Twin Ports hockey fans can celebrate as Zam Plante blossomed in the Class A Championship when he scored two goals to lead the Hermantown Hawks to a 4-1 win over the Warroad Warriors Saturday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
It was the fourth state title for the Hawks in their 18th trip to state. The two teams played each other January 15 with Hermantown victorious 2-1.
Both teams would tally in the first period. The Warriors struck first when Garrett Hennum picked up the loose puck on the left side and the puck crossed the goal line. The Hawks would even the score on Ty Hanson's pass banked off the boards and picked up by Dominic Thomas. He circled around the net and found an opening to tie the game.
It didn't take long for Hermantown to take the lead in the second period. Plante, the grandson of former Hawks head coach Bruce Plante, fired a shot from the right corner boards and it would land in the net. But Warroad would tie the game :46 on Carson Pilgrim's shot that deflected off of Griffin Marvin's skate and entered the net. The Hawks would regain the lead on a goal that would eventually decide the championship. Kade Kohanski made a back pass to Plante and he fired it into the net for his second goal of the game.
It looked like the Hawks would distance themselves late in the third period. With 1:52 left in regulation time, Warrior head coach Jay Hardwick pulled goalie Hampton Slukynsky for a sixth attacker. Hermantown's strong defense and a number of clearing passes down the ice that went for icing kept the margin at one goal.
Warroad's Matthew Hard was the winner of the Herb Brooks Award, which is awarded to a player who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late coach.
In the third place game played earlier at the Xcel Energy Center, Mahtomedi bounced back from an early deficit to beat Alexandria 4-2. In the consolation championship game, played at 3M Arena at Mariucci on the University of Minnesota campus, Jack Hanson scored a goal and assisted on two others to lead Minneapolis to a 4-1 win over the Monticello Moose.
The Hawks ended their season with a record of 29-2. The Warriors finished with a record of 26-4-1.
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