high school hockey

Hermantown opened their sixth straight trip to the Minnesota State Boys Hockey Tournament welcoming the Panthers of Spring Lake Park to their first ever appearance at the tournament.

After clenching their respective section titles, Hermantown and Duluth East make another trip to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Both teams are continuing a streak of appearances at the tournament, but their path to the big dance and the road ahead are different for each team.

In a thriller of a game that needed extra frames, Section 7AA top seed Elk River and number 3 seed Duluth East met at Amsoil Arena Thursday night to compete for the section title and to earn a trip to the 2015 Minnesota Boys Hockey Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center next week.

Duluth East and Elk River meet for the second time in the 2014-2015 season to play for the Section 7AA title and rights to play in the 2015 Minnesota State Boys Hockey Tournament.

Top section seeded Hermantown and number 2 seed Duluth Marshall clashed on the ice at Amsoil Arena for the 2015 Section 7A title and trip to the MSHSL Boys Hockey Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center next week.

Hermantown and Duluth Marshall, the top two seeds in Section 7A, meet tonight at Amsoil Arena to play for the right to head to the 2015 Minnesota Boys State High School Hockey Tournament.

Amsoil Arena was Hockey Central in the Northland as 8 teams gathered to see who would be playing in the Section 7A and Section 7AA Championships next week. Action kicked off at noon on Saturday, with the 7AA teams playing the afternoon games; and 7A action followed during the evening session.

Section 7A powerhouses Hermantown, Duluth Marshall, and Duluth Denfeld all made statements tonight; notching shutout wins in their opening games of the playoff season.

The opening night of the Minnesota boys hockey section playoffs saw three area winners and filled in the scheduled for other teams waiting to play on Thursday night.

The 2015 playoff and tournament season is here, as the boys hockey section playoffs start this week. Several Twin Ports area teams find themselves in the top of the latest state rankings, with hopes to make it to the Xcel Energy Center the first week of March. Here is how things look for each of the area teams in their respective section brackets.