Boys' Hockey: Cards clinch Schwan Cup title

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by Jason Olson
SportsPrepZone Editor

Coon Rapids celebrated New Year’s Day by hoisting its first Schwan Cup championship trophy on the Xcel Energy Center ice following Saturday’s 6-3 win over North Metro.

The Cardinals (4-5-0) won the Open Division by handing the Stars, another Northwest Suburban Conference team, its second loss (5-2) to Coon Rapids in 11 days. The two squads have one more conference game on the schedule at Cook Arena, Feb. 10.

Coon Rapids has its first three-game winning streak of the season after topping St. Paul Academy/Mounds Park Academy in the quarterfinals 3-2, Dec. 29 and Providence Academy in the semifinals 2-1, Dec. 30. Both games were played at the Schwan’s Super Rink in Blaine.

North Metro scored first in Saturday’s championship game – six minutes, four seconds into the game as Travis Ricci walked out from the corner and tucked the puck inside the near post past Cardinals goalie Patrick Drazkowski.

Ricci was a force for the Stars as he collected three points, with his other goal coming 40 seconds into the third period before assisting on his brother Brent Ricci’s goal at that 4:39 mark of the period.

Coon Rapids responded from the early 1-0 hole with a pair of goals, nearly four minutes apart with the first coming off the stick of Anthony Podkopacz as he buried a deflection. Assists went to Dylan Kuntz and Sam Nagle.

The Cardinals took the lead for good at the 15:50 mark as defenseman Alex Wojciechowski scored his first of two goals of the game, redirecting a rebound past the Stars goalie.

Kuntz tapped in the lone goal of the second period coming 6:09 into it after Wojciechowski let go of a hard slapshot from the point that deflected to Kuntz, who made the most of his chance and gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.

Both teams came out with a lot of energy for the third period and North Metro appeared to be crawling back into the game after closing to 3-2 following Ricci’s even strength goal 40 seconds into the period.

Coon Rapids promptly responded with two goals of its own as Brady Driste and Bobby Smith scored 79 seconds apart to make it 5-2. Driste’s goal came 14 seconds into a power play as he put away a loose rebound after Jake Bruner’s shot from the points was initially saved.

Wojciechowski sealed the win, scoring at 11:50 with a hard wrist shot after splitting the defense. “We had a good rush going and I was able to split the defense and went upper shelf on him,” he said.

North Metro Coach John Pojar was happy with the overall spot his team ended in the tournament. “The whole reason we do this one is to have a chance at playing at the Xcel Energy Center and it was a positive experience, despite the final score,” he said. “Today was a very scrappy game and we’re definitely not happy with the outcome, but we had a number of offensive chances so it was good way to start the year.”

Smith, a junior, collected his sixth goal of the season and third over the past two games after scoring both goals in Coon Rapids’ 2-1 semifinal win over Providence Academy Dec. 30.

The current three game winning streak for the Cardinals gives the team a much-needed confidence boost, following a 1-5 start.

Coon Rapids first-year head coach Brandon Mileski said the team is playing its best hockey of the season over this stretch and is being rewarded for hard work.

“There’s something clicking for this team now,” he said. “They’re working hard, taking the body more and making the most of their chances.”

Mileski said the team was coming off its best performance of the season in a 2-1 semifinal win over Providence Academy, but it regressed in a few areas Saturday, despite the overwhelming win.

“Execution still isn’t always there, but the guys are starting to get it and now they’re starting to play without having to think about what they need to do,” he said.

Implementing his ideas took some time, but after the hard work was put in by the team to learn during practice, the team is starting to translate that to the game.

“We’re still having some mental lapses, but the momentum we gained over these three games helps a lot,” he said.

The next two opponents are Princeton and Maple Grove, two very solid teams, Mileski said.

“We’ve started to work harder to keep the puck outside on defense and going to the net on offense,” he said.

Without a standout player the team relies on for offense, the Cardinals have been able to spread the scoring around so far. “We have four equal lines which really helps us just wear other teams down and that was part of the case today,” Mileski said. “North Metro has a good top line, but the rest of our lines were able to out-play their’s.”

Wojciechowski is one of those players who Mileski and the coaching staff is going to rely on for offensive production. The junior defenseman took an aggressive approach on his first goal and kept firing shots from the point while actively moving closer to the goal when the play was away from him.

“We were waiting for that type of a game from him,” Mileski said. “We’re expecting a lot from him because he’s a big kid with soft hands, a hard shot and a lot of speed (for a kid who stands at 6-5 on skates).”

Jason Olson is at jason.olson@ecm-inc.com.