Bayside Chatter: Pairing boys hockey, Polar League clinched

At the Lake Superior School District board meeting held at Silver Bay on May 14, approval was given for the pairing of boys hockey between Silver Bay and Two Harbors due to falling numbers of students participating in each school’s programs at this time.

Approval or rejection was needed due to time restrictions in order to schedule for next season. The details of the merger will be worked out later between the school board and the affected parties.

The National Federation of State High School Associations Ice Hockey Rules Committee has strengthened the language concerning contact in the sport. Players who push, charge, cross check or body check in open ice are subject to a minor and a misconduct. When those hits are from behind into the boards or a goal frame, it will be a flagrant violation and a game disqualification. So for those of you who thought Minnesota jumped the gun on their rules revisions last year in midseason, you can quit holding your breath.

I misspoke last week when I said Silver Bay would be the No. 1 seed in the south half of Section 7A and Cherry would be No. 1 in the north half. First of all, they are both in the south half, and second is the fact that the seeding will be done using the QRF computer rankings of Minnesota-scores.net. As of May 14, the top four in the south half of the section were Cherry, Carlton, Silver Bay and South Ridge. In the north half it was Littlefork-Big Falls, Mesabi East, Deer River and Ely. The cutoff date for QRF is May 19. Section play starts on May 21 with three play-in games and continues the following day with games at the home of the higher seed. The quarterfinals are May 24 at Cloquet and the semis at are Cohasset. If the current rankings hold, Silver Bay would host Cook County, and the winner of that game would play the winner of Mesabi East vs. Mountain Iron-Buhl at Cloquet. Silver Bay and Cherry are unbeaten versus Section 7A opponents. Cherry is the prohibitive favorite at 16-0 and ranked No. 2 in the state.

The Two Harbors Agates clinched the Polar League baseball title last week. They finished conference play with a record of 8-2, good for 13 points. Floodwood and Carlton were each in second at 5-3 with 10 points. In softball, an Agate victory over Esko would clinch the title for them. The Agates were 9-1 with 14 points with the Esko game left. Esko had 12 points with Two Harbors and Carlton left.

Coming up for the Mariners in softball are the playoffs on Tuesday and Thursday. The baseball team is at Duluth Marshall on Saturday morning, at Nashwauk-Keewatin on Tuesday and at South Ridge on Thursday. The track teams have their subsections on Wednesday.

Tags: silver bay, two harbors, sports, preps, hockey, softball, baseball