Page 14 • Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019
Plymouth / Wayzata
sailor.mnsun.com
Lake
Private Hopkins boys win Lake hoops title outright
Conference
School
NOTES
SPORTS
Red Knights oust
Stars from tourney
Catholic rivals Benilde-
St. Margaret’s and Holy
Angels hooked up in the
opening round of the Sec-
tion 6AA Boys Hockey
Tournament Feb. 21 at St.
Louis Park Rec Center.
With two goals from ju-
nior forward Charlie War-
nert, BSM won 7-1. Six
different players had goals
for the second-seeded Red
Knights. In addition to
Warnert’s goals, BSM had
scores from Cooper Gay,
Charlie Bischel, Nate Sch-
weitzer, Will Thompson
and Tristan Sarsland.
Carson Limesand made
20 saves in BSM’s goal.
Blake skaters ease
past Raiders 5-1
The Blake School’s boys
hockey team rocked Cretin-
Derham Hall 5-1 in the fi rst
round of the Section 6AA
Tournament on Blake’s
Hopkins Campus.
The Bears entered the
playoffs as the fourth seed
and Cretin-Derham Hall
was seeded fi fth.
Aksel Reid starred in goal
for Blake, stopping 27 of 28
shots on net.
Tristan Broz led the Bears
with two goals, while team-
mates Joe Miller, Lachen
Reid and Blake Weyer-
haeuser scored one each.
Perfection for HFC
goaltender Huber
Goalie Bailey Huber of
Holy Family Catholic was
a wall in front of the net in
the Fire’s 1-0 Section 2AA
Tournament win over Prior
Lake Feb. 21.
HFC’s boys hockey for-
tunes rode with the hot
goalie, who stopped all 31
of Prior Lake’s shots on
goal. One of those shots
was a penalty shot late in
the contest.
Ben Reddan scored the
only goal of the contest at
11:32 of the third period.
Blomberg’s big game
inspires Providence
Logan Blomberg of the
Providence Academy boys
basketball team was on fi re
during a 75-62 victory over
St. Croix Lutheran Feb. 19.
Blomberg’s 32 points,
along with 23 from team-
mate Mark Richelsen, were
the impetus for the win.
Dylan Servais added 11
points for the Lions and
Sam Young scored fi ve.
By JOHN SHERMAN
[email protected]
With the Lake Conference champi-
onship already in hand, the Hopkins
High boys basketball team will close
the regular season with a 7 p.m. game
Friday, March 1, at Eden Prairie.
Hopkins (6-1) wrapped up the title
with an 84-69 win at Wayzata in front
of almost 4,000 fans Friday, Feb. 22.
The Royals inched ahead in the
fi rst half and led 38-30 at the inter-
mission, yet at no time was Hopkins
head coach Kenny Novak Jr. able to
relax.
“We always have trouble against
Wayzata’s guards,” Novak said.
“They’re very talented, and they play
very hard. They shoot three-pointers
and they can get to the basket.”
Senior tri-captain Jacob Beeninga
is the catalyst for Wayzata. Before the
game, Novak couldn’t remember the
last time Hopkins held Beeninga un-
der 30 points.
Although Beeninga scored 21
points Friday night, he didn’t have
any long stretches of dominating the
game, Three other Trojans scored in
double fi gures - Kody Williams and
Luke Paulson with 12 each and fresh-
man Camden Heide with 10.
Hopkins’ 6-11 senior forward Zeke
Nnaji was the player of the game,
leading the Royals with 34 points..
Since Wayzata has no starter taller
than Camden Heide at 6-5, Nnaji
creates a huge matchup problem.
“Zeke is really passing the ball
well, and that makes it diffi cult for
opponents to double-team him,” No-
vak said.
Against Wayzata, Nnaji did some
nice work in inside-out plays. Point
guard Jalen Dearring, a 6-foot se-
nior, scored 22 points for the Royals.
Six-fi ve junior guard Kerwin Walton
added 16 and 6-3 senior guard Andy
Stafford chipped in with eight.
“Nnaji is big and his skill level has
improved a lot since last year,” Way-
zata head coach Bryan Schnettler
noted. “We played really hard, but
didn’t shoot as well as we normally
do.”
Looking to the Class 4A, Section
6 Tournament, which Wayzata has
won the last two years, Schnettler
said, “We would love to play Hopkins
again if we earn our way there and
they earn their way there. We’ll try to
continue to get better, and hopefully,
we’ll see them again in March.”
Hopkins can fi nish 7-1 in confer-
ence play with a win at Eden Prairie
Friday night.
“Eden Prairie is as talented as any-
one,” Novak said. “They toughened
Girls
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13
Johnson led the Trojans with 12
points and ninth-grade guard Mara
Braun added 10. Theisen followed
with nine points, while Stewart and
senior point guard Mimi Schrader
each contributed nine points.
Three in a row for the
Hornet girls hockey
There was a lot to cel-
ebrate when Edina High
won its third straight state
Class AA girls hockey
championship Saturday,
Feb. 23, at Xcel Energy
Center.
In nine State Tourna-
ment games, Edina coach
Sami Reber is undefeated.
That in itself is incred-
ible. Senior captains C.C.
Bowlby, Annie Kuehl and
Mallory Uihlein have been
key contributors all three
years.
Edina’s 4-3 double-
overtime in this year’s fi -
nal against Brainerd/Little
Falls set a standard for
exciting hockey. The Hor-
nets outshot their oppo-
nents 56-20, but the victory
wasn’t secured until senior
forward Olivia Swaim
scored on a rebound in
overtime.
(SUN SAILOR STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN SHERMAN)
Wayzata freshman guard Camden Heide, dunking against Park Center, is one of the young
standouts in the starting lineup for the Trojan boys basketball team.
up their schedule this year with non-
conference games against Minne-
apolis North, East Ridge, DeLaSalle
and Minnehaha Academy. That will
help them in the playoffs.”
Eden Prairie has been missing
players recently. Forward Austin
Andrews was out with an ankle in-
jury and John Henry was out sick.
At full strength, the Eagles are a
state contender. Drake Dobbs, a 6-1
junior guard, is the Eagles’ leading
scorer and a player comparable to
Wayzata’s Beeninga. While Hopkins and Wayzata
should be the top two seeds for the
Section 6 Tournament, Schnettler
said Armstrong and St. Louis Park
are solid as the 3 and 4 seeds.
“Jon Bryant [Wayzata’s assistant
coach last season] has done a good
job with Armstrong,” Schnettler
observed. “His team plays great de-
fense and works for good shots.”
The Section 6 playoffs began
Wednesday, Feb. 27, with Hopkins
playing Minneapolis Washburn
and Wayzata playing Minneapolis
Southwest. Neither Lake team was
expected to have a challenge.
Beginning at noon on Saturday,
March 2, the section semifi nals will
be played at Hopkins Lindbergh
Center. In the noon game, Hop- kins would play St. Louis Park or
Bloomington Kennedy, and in the
1:30 p.m. game, Wayzata would
play either Armstrong or Minne-
apolis South.
The championship game will be
played at 7 p.m. Thursday, March
7, on the home court of the highest
remaining seed, which at this point
would be Hopkins.
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Tonka girls renew state
tradition, place third
While Edina won state in
girls hockey, Minnetonka,
the fourth-place team in
the Lake standings, got
hot at the right time and
won the third-place state
trophy.
Outshot 34-17 in the
third-place game on Sat-
urday, Minnetonka used
two goals from junior Em-
ily Bayless to defeat Ando-
ver 3-2. Bayless had a great
state tournament with six
points on three goals and
three assists. She will re-
turn next year along with
her linemates, Kylie Melz
and Lacey Martin. Also
returning will be all of
Tonka’s defensemen and
both goalies, Brynn Dulac
and Aidan Edge.
Minnetonka head coach
Eric Johnson has been
to state fi ve times with
remarkable results. The
Skippers won state three
years in a row (2011-13)
and placed second in 2015
before winning another
trophy this year.
State AA aquatics
prospects led by Lake
It is no surprise that
the Edina, Minnetonka
and Wayzata boys aquat-
ics teams all won section
championships last week-
end.
No. 1 Edina goes into
See Notes , Page 15