The boys hockey state tournament is the crown jewel of large-scale extracurricular high school activities in Minnesota. It routinely draws more than 120,000 passionate fans to St. Paul, and its results are reported on national sports newscasts.

That the tournament draws so much attention from outside the insular hockey community is a testament to its place on the local sports hierarchy. But such attention and celebration can also carry condemnation.

In the aftermath of the Class 2A and 1A championship games on March 7, while we celebrated the winners of two marvelous overtime dramas, many witnessed two runner-up teams experiencing heart-wrenching disappointment. Dreams had just been punctured. Like in several of these MSHSL state tournaments, these second-place teams — Minnetonka in 2A and Hibbing/Chisholm in 1A — had mere moments to try to collect themselves before accepting their runners-up trophies at center ice.

“They were gutted,” Minnetonka coach Sean Goldsworthy said.

Some who watched the postgame scenes play out, with several players reacting emotionally by removing their second-place silver medals and showing perceived disrespect, objected. On social media and other platforms, the players and coaches were bashed. While criticism of teens and adults in these moments had been shared in prior years and other sports, this year’s condemning seemed to reach a higher volume.

It was bad sportsmanship, a chorus shouted.

Goldsworthy, who has been a hockey coach for 30 years and has two state championships to his credit, doesn’t agree. What the longtime coach saw was a team’s genuine response and an understandable reaction by teenagers to heartbreaking disappointment after a 5-4, double-overtime loss to Moorhead.

“These are 16-year-olds,” Goldsworthy told Strib Varsity this past week. “After the mental, emotional and physical four-day journey they’ve just gone through, the finality of the moment and the adrenaline crash that followed were devastating. It creates an opportunity for regret.”

Similar feelings ran through the Hibbing/Chisholm roster after its 5-4 overtime loss to Warroad in the Class 1A final. Coach Aaron Jamnick said the immediate disappointment coming out of a tense game was the reason for the Bluejackets’ postgame response.

“It was a great back-and-forth game. We went from being down two goals to taking the lead, and we end up losing in overtime,” Jamnick said in a text message. “The emotions and momentum are at an ultimate high and go to an ultimate low in a few seconds. The team was devastated.”

Jamnick accepted any blame for his team’s postgame actions.

“I take full responsibility for taking off the medals after the game. It’s something we didn’t see happening live,” he said. “Looking forward, it’s something we’re striving to learn from and be better. This was meant as no disrespect to Warroad. We have a lot of respect for their program.”

Goldsworthy echoed Jamnick’s sentiment, hoping the Skippers’ postgame actions will not be characterized as disrespect for their opponents.

“We certainly meant no disrespect to Moorhead. They’re a great team,” he said. “It was a showcase of the best of Minnesota high school hockey.”

A question that has been asked before and surely will be asked again: Should these high school athletes — in hockey or any sport — be put in such a spotlight when they’re reeling from a devastating championship game loss? With his players straining on the ice under the postgame glare, Goldsworthy saw teenagers in need of time to come to grips with what just happened.

“Sixteen-year-old kids going through such an emotional letdown needed to just sit for the next 15 or 20 minutes, but they didn’t get the opportunity,” Goldsworthy said. “Right after the game, the coaches spent the majority of their time just getting our kids to breathe.”

The Minnetonka coaches did not show up for the press conference after the game, leading to more speculation and criticism.

“The kids’ emotions at that time were real and genuine,” Goldsworthy said. “My first responsibility was to my players. They were hurting. For 30 minutes, we were dealing with kids in distress. Kids being exposed to raw emotions at a hard time. The MSHSL gave us the option of not going to the press conference. We felt it was best at the time to stay with the kids.”

Goldsworthy admitted the loss presented the team with a huge learning opportunity. Faced with a locker room of dejection that night, though, he and his staff were not inclined to force them to endure more heartache.

“We regret not getting the chance to explain in detail what went on after the game, but I feel we did what was best for the kids,” he said.

Since then, Goldsworthy said he has heard supportive comments from many parents and others.

“What’s interesting is that I’ve had probably 10 times more people reach out to me to say they really appreciate how compassionate we were,” he said. “We made tough decisions with their best interests at heart.”