Bayside Chatter: Hockey season ends

Talk about it

With the completion of another Mariners hockey season, it’s time to say goodbye to the seniors on the boys team. Defensemen Ryan DeShaw, Ruslan Loeffler, Cody Vadnais and Zach Bulen, along with forwards Warren Carter, Sean Graden, Joe McMillan, Mason DeRoiser, and Peter Fredrickson, have skated their last shift for the Bay.

It’s also time for my end-of-the-season awards.

In a normal season you usually have one rookie stand out. This season there are two players worthy of the award in eighth-grade goaltender Alex Murray and freshman forward Brad Rowlee.

Murray tied the Mariner single-game save mark of 61 twice and has four of the top ten records for goalies. He finished with 724 stops and had a save percentage of .897.

Rowlee was fourth on the team in scoring with 13 goals and 22 points.

The “most improved player” award goes to junior defenseman Tynan Clark who really learned how to  confidently handle the puck as the season progressed.

The “best defensive player” award goes to Murray with senior defenseman Ryan DeShaw as the runnerup.

“Offensive player of the year” goes to senior forward Warren Carter and junior forward Shane Billings, who each finished the season with a team high of 26 points. Carter had a team high 17 goals. Runner-up goes to junior Cody Larson, who had 25 points and led the team with 18 assists.

The “most valuable player” award goes to Murray, who had a banner season, especially when you remember that he is only in the eighth grade.

Youth hockey

The Silver Bay Bantams finished second at the District 11 B1 tournament as they fell 3-0 to East Red in the title contest. It was their first loss to a district opponent this season. Earlier they defeated Proctor 6-0 and Hermantown White 6-0.

East Red and Silver Bay both advance to the Bantam B1 East Regional starting today in Silver Bay. Silver Bay starts play at 2 p.m. today vs. Mounds View. The tournament concludes Sunday afternoon. Two teams advance to the state tournament.

Rink rats

The eighth annual 3-on-3 Rink Rat double-elimination tournament begins Monday. The 14th annual Silver Cup starts March 14 and finishes up March 17. Sign up sheets for each event will be posted outside the arena office.

College hockey

Biz Huss had a goal and two assists as Bethel swept Hamline 5-0 and 3-0 last weekend. With the sweep they finished in a three-way tie for second in the MIAC and received the No. 3 seed for the conference playoffs.

State tournament

In 1945, Minnesota became the first state in the nation to sponsor a state high school hockey tournament. Today, 40 states sponsor a tournament in some form or another.  The boys state hockey tournament is held March 9-12 at Xcel Energy Center and Mariucci Arena.

Tags: bayside chatter, sports, hockey