Two-time defending Section 7AA Duluth East will face No. 4 seed Hill-Murray in a Minnesota Class 2A boy’s hockey quarterfinal game at 8 p.m. Thursday at the X in St. Paul.
The Pioneers smoked the Greyhounds 5-1 in the Schwan Cup on Dec. 29 at the X.
The Greyhounds are in the same bracket as No. 1 seed Minnetonka.
Greyhounds standout junior defenseman Andy Welinski, a Bulldogs recruit, sat out the Hill-Murray game with a knee injury.
“Hill-Murray is a great team and they proved that at Christmas time when we played them,” said Wellinski. “Watching that game was one of the harder games to watch; our team can play better than we showed. Anything can happen in playoffs, and coming off a couple good wins at the end here will help tremendously with confidence as a team. Looking forward to the game Thursday and its always fun being the underdog.”
Minnetonka and Hill-Murray are apparently already looking forward to their showdown in the semifinals.
“The draw came out the way we thought it would with the four seeded teams,” said Duluth East coach Mike Randolph (right). “Based on their seasons, they are very deserving. We face a typical Hill-Murray team — highly skilled and very quick, with an excellent goaltender. They only had two losses this year, so that speaks to the kind of year they had. We like to feel we’re a better team now than when we played them earlier. We hope we can give them a better game this time around.”
On Feb. 15, Randolph predicted his team was ready to make a strong run in the playoffs.
CLASS 2A
Thursday Games
No. 2 Edina (20-6-2) vs. Roseau (22-5-1), 11 a.m.
No. 3 Blaine (21-4-3) vs. Apple Valley (17-11), 1 p.m.
No. 1 Minnetonka (25-1-2) vs. Lakeville North (11-15-2), 6 p.m.
No. 4 Hill-Murray (25-2-1) vs. Duluth East (19-5-4), 8 p.m.
CLASS 1A
Wednesday Games
No. 2 Mahtomedi (23-5) vs. Alexandria (21-6-1), 11 a.m.
No. 3 Hermantown (25-3) vs. Virginia/Mt. Iron-Buhl (18-7-3), 1 p.m.
No. 1 Breck (26-2) vs. New Ulm (16-9-1), 6 p.m.
No. 4 Warroad (24-4) vs. Rochester Lourdes (17-8-3), 8 p.m.
YOUTH HOCKEY NOTES
Top-ranked Duluth East faces No. 8 Grand Rapids at noon and No. 19 Cloquet plays No. 16 Mounds View at 2 p.m. in Minnesota Amateur Hockey Associaton (MAHA) regional bantam A championship games Sunday in Proctor.
The winner of each game will advance to the MAHA state bantam A tournament March 19-21 in Richfield.
Duluth East has already qualified for the state VFW tournament March 26-28 in Thief River Falls.
The Greyhounds are led by defenseman Meirs Moore (above) and forward Alex Toscano.
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