Bayside Chatter: Hockey season heating up

Talk about it

Both Mariner hockey teams are away this weekend for road games. The girls play at Princeton tonight and play Chisago Lakes tomorrow afternoon. Both teams are part of Section 7A. Chisago Lakes is the defending section champion. Princeton lost to both Hibbing and Eveleth last weekend and Chisago defeated both Hibbing and Eveleth.

Princeton started out the season at 2-5 and Chisago is 4-1. On Tuesday evening the girls hosted the Duluth Northern Stars in a rematch and won 4-3. Earlier this season Duluth defeated the Bay 3-1.

The boys are at Pine City tomorrow and host Ashland on Thursday. The girls game with Hibbing that was postponed will be made up Dec. 17.

Some Mariner youngsters had big games last week. Freshman Anna Carman picked up her first varsity hat trick against Superior. Freshman Brad Rowlee scored two goals versus Kittson Central in his first varsity game and eighth grader Alex Murray stopped 23 shots for his first varsity victory in the same contest.  

Basketball

The basketball teams are also busy this week. The boys are at Cromwell tonight, travel to Cherry Monday, and are at Cotton Tuesday. The girls are also at Cromwell tonight and Cotton Tuesday. The preseason polls for boys basketball have the four No. 1 teams as Hopkins in 4A, St. Paul Johnson in 3A, Plainview-Elgin-Millville in 2A, and Minnesota Transitions in A. Plainview is the only non-defending state champion.

Rules

The Minnesota State High School League has approved the process for schools to apply for zero week in football. If you are approved you get to start the season a week early, but then would have to take a bye week off sometime during the season. It’s an added measure for schools to get in their allotted eight regular season games.

Right now it would not affect Silver Bay, but if Mesabi Academy resumes their football program it could. The MSHSL also changed the rules for schools choosing to opt up in class in a sport. In the past if you opted up, it was for four years. Now you can do so for two years.

Any high school hockey player that gets five penalties in a game will be removed from that game. It will not be accumulative like in the past and will only apply to the game involved.

College hockey

Former Mariner Biz Huss had two goals as Bethel defeated Concordia 7-1 Friday. She scored two more as Bethel won again against Concordia 4-1 Saturday. She now leads Bethel in scoring with five goals and four assists.  

Libby Guzzo of Silver Bay, the captain of the St. Scholastica Saints hockey team, has one point so far this season on an assist. The team is 2-7-1. Guzzo, the only senior on the team, was a member of the University of Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team the past three seasons. She left UMD because she wanted to see more playing time her senior season.

Tags: bayside chatter, sports, schools, hockey