Duluth East Falls to Minnetonka 5-2 in 2018 Class AA Boys Hockey Championship
Duluth East's 2017-2018 season comes to a close by claiming second place in the Class AA State Boys Hockey Tournament after falling to the Minnetonka Skippers 5-2 on Saturday night.
The Greyhounds struck first, with junior Ricky Lyle finding the net at the 7:11 mark in the opening period. Minnetonka struck back late in the first period with a pair of goals, closing out the opening frame with a score of 2-1 in favor of the Skippers.
Andrew Hicks extended the Minnetonka lead early in the second period on a power play goal that put the Skippers up 3-1. At the 6:28 mark in the second, Austin Jouppi brought the Greyhounds back within one goal of Minnetonka on a goal assisted by Luke LaMaster, ending scoring for the period 3-2 in favor of the Skippers.
Early in the third period, Joe Molenaar was able to find the net for Minnetonka to give the Skippers a 4-2 advantage, and Matt Koethe went on to score an empty net goal at the 15:32 mark in the third period that led to the final score 5-2 in favor of Minnetonka.
With this win, Minnetonka claims their first Boys Class AA Hockey Championship. The Greyhounds collect a second place trophy on their 23rd program state playoff run, matching their last appearance at the state tournament in 2015, where the Greyhounds lost to Lakeville North 4-1. This second place trophy brings Duluth East's tournament hardware count to 6 second place finishes (1991, 1997, 2000, 2011, 2015, 2018) and 3 championships (1960, 1995, 1998).