Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

NORTHWEST SUBURBAN CONFERENCE & HAWKS UPRISING

Classic is often an overused word in athletics, but it truly fits here.

Senior forward Logan Gravnik put himself in Andover High School lore forever when he scored with 8:01 remaining in the second overtime to give the No. 5-seeded Huskies a stirring, heart-pounding 6-5 victory over No. 3 Maple Grove in the Class AA championship game late Saturday night, March 12, 2022, at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.  Gravnik ended the marathon game when he finished of a scoring play by teammate Weston Knox, a senior defenseman.  He fired a shot that was deflected in between the circles and caromed to Gravnik, who fired a one-timer that set off a frenzied celebration.

It is the first state championship for Andover (25-5-1), which was making its third tournament trip in a row.  Maple Grove (23-7-1), like Andover, was also making its first appearance in a championship game - both from Northwest Suburban Conference.  Two weeks ago, Andover’s girls hockey team captured the Class AA championship.

The Hawks from Hermantown earned the top seed entering the Class A Boys Hockey State Tournament and the Hawks left no doubt that they were worthy of that lofty status.  Coming on the heels of a dominant regular season, the Hawks completed an overwhelming postseason dash with a 3-2 victory over Warroad on Championship Saturday at the X for Class A hardware.  Junior playmaking sensation Zam Plante scored two second-period goals to send the Hawks (29-2-0) to their fourth Class A crown and first since 2017.  The other championships came in 2007 and 2016. 

SLAP SHOTS

• Minneapolis earned it's 1st State Tournament appearance in 28 years since Edison appeared in 1994.
• Unseeded Prior Lake faced off with Cretin-Derham Hall in the Class AA quarterfinal opening game on Thursday.  Senior forward Alex Bump put on a Bump show with a 5 goal performance, beginning with a natural 1st period hat-trick leading the Lakers to a 6-0 upset over #2 seeded Cretin-Derham Hall.  Following the contest, Eveleth and Tourney legend John Mayasich met Bump post game and stated 'I almost got Bumped'.  Bump, John Mayasich (1951), & Grant Besse (2012) are only Tourney players with 5 or more goals in a single game Championship contest.
• Maple Grove Forward - Joshua Giuliani scored his second hat trick in back-to-back Tourney games leading the Class AA field in points with eight goals for the Tourney - the most individual goals by a player since Dave Spehar in 1995 with Duluth East. 
• Andover captured the schools 1st State Championship in dramatic fashion with a 6-5 double OT win vs. Northwest Conference rival Maple Grove.  The game was the highest scoring championship game in single class, Tier I & Class AA history.  For the Huskies from Andover, it was a full Class AA Tourney sweep as the Andover Girls team captured State title in hockey.
• Hermantown Hawks captured schools fourth state championship coming in 18 tries, and their first since 2017.
• Tournament attendance: 107,550