HERMANTOWN — Cloquet-Esko-Carlton forward Bobby Thornton was looking to make a play against Hermantown Thursday at Hermantown Arena.
Tied at 1-1 with the Hawks with less than a minute remaining in the second period, Thornton’s teammates crashed the net.
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“One of my buddies got the screen on the goalie and I just let her rip,” Thornton said.
The puck slipped by Hermantown goalie Bryce Francisco and put the Lumberjacks up, a lead they held for a 3-1 win.
Thornton’s goal proved to be the gamewinner, but it was Niko Gentilini’s goal late in the first period that really shifted the game toward the Lumberjacks.
Hermantown sophomore Ethan Aysta scored with 1 minute, 36 seconds left in the first period and the Hawks looked to take a lead into the locker room, but CEC had other ideas. Often Hermantown takes the momentum from a late goal in a period and turns it into an early goal in the next period.
Instead, the Lumberjacks won the ensuing draw and Thornton found Gentilini for the equalizer.
“That was a huge goal,” Thornton said. “They live by that momentum and we were able to stop it right away. Then we just kept playing our game and we didn’t really worry about them.”
With eight points in his last three games, Thornton is playing some of the best hockey of his career. Thornton led the Lumberjacks in points and goals the last two seasons. This year he sits behind Grady Knutson and Gentilini in goals and points, but he’s been heating up and he’s added a new element to his game.
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“He’s been extremely hot lately, but he’s been distributing a lot more,” CEC coach Shea Walters said. “Grady and Nico just so happened to be the beneficiaries of that. It’s been nice to see him develop his game into not just being a goalscorer, but he can certainly put the puck away when he wants to.”
Hermantown coach Pat Andrews thought his team played well in the first and third periods, but an error late in the first period cost them.
“Their top line is explosive,” he said. “Our gaps were tight, but we made a mistake one time in the first period and it ended up in our net. We were loose on that zone entry. We gave them the top of the zone, he cut across and that’s a goalscorer’s shot.”
Hermantown created a push late in the third period, but couldn’t get the game-tying score, and when Andrews pulled Francisco for an extra attacker, Knutson “blew through” the face-off, Andrews said, and buried the puck in the empty net.
“Credit their kid, he wanted that puck and he won the puck,” Andrews said.
Both goalies played well, with Francisco making 25 saves and Jacob Iallonardo making 29.
“(Iallonardo) was seeing the puck really well,” Walters said. “He was coming out and challenging and he killed a lot of plays. Those opportunities can manifest into second, third and fourth-chance opportunities — especially against a good team like Hermantown. For him to kill plays and freeze pucks, that really helps us out defensively, for sure.”
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With the win, it is likely that CEC take Hermantown’s spot at the top of the Class A rankings and it will give them an edge to pick up the top seed in the Section 7A tournament. It will be a new experience for Hermantown and the Lumberjacks alike after years of the Hawks dominating the section.
“Cloquet is the team that everybody’s hunting,” Andrews said.
CEC (17-4) will play Minneapolis at 3 p.m. Saturday at Northwoods Federal Credit Union Arena in Cloquet.
Hermantown (13-6-3) will host Class AA No. 1 Moorhead at 7 p.m. Friday.
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