Spartan Cup

Welcome back to the Classic Spartan Blog. After nearly a month with no activity, the blog is back but this time with winter sports. And there was no better way to kick off this new segment of the blog than with coverage of the Spartan Cup. Hockey in Minnesota, the two go together like peanut butter and jelly, like Starsky and Hutch. The Cup this year saw our Spartans hosting Redwood Valley, Waconia and Henry Sibley.

It was obvious from early on in the off season that to be successful our Spartans would have to unite and overcome a lot of adversity. Off season headlines saw Senior Mason White announce his retirement after a life of playing puck. Also countless important seniors from last year graduated and this team would have to rely on a primarily young squad this season. To make matters worse the Spartans found out earlier this week that they would be playing without star defender and team Co-Captain, Junior Cameron Kami-Causey.

In the first round our boys would took on Redwood Valley in a game that would inevitably set the tone for the rest of the season. The Spartans came out hungry looking to please the hundred(s?) of fans that crowded Historic Drake Arena in support. It was obvious from the opening face off that the Spartans were on another level than the team from Redwood. After five minutes Peter "Woody Allen" Wood picked up right where he left off during soccer season and drilled a beauty into the back of the net on an assist from freshman Austin Ramirez. The Spartans continued their dominance in the first period with exemplary defensive efforts by Junior Co-Captain Krazy-Karl Hommeyer. On the attack a few chances were wasted and the 1st period ended with the Spartans holding on firmly to a 1-0 lead. The second period began with the Spartans getting hit on the wrong end of a counter attack from the Redwood team which leveled the score. The Spartans reacted in great fashion to this goal and began to mount countless attacks on the opposing goal. About halfway through the period, Jake Westfield inadvertently opened the floodgates with an ice cold snipe.Just three minutes later, Westfield assisted fellow sophomore Mick Sullivan to make the score 3-1. Redwood players responded with frustration and hard hits. Woody Allen even took a check from behind which was somehow ignored by the referee. With one minute left Drew "the Dark Knight" Blackmun snapped a puck into the upper corner of the net that the goalie had no idea was coming. The sophomore goal-fest continued. With the clock quickly winding down and less than fifteen seconds left Blackmun put the game out of reach with an near replica of his first goal. 5-1 Spartans at the end of the second period. The third period began much like the second with a consolation goal by Redwood. Then MPAer Charlie Bartholic answered with a five hole on the goalie. Now the Spartans were finishing in style giving the loyal fans their moneys worth. The last five minutes saw the Spartans concede another meaningless goal and then right before time expired the Dark Knight ended the game with a Hat Trick and the Spartans cruised into the Spartan Cup Final.

Less than 24 hours after their impressive victory the Spartans took the ice in an attempt to win their fourth straight Spartan cup. The Spartans would be taking on Waconia who had demolished Henry Sibley the night before. The game began with solid attacking play from the Spartans which resulted in an early goal off of a perfectly executed counter attack from MPAer Alex "Mezzy" Messerich. The first period saw the Spartans, who were much more technically prepared, dominate Waconia. At the end of the first period, Drew Blackmun added to his tournament goal tally on a power play to extend the Spartan lead. The Spartans headed into the second period with a 2-0 lead. Waconia however continued their physical and scrappy style of play and after five minutes was able to get a goal back. Shortly afterwards another followed and we had a game on our hands. 2-2. This caused constant back and forth action for the rest of the second period which did not result in any more goals.

The game would be tied heading into the third period with both sides hungry to close it out. Tensions rose in the third period hard hits were met with harder hits and missed shots were met with looks of desperation as both sides fought to bring home the great Spartan Cup. Five minutes later in only his second game as a Spartan, the ruthless Matt Littler assisted freshman sensation Austin Ramirez to give the boys a 3-2 lead. The Spartans defended their lead in great fashion with a stingy defense and solid work by goaltender Jude Hull. With a little under 4 minutes left Waconia took advantage of a power play and equalized the game. This Waconia team would simply not go away even though the Spartans seemed to be the better team almost all game. The Spartans continued to look for the game winner but were unlucky on various occasions and so the game would head to a sudden death overtime.

The overtime would prove not to disappoint as far as entertainment goes, both sides continued to attack and came close to scoring a few times. With a little under a minute left a Waconia forward was on a breakaway and just when it seemed like it was good night for the Spartans Jude Hull deflected the shot into the air. Now it seemed like it was inevitable for the overtime to end unresolved but Waconia continued to work and on another breakaway with just 30 seconds left found the back of the net. Waconia won the Spartan Cup.

It was a very tough loss to digest for our Spartans, but even though I don't know much about hockey, (in fact I can't really skate) many good things were seen from the guys and the season is still young. This Spartan hockey team could do big things this year. Thanks to all the fans who came out in support of the Spartans this weekend.