The Northland has been no strangers to producing good high school hockey players over the years. Two area schools have produced two more candidates.

The ten finalists for the Mr. Hockey Award in Minnesota were announced Thursday and a pair of Northland high school players are on the list. Jake Bischoff of Grand Rapids has 16 points this year as injuries have cut short his season at times and Adam Johnson, a UMD recruit for Hibbing-Chisholm. Johnson leads the Bluejackets with 37 points.

Bluejackets assistant coach, Grant Claftin said about Johnson, “He is potentially going to get drafted by the NHL this year.  He works hard on the ice; he has a lot of natural abilities.”

Grand Rapids Head Coach Bruce LaRoque said about his captain, Jake Bischoff, “Jake Bischoff certainly brings some intaglables, he brings some skill, we all see his ability and his skill on the ice.  There are not many kids like him and again you talk about his leadership from the bench to the ice and he becomes a very important component.”

The award will be announced on March 10th in St.Paul.

UMD vs. Mavs

UMD men’s hockey this weekend against Minnesota State-Mankato.  UMD was swept last weekend at home by Denver.  The Mavericks come into the weekend ranked 11th in the country.

UMD Head Coach Scott Sandelin on the importance of the weekend, “The next two weekends are critical for us to have home ice in the playoffs.  We need points and not sure two points or four points.  We need six to eight points to get a home spot.”

The Bulldogs go on the road next weekend to face the Badgers.

Sandelin added, “We have to take care of this weekend first, we play a much improved team this weekend that has had a couple good recruiting classes, a new coach and a new atmosphere we will have a major challenge because they are very deep.”

The 10th ranked UMD women will also host Mankato this weekend in a Saturday / Sunday afternoon WCHA series.  The Bulldog women were swept by the Gophers last weekend and are in 3rd place in the league.

The UWS Yellowjackets men’s hockey team will play two home games this weekend, their final two games of the regular season.  They will host River Falls on Friday and Eau Claire on Saturday.

This Saturday night the Yellowjackets will be wearing special purple jerseys to help raise money and awareness for the fight against cancer.  Purple represents all cancer.

The men’s "STICK IT TO CANCER" game is also a partnership with the Superior Jaycees.  Fans will get a chance to bid on the jerseys and get them autographed.

Prep Cross-country

Section 7 high school cross-country ski meet was held at Giants Ridge on Thursday.

Duluth East won the girls team title, and Ely was 2nd and Mesabi East was 3rd.

Amy Bianco was the individual section champion.

For the boys, Ely was the section champion and Duluth East was second.  Again Mesabi East 3rd.  Jesse Olson of Ely was the section individual section champion.

State will be next week also at Giants Ridge.

Wild loss

Another game for the Wild this week and another loss.  They lost earlier in the week to Phoenix, Thursday they were at home vs. Vancouver and the Canucks won  4-1.  A couple of former Bulldogs had good performances.  Mason Raymond had a goal and an assist and Jason Garrison with an assist as the Canucks won 4-1.

High School hockey Thursday:

Duluth Marshall over Virginia-MIB 4-0.

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Hermantown beat Superior 5-2 to win the Lake Superior Conference.

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High school girl’s hockey playoffs:

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Duluth  3  Grand Rapids/Greenway  2 OT.

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Mirage  4  Silver Bay 0

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C-E-C  4  St. Francis  0

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Princeton  2  International Falls  1

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MLWR  4   Eveleth-Gilbert  0

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High school boy’s swimming

Bemidji  105   Duluth  81

 

 

Have a great day Northland.

Keep Smile’n.

I will.

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