25) goes up for two and the foul against St. Paul Johnson's Demitri Conwell (right, 4) during the Class AAA state finals. RIGHT: Grand Rapids' Eric Stark (right) has a shot blocked by St. Paul Johnson's Maxie Rosenbloom (left) in the second half of the Thunderhawks 59-55 loss to the Governors in the Class AAA state finals.

Grand Rapids' Austin Pohlen (23) smiles while looking at the Thunderhawks' student section seconds after they defeated DeLaSalle in the Class AAA state semifinal game.

LEFT: St. Paul Johnson's Roosevelt Scott (left) slams one home while teammate Jordan Pluff (right, 42) in the first half of a game against Winona during the Class AAA semifinal game. RIGHT: St. Paul Johnson's Jordan Pluff (center, 42) is fouled in the first half of the Governors' game against Grand Rapids during the Class AAA state finals.

Grand Rapids' Michael Johnson (left) and Brian Akre (right) put on the defense against St. Paul Johnson's Anthony Lee (center) during the Class AAA state finals.

Grand Rapids senior Ryan Dumm cheers on the Thunderhawks during introductions before their game against St. Paul Johnson in the Class AAA state finals.

LEFT: Grand Rapids' Brian Akre gets pumped up after scoring two and being fouled in the first half of the Thunderhawks' 59-55 loss to St. Paul Johnson in the Class AAA state finals. RIGHT: Grand Rapids' Brian Akre (53) goes high to defend St. Paul Johnson's Roosevelt Scott (center) while Thunderhawk Kevin Rabbers (right) defends down low during the Class AAA state finals.

Members of the Grand Rapids boys basketball team including Kevin Rabbers (left, 43), Michael Johnson (2nd from left, 3) and Brian Akre (center, hand up) console each other after their 59-55 loss to St. Paul Johnson in the Class AAA state finals.

Hermantown advanced to the Class A title game after a dramatic, almost miraculous, victory over Mahtomedi.  In the finals, the Hawks went up 1-0 in the first period while defending state champion Breck School tied the game in the second period.  Heading into the final period, the score was tied at one apiece and Breck was getting handled in a way that was unfamiliar.  A photographer in press row before the game responded when asked something about the game that “oh this final is Breck and the school that will get destroyed by Breck.”  The private school from the cities had thoroughly dominated their opponents all season scoring 206 goals in 28 games while racking up a 26-2 record.

However, the Hawks were the ones dominating play in this game.  Breck was able to keep the game even thanks to a great effort by goaltender John Russell who finished the game with 30 saves.  With 1:40 to go in the game, Breck scored to go up 2-1 and the game ended that way.  Hermantown players and fans were dejected after coming so close, but falling just short.

One of the cool things about this state tournament is the camaraderie between fans and teams.  Warroad played Mahtomedi–the team Hermantown defeated in the semifinals–in the third place game and won in double overtime.  Hermantown fans were there early and started cheering wildly for Warroad.  I think part of it was due to the fact that after a Mahtomedi player scored to put his team up 6-4 against the Hawks, he slowly skated by the Hermantown student section with his finger up to a mouth in a gesture to be quiet, which served only to enrage the Hawks’ student section and solidify their support for Warroad in the third place game.  During the third period of the finals, the entire Warroad hockey team was welcomed into the middle of the Hermantown student section.  It was cool to watch Hermantown fans welcome these players from a town 256 miles away and join them as they both cheered against Breck in the finals.

I’m off to the NCAA wrestling tournament in Omaha, Nebraska so I will have some photos from that early next week along with my review of the best of the wursts at the Xcel Energy Center.  Now here are some photos from those finals…

Hermantown met Mahtomedi in a Class A state semifinal game.  I was covering Hermantown for the Duluth News Tribune.  The game started off with Mahtomedi scoring first, but Hermantown answered back with a goal of their own.  The first period ended 2-2 and the second period ended with the score tied at three apiece.  This is where things got interesting.

The teams traded goals to open up the third period before Mahtomedi answered with two straight goals to make it 6-4 with under nine minutes to go.  This is where Hermantown’s Charlie Comnick comes in.  Comnick scored two straight goals in less than two minutes to complete the hat trick with all three goals coming in the third period.  Think that’s good?  It gets better.  As the second were ticking down, a Mahtomedi player fired a shot at Hawks goalie Tyler Ampe and it went into the net.  The impression of the puck on the back of the net and the buzzer seemed to happen in unison and Mahtomedi began celebrating their victory by throwing their sticks, hats, gloves and more in the air as they formed a huge dogpile on the ice.  However, instant replay showed that the puck was in the crease, but had not crossed the line so it was ruled no goal.  With the velocity of that shot in the final second and its position in the crease, a matter of 0.1 seconds would have made all the difference between the Hawks playing at Mariucci Arena on Saturday or playing in overtime.

As luck would have it, Hermantown scored just a couple minutes into overtime to win 7-6 and the celebration was on.  I’m pretty excited to be covering a finals game this year with a local team in the mix.  So here are some photos from today’s exciting game…

The best game in terms of entertainment value yesterday might have been the Apple Valley-Blaine game in the afternoon. Apple Valley came in as the underdog and their goalie flat out dominated the entire game making a number of head-scratching saves and shutting out Blaine to advance to tonight’s semifinal. The late game with Duluth East and Hill-Murray was also entertaining except East gave up four goals–two in the closing minutes of the first period and two more in the opening minute of the second period, which put the game out of reach as they fell 5-3 after going up 2-0 early on.

And it looks like I’ll be back here another day as Hermantown defeated Mahtomedi in one of the most entertaining hockey games I’ve ever seen. Lots of images to come from that one, but I need to go rest and take a break. Check out the photos below!

* * *

The first was a showdown between two northern Minnesota teams in Hermantown and Virginia/Mt. Iron-Buhl.  The two had met earlier this year with the Hawks of Hermantown coming out on top 4-2 over the Blue Devils of VMIB.  Hermantown dominated the first period and went into the first break up 1-0, but VMIB rallied back in the second to make it a 1-1 game heading into the final period.  It’s critical junctures like these when you hope your best players make themselves known.  Hermantown’s senior captain, Mr. Hockey finalist and University of Minnesota Duluth recruit Adam Krause scored early in the third period to put the Hawks on top for good.  They would go onto win 2-1 and will face Mahtomedi Friday morning.

The second game I covered pitted top-ranked Breck School against New Ulm.  It was competitive for the first couple minutes and then it turned all Breck.  The first period ended with the Mustangs of Breck up 2-0 over the Eagles of New Ulm.  The second period opened up with a quick goal by Breck and another one a few minutes later before things went really bad really quick for New Ulm.  Breck scored five times in less than two minutes to put the game out of reach and open up a 9-0 lead.  That’s how the second period ended and Breck would go on to win 11-1.

The two games were such a contrast.  One was high intensity action down to the last second while the other saw the game get out of hand before it was even halfway over.  As a photographer, it’s hard to shoot those games that are so one-sided because the players start to reflect the score in their emotions.  When Breck players put together their five goals in two minutes, they showed little emotion after scoring a goal.  Not good for pictures.  Each goal the rest of the way was like this.  Things that kept me going was thinking if this keeps up, this could be some type of state record.  I looked around and didn’t see any other photographers shooting so I figured I’d be in prime position to capture something unique should a historical blowout be reached.  That never happened, but I did see New Ulm finally get on the scoreboard and that brought out a fair amount of emotion/relief from the team.

Well enough about the games and me… this is a photo blog after all.  I’ll be back tomorrow with more photos as well as a review on the various hot dogs at the tournament.