Bayside Chatter: Hockey, hockey, hockey

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The Mariner 12U team hosts the Minnesota Olympic Regional starting today through Sunday at Rukavina Arena in Duluth. Their first game is at 3:45 p.m. today versus Long Prairie. The North Shore peewee B1 team is at Ely to play in the North Regional which also starts today.

The boys’ high school hockey season came to an end with a 7-0 loss to Duluth Marshall. To say the Mariners were outmatched would be a major understatement. It was a predominantly young Mariner team versus a veteran Hilltopper squad who played a difficult schedule.

Here’s my end of the season awards for the Mariner boys for 2011-12. Nine of the seventeen spots on the Mariner roster went to rookies this season. There were a number of good candidates for rookie of the year but they canceled each other out so I went with no one. The most improved player goes to sophomore forward Brad Rowlee, who finished with 30 points this season. The best defensive player goes to senior defender Tynan Clark with the runners up being goaltenders Alex Murray and Zack Duresky. The best offensive player goes to sophomore Luke Small who led the team in points with 49 goals with 29 and assists with 20. Runnerup goes to senior forward Shane Billings who had 34 points. The unsung hero award goes to senior Sam Andrus who switched from goaltender to forward so he could still play hockey in his senior season. Instead of quitting as many would have done he stuck with it until the end. The runnerup is junior Brock LeBlanc who switched from forward to defense to help out the team. There were a number of candidates for MVP, but I’m going with none of the above as there really wasn’t one amongst this group of individuals who were more worried about their stats on the ice then what the team was doing.

Anna Carman, Marina Carter, and Taylor Guzzo all received honorable mention to the 2011-12 St.Paul Pioneer Press All State girls high school hockey team. Guzzo also received honorable mention to the MGHCA All-State team.

Hibbing and Duluth Marshall played on Wednesday for the section 7A championship at Duluth. This was Hibbing’s 10th straight trip to the section title game. Hibbing defeated International Falls 6-5 in semifinal action and Marshall beat Denfeld 5-2.

Tags: two harbors, silver bay, sports