Sports

Pair of St. Michael-Albertville Teams Advance to State

The St. Michael-Albertville wrestling team was dominant over Cambridge-Isanti in the Section 7-3A tournament, while the North Wright County RiverHawks stamped their first-ever ticket to state.

Get ready for a little bit of March mayhem, St. Michael-Albertville.

The North Wright County RiverHawks, formed just five seasons ago when Buffalo formed an independent girls hockey team, has stamped its first-ever ticket to the State AA Girls’ Hockey Tournament, winning the Section 8AA title with a 3-2 win over Roseau in Detroit Lakes Friday night.

The squad, which was upended last season in the same tournament by the same team, reached its ultimate goal.

Find out what's happening in St. Michaelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We are playing with a lot of momentum,” said head coach Tim Hanson prior to the section tournament. “The question is always if you can keep that going in the postseason.”

The Hawks will be underdogs when they skate into the Xcel Energy Center next weekend, as the Class AA tourney. The No. 2 team from the Mississippi 8 was actually the No. 2 seed in the section tournament, and pulled off the upset.

Find out what's happening in St. Michaelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We’ve built a little rivalry with them,” Hanson said.

The two skated to a 3-3 tie back in December.

Seedings for the State AA Tournament will be announced later this week.

Wrestlers Repeat

In wrestling, there was no question who was the cream of the Section 7-3A crop.

With four ranked teams and one “lean and mean” squad according to The Guillotine website, it was the toughest section in Class AAA.

The Knights made it look easy.

At 4 p.m., they dropped Andover (who beat host Blaine to get into Friday’s tournament the night before) 64-9, losing just two matches. Then, they steamrolled Forest Lake, ranked in the Top 10 in Class AAA by The Guillotine, 50-12.

In the section final, Parker Betts, Tommy Thorn and the rest of the Knights were challenged, but it wasn’t too close for comfort, as they defeated Cambridge-Isanti 34-16.

“You, obviously, want to see the team succeed,” Thorn, a freshman ranked No. 1 at 103 pounds, said. “That’s our first goal is to get there as a team. Then the rest just kind of takes care of itself.”

After Friday night, Betts said, the team can focus on personal goals and achieving state as individuals.

“You always dream about that state final. That’s what you’re always looking ahead to,” Betts said. “But we know we have work to do.”

The Knights will wrestle in the Section 7-3A Individual tournament in Cambridge Feb. 25 and 26.

 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from St. Michael