Brainerd wins third consecutive PI adapted hockey title; South Suburban Jets win in CI division
The Warriors got multiple goals from three players to claim their crown. The Jets won after hitting their stride at the right time.
By Joe Gunther
The Minnesota Star Tribune
Brainerd has a dynasty brewing in the Physically Impaired Division of adapted hockey.
The Warriors are led by a high-powered, puck-control offense. That system, combined with a deep, young team, means they could keep things rolling after winning their second consecutive state title on Saturday, Feb. 28.
The Warriors got multiple goals from three players to pull away from Maple Grove 7-0 in the PI Division state championship game at Bloomington Jefferson High School.
“We’re really fortunate to have five, six kids that we can bring off the bench and we really don’t lose much of anything,” Brainerd coach Todd Person said. “They love playing these games. We don’t get a lot of these during the year. Just to be able to come in and battle, it’s a lot of fun.”
Josh Pence and Eric Fordyce had two goals and an assist each and Aiden Olsen had a goal and two assists to lead the Warriors (16-0). Owen Olsen added two goals for Brainerd.
The Warriors believe their pipeline has more talent coming in the future. That includes Olivia Olsen, the younger sister of Aiden and Owen.
“We have a sixth-grader coming that is going to be fantastic next year,” Person said. “Olivia Olsen, she is a spitfire. There’s more coming, which is great. The program has had so much support over the years.”
The Crimson (12-4) had a couple of opportunities to get on the board, but all-tournament team goaltender Andrew Kargel shut the door.
CI Division
The South Suburban Jets made a somewhat surprising run through the Cognitively Impaired Division. They entered as the Southeast’s No. 2 seed. They hit their stride at the right time to beat the Northeast’s No. 1 seed, Maple Grove, and undefeated defending champion New Prague/Tri-City United/Le Sueur-Henderson/Belle Plaine/Jordan before defeating Mankato 11-2 in the championship game.
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“We’ve been pretty competitive all year. Last night [in the quarterfinal round] it just kind of clicked,” South Suburban co-coach Aaron Walton said. “We knew we had a goalie. We knew we had a goal scorer. We knew we had kids that if they work hard, they were going to be successful. We knew we had the talent. We just didn’t know [if we could go all the way].”
Easton Anderson led the way with seven goals.
“He’s a goal scorer, right?” Walton said. “I’m sure it’s like how you are at a Wild game and [Kirill] Kaprizov with the puck, you think he’s going to score every time. That’s [the same] with Easton.”
Will Dawson, Jordan Cavness, Ana Page and Isaih Urena also scored for the Jets (12-3). Betsy Malecha added two assists.
The Jets defense played a big role in their run through the state tournament. Led by senior Prince Yeakehson, the Jets were able to limit the opportunities the Knights had around the Jets’ outstanding goaltender, Josh Ruz.
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