Bayside Chatter: Mariners win alumni game

Talk about it

In the battle of Two Harbors and Silver Bay 30- and-over teams at Lake County Arena Saturday evening, the former Mariners prevailed 20-3.

Eric Christensen had five goals for the former Mariners and Mike Nelson added four more. Greg Buell was the winning goalie in the Mariners net. Brian Peterson and Chris Smith had two of the goals for the former Agates. Randy Bolen and Curt Hilton combined for duty in the Agates net.   

Seeding

The seeding for boys hockey in Section 7A was done on Wednesday. The top spot should go to either Hibbing or Virginia. The Mariners should get the No. 7 seed and at the very least a first round playoff game.

The bottom four teams each played each twice with the following results: Silver Bay 4-1-1, Greenway 4-2-0, Ely 3-2-1, and Two Harbors 0-6. The only rules in the seeding process are that there are no rules. A Mariners win in a first round game means a trip to either Hibbing or Virginia. The play-in games begin Tuesday and the quarterfinals are Thursday with all these games at the higher seed. The finals will be March 3 at Amsoil Arena.

Girls hockey

With the conclusion of the girls hockey season it is time to say goodbye to the seniors. Forwards Taylor Skelton and defenseman Brianna Aho came to the Mariners via Ely and Bailey Rykken came from Babbitt. Skelton finished with 17 goals and 13 assists and Rykken scored eight goals and assisted on 13 more. Aho finished with two assists from the blue line. Nikki Mealey finished her career with a record of 22-28-4 and had 1,349 saves. She finished with a GAA of 3.40 and saves percentage of .878 in 54.93 games played.

The Mariners were led in scoring by junior Taylor Guzzo who had 41 points. Junior Marina Carter finished with 34 and freshman Anna Carman had 33. Carter led the team in goals with 27, followed by Carman with 19, and Skelton with 17. Mealey was 11-11-3 with 639 saves and had a GAA of 3.01 and save percentage of .900.

Carter has been added to the rosters for the K1 Stars of the North girls high school hockey all-star game March 1 at Cloquet. Other Mariners participating are Skelton, Mealey, and Guzzo.

U-12

Silver Bay hosts the District 11 girls U-12 tournament tomorrow and Sunday. The five-team tournament will include Duluth and Silver Bay.  

Tags: bayside chatter, sports, hockey