Prep report: Rock Ridge's roll continues

A three-goal third-period barrage lifted Rock Ridge to a 5-1 victory over Duluth East on Tuesday evening at Essentia Duluth Heritage Center.

Levi Flatley put the Wolverines in front 1-0 with the lone goal of the opening period at the 4:48 mark. Grady Dimberio extended Rock Ridge’s lead to 2-0 early in the second period with his first of two goals in the game.

Timothy Balthazor’s shorthanded breakaway goal midway through the period cut the deficit in half into the third period.

Rock Ridge (18-3-2) found the back of the net three more times in the final 17 minutes with goals by Grady Dimberio, Cal Scott and Caz Carlson. Wyatt Jonassen stopped 18 shots for the Wolverines.

Nolan Nygaard finished with 30 saves for the Greyhounds (2-21).

Jameson Duell tallied a hat trick and one assist for the Thunderhawks in a blowout win over the Hunters on Tuesday evening Yanmar Arena.

Denfeld’s Nolan Harju scored 13 seconds into the contest before Grand Rapids responded with four unanswered goals in the first period and early in the second. Luke Palacek scored twice and added an assist for the Thunderhawks, while Ander Rajala recorded one goal and three assists.

Alexander Udd scored the final goal for Denfeld early in the second period.

Carter Casey turned aside 17 shots for Grand Rapids (15-7-1), while Liam Fish stopped 42 for the Hunters (9-12).

Goaltender Blayne Kelly slammed the door on the Wolves with 15 saves in a shutout win for the Raiders on Tuesday at Hodgins-Berardo Arena.

The Raiders (7-13-1) struck in all three periods with goals by Evan Woodman, Blake Alto, and Hayden Clow.

Ben Leeson stopped 39 shots for Ely.

Sandra Ribich’s overtime game-winner pushed No. 4 seed Moose Lake Area into the Section 7A semifinals on Tuesday, Feb. 4, at Riverside Arena.

Allie Jones scored the Lumberjacks' lone goal at the 5:16 mark of the second period before Mackenzie Hoffman provided the equalizer for MLA just over a minute later with a power play goal. Autumn Painovich and Ribich picked up the assists.

Ribich delivered the winning goal on the power play at 2:26 of the extra period.

Mallory Hartl stopped 27 of 28 shots for MLA, while Avery Moore saved eight of 10 shots for CEC (6-18-2).

The Rebels (11-14) will meet top-seed Proctor/Hermantown in the semifinals at Northwoods Credit Union Arena on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m.

Goaltender Nola Kwiatkowski stopped all 29 shots for the third-seeded Wolverines in a Section 7A quarterfinal shutout victory over the Bluejackets, Tuesday, Feb. 4, at Iron Trail Motors Event Center.

Four different Rock Ridge skaters tallied goals, including Natalie Bergman, Ayla Troutwine, and Mimi Babiracki in the opening period. Gabby Hutar recorded the Wolverines’ final goal on the power play in the middle frame.
The Wolverines (11-11-4) will take on No. 2 seed North Shore in the semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Northwoods Credit Union Arena.

H/C ends its season with a 5-19-2 record.

Elisabeth Bergan dominated the second of two runs as she and Duluth East won Section 7 girls Alpine skiing championships on Tuesday at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.

Bergan was second after the first of two runs, then laid down a 42.48-second trip in the second run, more than a half-second better than Cloquet-Esko-Carlton’s Teagan Tessier, who finished second on the run and second overall with Bergan claiming a margin of more than two seconds.

The East girls finished with 359 points, 12 better than second-place Forest Lake.

The top two teams advance to the state meet back at Giants Ridge next Tuesday, Feb. 11, as do the 10 best individuals not on an already qualifying team. This meant Teagan Tessier and Nadia Tessier qualified easily as individuals for CEC, which was sixth in the team standings.

By that standard, Duluth Marshall will also send two skiers to state: Sophia Weyrauch and Silvie Lane, who were 11th and 12th overall. Stella Maris’s Annabel Hanson led after the first run, but fought back through an error to take 17th overall and the final transfer position.

On the boys side, Cook County and Forest Lake were the team qualifiers.

Toby Schunk of Proctor/Hermantown had the best local finish, in fourth, qualifying easily for the state meet.

Andrew Rathburn of Marshall and Quincy Smith of East were 15th and 16th in the boys individual standings and earned spot in the state field.

In an all-McDonald coaching clash, Kyle’s Forest Lake team held on to defeat Rhett’s Duluth East boys on Tuesday in Forest Lake.

Ty Nyberg scored 26 in a losing effort for the Greyhounds (5-13), while Roman Durand had 13.

East’s next game is Saturday at home against a Cambridge-Isanti team coached by father Mike McDonald.

The Hunters continued an excellent run of form as the postseason approaches, taking down the Wolverines to sweep a run of four straight road games and extend their season win streak to five.

Marnaries Ferguson scored 29 points and Carter Brown 25 for Denfeld, now 11-7.

Eli Youngs dropped 38 points on the Panthers as the Rebels won at home on Tuesday night, Feb. 4.

MLWR bounced back from a disappointing outing at Esko on Friday night but scoring 42 first-half points for a 12-point edge at the break and managed to keep it even from there.

Layne Radzak added 12 for the 10-7 Rebels, while South Ridge (11-7) got 21 from Gavin Willeck and Theo Yellowrobe.

Five Tigers scored in double figures led by 27 points from Boden Teal as Northwestern blazed to its eighth-consecutive win.

Kamden Kroll put in 19, while Oscar Danz and Ethan Harms bolstered the blazing offense with 16 points apiece.

Northwestern (12-4, 9-2 Heart O’North) faces a rematch at Cumberland and Mr. Basketball finalist Gavin Gores on Friday, Feb. 7.

The Raiders had their defense going early, holding the Raptors to just 16 first-half points in a comfortable home win on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Gage Olson scored 23 for Greenway (11-8), which led 40-16 at halftime.

Carlton/Wrenshall got 24 points from Jackson Korpela but fell to 1-15.

The Rebels turned up the defensive pressure at home, allowing only 15 points in the second half to defeat the Mercuries going away on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Madison Wasche led the offensive effort with 15 points, while Piper Nielsen added 13 for the Rebels (8-10), who were down 23-21 at halftime.

Emma Henderson posted 17 points for McGregor, now 10-9.

Five different Bluestreaks made 3-pointers as they grabbed a home win on Tuesday night.

Olivia Pascuzzi made two of them and was Chisholm’s leading scorer with 18 points. Destiny Schmitz scored 14 and Avaya Dobis-Fontaine 11. Chisholm is now 16-5.

Madelyn Morse scored 15 to lead the Panthers (10-10).

It was all Agates on Tuesday night, with Rachel Bopp outscoring Greenway herself with 20 points. Trinity Giddings added 14 and Belle Bolle 12 for Two Harbors, now 10-11 overall.

Aunika Helms scored 20 points and Anna Serna 16 as the Tigers got back to the .500 mark at 10-10. Arabella Grotberg added 15.

Tatum Barto paced the Grizzlies (3-15) with 19 points.