Bayside Chatter: Feb. 22

• Duresky save

North Shore Storm goalie Zach Duresky blocks a shot by a Pine City player in a Feb. 9 win at home. Photo: Jill Innis

Talk about it

Mariner girls’ season wrap-up

The Mariner girls played 10 games this season against teams that finished the season ranked in either the top twenty in Minnesota or top ten in Wisconsin. Last season’s two section finalists, Chisago Lakes and Silver Bay, were seeded 7th and 8th this season with both falling in the quarterfinals.

Steve’s 2012-13 Mariner Hockey Awards

The MVP is senior goaltender Cassie Swanson. She kept the Mariners in many games with a strong performance in the nets. She set a Mariner single game save record of 47 against Orono and matched it against Hayward as she made 642 saves this season. She finished with a saves percentage of .914 and holds the Mariner record in career save percentage with .910. The best offensive player goes to junior Anna Carman who led the team in goals with 10 and points at 28. She finished the season with 116 points in her career and 65 goals. Defensive player of the year goes to senior Rebecca Dilley. She played upfront when needed and was a mainstay on the blue line. She finished with 24 points and led the team with 16 assists. Rookie of the year goes to eighth-grade forward Brooke McMillen who finished the season with 11 points and 5 goals. Runner-up was freshman defenseman Sarah Fjeran. The “stay-at-home” defenseman doesn’t get the glory, but is critical to the team. There was no standout most improved player because there were too many youngsters who came a long way from the beginning of the season. The Mariners will also be missing another senior next season that I omitted last week, Finnish exchange student Nea Rapo.

Anna Carman and Rebecca Dilley have both been selected to play in the K1 All-Star Game which is played in Cloquet right after the state tournament. Dilley has also been selected to play for Section 7 in the Senior Classic March 1-3 .Cassie Swanson has been named the Hobey Baker Award winner for Silver Bay.

Storm split a pair en route to playoffs

The Storm lived by the five minute major penalty and died by it at Proctor as they lost 5-2 to the Rails.

The Rails led 2-0 after one as Cade Hella put home a one-timer and Jake Malec scored on a breakaway. The Storm came back to tie the game with two power play goals after a Proctor checking-from-behind penalty. Bradley Rowlee cut it to 2-1 with the aid of Austyn Wasko and Luke Small. Tyler Schramm scored from the blue line to tie it up with the help of Lucas Kempffer. This proved to be the final highlight of the game for the Storm. Five minutes later, they took a penalty of their own for head contact that sent a Rail player to the locker room. The Rails took advantage of the situation to score twice for a 4-2 lead after two periods of play. Christian Ripley and Shane Gould scored on the power play for a 4-2 lead and Brodie Nordquist made it 5-2 in the third. Zach Duresky stopped 20 Rail shots in the Storm nets and Tanner Haedrich had 16 saves for the Rails.

The Storm finished up the regular season with a 15-1 victory at Moose Lake over the Rebels. Eleven different Storm players scored goals in the game. Mills Johnson, Corey Johnson, Jonah Koehler and Austyn Wasko each scored twice with the other goals coming from John Burns, Gunnar Kempfert, Nick Johnson, Thomas Anderson, Tyler Schramm, Brad Smith and Luke Small. Sixteen different players finished with points including Quaid Cavallin and Troy LeBlanc. The Storm skated four lines from start to finish and outshot the Rebels 47-5. Following the regular season, the Rebels threw in the towel and forfeited their first round playoff game due to a lack of skaters and goalies.

The Storm traveled to Hibbing yesterday to take on the Bluejackets in a Section 7A quarterfinal game. If the Storm lost, their season ended; if they won, they play again tomorrow at either Hibbing or Grand Rapids against the winner of the Duluth Marshall vs. Eveleth-Gilbert contest.

Other hockey news

The North Shore 12-U B Girls fell 3-2 to Cloquet in a District 11 quarterfinal contest at Silver Bay. Cloquet went on to win the event—the same team that defeated these girls by 10 or more goals more than once this season. The North Shore Bantam A Team qualified for the North Regional in Warroad as their district tourney proved to be unnecessary. The North Shore Bantam B Team fell 3-2 to Hermantown in a district quarterfinal contest. Two Harbors seeded at No.1 and Silver Bay at No.2; both had quarterfinal contests today in the District 11 Peewee B Tournament at Hermantown. Two Harbors was No.10 and Silver Bay No.13 in the last state rankings.

Tags: silver bay, two harbors, sports, hockey