BLOOMINGTON-Jake Heikkenen tallied nine points to lead the North No. 1 Brainerd Warriors to a 17-3 victory over South No. 4 Mounds View/Irondale/Roseville in the quarterfinals of the state tournament Friday at Bloomington Jefferson High School.
Heikkenen, a junior forward, netted four goals in the first period and assisted on five more in the same period as the Warriors rolled to an 11-0 lead at the first intermission.
Blaise Edinger and Tre'Von Otey each scored twice in the opening period while Zachary Denny, Jacob Heinlen and Brach Delcastillo also found the net.
"After the starting group played for just over half of the first period we began getting all the younger players in for some experience," said Brainerd head coach Todd Person. "We knew going into this game we could handle Mounds View as we beat them 9-3 and 6-1 in the regular season. The younger players responded to the time on the floor and continued the scoring with five more goals before Mounds View was able to put a couple in of their own.
Otey completed a hat trick in the second. Maddox Canon and Tate Boelter each finished with a pair of goals and Karlee Schuler wrapped up the Brainerd scoring with a third-period goal.
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Brainerd sophomore goaltender Cody Vleck stopped 11 of the 14 shots he faced while the Warriors connected on 17 of 32 shots-on-goal.
"Our players were ready to get back into a competitive game after a 19-day layoff from our final regular season game," said Person. "We were very pleased with how the players came out ready to go tonight after the layoff. Hopefully they will be able to continue moving the puck to create the open looks we were able to convert on tonight."
The victory advances Brainerd to Saturday's 10:30 a.m. semifinal game against North No. 3 Robbinsdale/Hopkins/Mound Westonka. The 13-0 Warriors defeated RHMW three times during the regular season, 10-2 in season opener Jan. 6 and 8-2 on Jan. 25 and Feb. 13.
RHMW defeated South No. 2 Dakota United 5-4 in double overtime Friday in quarterfinal play. The championship game is slated for 2:30 p.m. Saturday with the semifinals losers playing for third place at 2:15 p.m.
MVIR 0 2 1-3
Brainerd 11 4 1-17
First period: Brd-Zachary Denny (Jake Heikkenen) 0:59; Brd-Jacob Heinlen (Heikkenen, Denny) 2:29; Brd-Heikkenen (Matt Allord) 2:50; Brd-Blaise Edinger (Heikkenen) 4:18; Brd-Heikkenen (Denny) 7:00; Brd-Edinger (Heikkenen) 7:27; Brd-Tre'Von Otey (Heikkenen) 8:34; Brd-Heikkenen (Otey) 8:42; Brd-Heikkenen 9:04; Brd-Otey (Maddox Cannon) 9:56; Brd-Brach Delcastillo (Canon) 11:04
Second period: Brd-Cannon (Otey) 0:20; Brd-Otey 3:55; Brd-Canon 5:01; MVIR-Max Lippert (Thomas Scheller) 6:28; MVIR-Lippert (Grant Drew) 10:47; Brd-Tate Boelter (Denny) 14:32
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Third period: Brd-Boelter (Karlee Schuler) 5:53; Brd-Schuler (Delcastillo, Boelter) 7:45; MVIR-Lippert (Drew) 8:45
Shots on goal: Brd 32, MVIR 14
Goalies: Brd-Cody Vleck (11 saves); MVIR-Luke Kostecky (15 saves)
Overall: Brd 13-0. Next: Brainerd vs. North No. 3 Robbinsdale/Hopkins/Mound Westonka in championship semifinals at Bloomington Jefferson High School 10:30 a.m. Saturday; third place 2:15 p.m. Saturday, championship 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
