Detroit Lakes used a suffocating defense to defeat the Park Rapids-Menahga-Nevis-Walker-Hackensack-Akeley boys hockey team to secure the Mid-State Conference title.
Detroit Lakes limited the Panthers to only six shots on goal to conclude the conference schedule with a 9-0 victory at the Kent Freeman Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 11. The win gave the Lakers the conference title with a 7-1 record. Northern Lakes finished second in the conference standings with a 5-2-1 record while Prairie Centre went 4-4 and Wadena-Deer Creek finished at 2-5-1. Park Rapids, which lost to the Lakers 6-1 on Dec. 10, ended at 1-7.
The victory also enabled Detroit Lakes to remain in the No. 4 spot in the Section 8A standings with a 7-3 record against section opponents. The Lakers improved to 13-9-2 overall while the Panthers remained in the No. 10 spot in the section with a 1-12 record against 8A opponents. Park Rapids ended the regular season with a 4-20 record.
A 20-1 advantage in shots led to a 5-0 lead for the Lakers after the first period. Alex Bren scored 59 seconds into the game before Drew Schwan scored at the 4:31 mark. Beau Boehne made it 3-0 at the 10:37 mark before goals by Dominic Denardo at the 13:56 mark and Boehne with 1:31 to go ended the scoring in the opening period.
Detroit Lakes extended the lead to 7-0 early in the second period when Bren scored at the 1:07 mark and Boehne completed his hat trick 14 seconds later.
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Hunter Burnside’s power-play goal 1:16 into the third period and Maddux Kovash’s goal at the 9:40 mark concluded the scoring.
Goalie Ben Strandlie stopped 31 of the Lakers’ 40 shots as the Panthers were shut out for the fifth time this season. The Lakers posted their third shutout of the season.
Park Rapids 0 0 0...0
Detroit Lakes 5 2 2...9
FIRST PERIOD: 1, Detroit Lakes, Bren (Wimmer, Schwan), :59. 2, Detroit Lakes, Schwan (Wimmer, Bren), 4:31. 3, Detroit Lakes, Boehne (Penney, Wimmer), 10:37. 4, Detroit Lakes, Denardo (FIelds, Justesen), 13:56. 5, Detroit Lakes, Boehne (Penney, Kovash), 15:29. Penalties: None.
SECOND PERIOD: 6, Detroit Lakes, Bren (Schwan, Fields), 1:07. 7, Detroit Lakes, Boehne, 1:21. Penalties: Park Rapids 2, Detroit Lakes 3.
THIRD PERIOD: 8, Detroit Lakes, Burnside (Wimmer), 1:16. 9, Detroit Lakes, Kovash, 9:40. Penalties: Park Rapids 1, Detroit Lakes 0.
GOALIE SAVES: Park Rapids (Strandlie) 15-6-10--31. Detroit Lakes (Itzen) 1-4-1--6.
