Hermantown shuts out Orono for third-place game of Class A state hockey tournament

The No. 2 Hermantown Hawks defeated the No. 4 Orono Spartans at the Xcel Energy Center for third-place. The Hawks’ defense played tight in the 2-0 win as they only allowed 15 shots. The first period was really close, with Orono leaving the first period with six shots, however, Hermantown had seven.

Second period was definitely a different story, Hermantown outshot Orono 14-0, with the Spartans still down by 2. “I thought our defensive gaps were outstanding tonight,” Hermantown head coach Patrick Andrews said. “Our forwards were coming back hard and picking up sticks.”

Hermantown was on the board late with a goal from Drew Nelson. It was his third goal of the year and the tenth point of 29 games for Hermantown. But Orono was struggling when it took two quick penalties within a span of 16 seconds. This sent Hermantown on a five-on-three power play. Caden Bickett then picked up a tripping call which was Orono’s third penalty in the last minute of play.

With the five-on-three power play, Hermantown fired 13 shots on Brock Peyton. The senior goaltender turned aside all 13. As Bickett came out of the box, River Freeman ripped a shot off Nelson and past Peyton, giving Hermantown a 2-0 lead.

It took Orono over 22 minutes to record a shot between the end of the first to the middle of the third period. Their shot came on a power play after Weston Bohlman received two minutes for cross-checking.

Unfortunately for Orono, Garron Opsahl stopped them both. Orono’s best chance of the game came in the third period when Bradley Walker came streaking in on a two-on-one. His shot went right into the trapper of Opsahl. “He hasn’t been able to start a lot this year; we have great goalie depth, though,” Wyatt Carlson said on Opsahl. “He was unreal tonight. Very good.” Orono had a power play late and pulled their goalie for the extra attacker but wasn’t able to get one past Opsahl.