Prep report: North Shore girls roll into postseason

North Shore showed it’s ready for the MSHSL girls hockey postseason by cruising past Visitation 7-2 in its regular-season finale on Saturday at Rukavina Arena in Silver Bay.

The Storm got goals from six different players, with Sarah Stauber recording two. Stauber had a part in both North Shore scoring flurries, getting her first goal as part of a four-goal first period in which all the Storm goals came in a span of 7:55. She scored again on the power play as North Shore put the game away with three scores in the first six minutes of the third frame.

Reese Costley had four assists, while Reagon Hogenson had a goal and two assists. Alexa Harrison made 15 saves.

The Storm finish the regular season 20-3-2. Pairings for the Section 7A tournament, which begins Tuesday, have not been posted, but the Storm are likely to have a bye into the semifinals on Feb. 8 in Cloquet.

Ava Corrington scored twice and goalie Ava Myhre made 16 saves as Bemidji won the all-Lumberjack meeting on Saturday, Feb. 1 in Bemidji.

CEC finishes the regular season 6-17-2 with a first-round game Tuesday at Rock Ridge the most likely playoff setup.

Two goals and an assist from Mae McCall helped propel the Northern Stars into the postseason on a winning note after a comfortable home win over International Falls at Essentia Duluth Heritage Center.

McCall delivered one of the Northern Stars’ two power-play goals, which made it 3-0 just past the mid-point of the second period. Gracyn Schipper added a goal and assist.

The Northern Stars finish the regular season 11-9-5 and guaranteed to have a winning record, but fell just short of a top-four seed in the Section 7AA bracket. They’ll open their postseason on the road as the No. 5 seed at Forest Lake on Thursday night. The teams played to a 1-1 tie on Jan. 10 in Duluth.

The Lightning controlled play on Saturday at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls.

Ellie Troumbly had two goals and an assist in the first period for the Lightning, who had a 22-5 shot advantage after 17 minutes and cruised from there.

Teagan Christy made 15 saves in the win.

GRG (19-5-1) will host Northern Tier in a playoff opener on Thursday night in Grand Rapids.

Taylor Reese and Jaylie French scored two goals apiece as the Warriors rolled in the regular-season finale for both teams at Iron Trail Motors Event Center on Saturday in Virginia.

Madison Fingeroos and Natalie Bergman had consolation goals for Rock Ridge (10-11-4). Nola Kwiatkowski made 45 saves.

It was one-way traffic for the Spartans on Saturday, Feb. 1 at Superior Ice Arena.

Isabella Thompson, Makaela Reinke and Gabryel Olson scored two goals apiece for Superior, while Hailey Olby had a goal and three assists.

Superior (18-3) still has two weeks of regular season left.

The Huskies threw their hats in the ring as a Section 7AA contender by knocking off the Thunderhawks on Saturday at Andover Arena.

Andover scored three times in the second period, two of them on the power play, to take the lead and held it through the third before tacking on a late empty-netter.

Caleb Gunderson and Luke Rohloff scored for Rapids (14-7-1), which got 25 saves from Carter Casey.

Grady Knutson was the overtime hero as the Lumberjacks escaped win a win at Northwoods Credit Union Arena after erasing a pair of two-goal leads for the visitors.

After falling behind 2-0 and 4-2, CEC tied it on Karson Young’s power play goal 3:35 into the third frame, then took its first lead on Bobby Thornton’s shorthanded goal about three minutes later. Minneapolis tied it on a power-play goal with 3:53 left in regulation, but Knutson scored his second of the game to raise the Lumberjacks’ record to 18-4.

Jacob Iallonardo and Jamis Halverson split the net for the Lumberjacks, combining to make 21 saves.

Aiden Fillman and Logan Hammer scored for the Raiders on the road, but they couldn’t get all the way out of a 3-0 deficit after a period.

Zane Schad made 28 saves for Greenway (6-13-1).

Duluth edged out Grand Rapids for the Lake Superior Conference boys swimming title, competing at home at Lincoln Park Middle School in Duluth on Saturday.

Duluth finished in first place in all 12 events, but the Thunderhawks’ depth helped it be only a 584-561 decision.

Landon West was a double winner for Duluth, taking the 100-yard butterfly by a wide margin in 54.69 seconds and the 100 backstroke by an even wider margin in 54.37.

Seiji Sudoh, Joey Zelen, Lucas Warren and Elliot Yung all combined one individual win with participating in at least one successful relay.

Superior was in third place with 262 points.

Laynie Reinertsen scored 21 points for the Hunters, but the Jaguars came away winners on Saturday in Duluth.

Denfeld fell to 5-14.

Abby Johnson outscored the Chieftains by herself in this game played Saturday, Feb. 1 in Somerset, Wisconsin, piling up 36 points for her second huge game in as many nights after scoring 34 at Cumberland on Friday.

The Tigers have won nine in a row and are 14-4 on the season.

The Lumberjacks led 38-33 at halftime but got overtaken in the second period on the strength of a 37-point game from the Vikings’ Ella Kuhlman.

Cloquet falls to 7-13 on the season.

Claire Beerntsen scored 23 points but the Eagles learned some tough lessons in the second half.

The Warriors outscored the Eagles 38-14 in the second half as Solon suffered its first defeat since its season opener, ending a 13-game win streak.

The Tigers trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half but pulled ahead for a seventh straight victory on Saturday, Feb. 1 in Hammond, Wisconsin.

Boden Teal led Northwestern (11-4) with 17 points, while Kamden Kroll added 15.