BRAINERD — It is going to be one other residence sport for the Brainerd Warriors.
The Warriors earned the No. Eight seed for the Part Eight-2A playoffs and can host No. 9 St. Michael-Albertville at 1 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 17, in a play-in sport.
The winner of that sport will face No. 1 Moorhead at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 20, in Moorhead.
Brainerd owns a 9-15-1 total report. He was Three-9 towards part opponents, whereas STMA completed 5-20 total and 2-7 towards part opponents. A kind of Knights' wins was a season-opening Three-2 additional time loss to Brainerd on Nov. 28.
“Their lineup appears completely different,” Warriors head coach Jerr Johnson mentioned. “My nephew performs for them and comes out with a damaged wrist. They nonetheless have a ahead with a damaged collarbone and one other ahead who’s not with the squad. They give the impression of being a little bit completely different, however their defensive core and their goalkeeper are the identical.
“The coaches watched a little bit little bit of that movie and our guys know they’ve some expert children. You possibly can take a little bit bit from that sport, however 24 video games later it appears a little bit completely different for each groups.”
After a four-game profitable streak to start out January, the Warriors have continued to wrestle, shedding 10 of their final 11 video games, together with their final 4.
“In all athletics in any respect ranges, the psychological facet of the sport is simply as necessary because the bodily facet,” Johnson mentioned. “The great factor for us, we misplaced a whole lot of shut video games, however I felt like we performed fairly good hockey. We nonetheless felt like we had alternatives to win all these video games. I counted and at one level we had 10 losses by one objective or a pair after we pulled our goalie. With a little bit extra luck and capitalizing on our particular groups, we most likely would have one other report, however the greater message is that we obtained higher.
“I had two actually good days of coaching and I might anticipate the identical (on Friday). He was optimistic. We’re all Zero-Zero. This was mentioned earlier than the season so it's nothing new, however anybody truthfully has an opportunity to win this division. The eight and 9 seeds gave the highest seeds good video games. It may occur, however clearly it begins with our first sport on Saturday.”
The Knights have misplaced their final 9, together with most just lately a 9-1 loss to Eden Prairie, a 10-Zero loss to Minnetonka and a 9-1 loss to Edina. Minnetonka additionally blanked STMA by a rating of 18-Zero on Jan. 25.
“What I instructed our staff final evening was they play within the Lake Convention and simply since you coach there, you play the very best groups within the state,” Johnson mentioned. “It makes you higher, and when you get out of the Lakes Convention, it makes the sport appear a little bit simpler and a little bit slower once you're away from taking part in groups like Minnetonka, who’ve 9 Division I commits on their staff. We can not overlook them regardless of their scores. The groups they play are all prime 10 groups or all prime 5 groups within the state.
“We watched a whole lot of movie of them after they performed a few of our sectional opponents and so they had some wins there. Even those they misplaced have been shut video games. They’re additionally younger. Once we began the season, they’d 4 freshmen and two or three sophomores of their lineup, so these children performed a full 12 months. Watching that movie, you’ll be able to see they've grown and gotten higher.”
The Warriors have been led by Kade Stengrim and his 45 factors. He leads the staff with 23 targets and is tied with Brady Johnson for the staff excessive with 22 assists. Johnson has 16 targets for 38 factors.
Kalvin Stengrim has 24 factors (6 targets, 18 assists) adopted by Dylan Wikoff (7 targets, 9 assists), Martin Timmons (four targets, 12 assists) and Kale Koop (7 targets, 9 assists) with 16 factors every.
Drew Haakonson (2 targets, 10 assists) and Ryan Heinlen (Three targets, 9 assists) each have 12 factors.
“We’ve 9 seniors on our staff and I feel when you could have that and so they take a look at it they're coming to the top of their careers and for a few of them it is likely to be the final time they play hockey so I feel that's most likely why we've had two days superb coaching right here,” mentioned Johnson. “They’re prepared for this chance. As exhausting as it’s, we didn't win that many video games and we had a shot on the convention championship every week and a half in the past, however we didn't come out on prime, however we thought we performed very well. Our confidence is sweet. These guys are able to go and something can occur once you get to the playoffs.”
Ryan Gerlich logged each minute for the Warriors in internet. He completed the common season with a .907 save share and a 2.62 goals-against common.
“That's the most important factor each coach desires and desires for his or her staff is an effective goaltender and Ryan did that for us this 12 months,” Johnson mentioned. “His wins and losses don't point out how good a season he had. Anytime your goalie exceeds a 90 save share, which he’s, you'll have an opportunity to win. With Ryan being a senior, he's been getting ready for this all season. I do know it's going to be nice, because it has been all season. We really feel actually good about him going into the playoffs.”
Within the different quarterfinal video games, No. 5 Bemidji (9-14-1) will face No. four Elk River/Zimmerman (15-9-1). No. 6 Buffalo/Annandale (Eight-15-1) will journey to face No. Three Sartell (17-6-1), and No. 7 St. Cloud (10-13-1) will make the lengthy journey to No. 2 Roseau (18-6-1).
The semi-final spherical will happen on Saturday, February 24 on the prime seed, with the championship scheduled for February 28 at a impartial web site to be decided.
“We've simply obtained to get these guys to know that there's going to be some ups and downs all through the sport and we've simply obtained to maintain taking part in,” Johnson mentioned. “You possibly can't get caught up in a whole lot of the issues which might be happening. Everybody might be able to play and I feel our boys might be actually excited for this sport on Saturday afternoon.
“The most important factor is to not get too excessive or too low and play the identical all through.”
JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 218-855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com. Comply with on Twitter at
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What the: Part Eight-2A play-in sport
WHO: St. Michael-Albertville (5-20) with the No. 9 at Brainerd no. Eight (9-15-1)
When 1pm Saturday 17th February
The place: Essentia Well being Sports activities Heart