Editors note: Starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday and going through about 10 p.m. Friday, 16 boys’ hockey teams in Minnesota will win their section tournaments and earn spots in the Class 2A and 1A state tournaments. Here’s where you can keep up with all the action. Come back for updates as the pregame anticipation builds and the scores come in from around Minnesota.
Section scores and schedules | Prep hockey hub
Thursday, 6 a.m. — Morning headlines from Wednesday’s section play
‘We lived up to the hype.’ Minneapolis going to state for first time in 28 years
Edina shuts down Red Knights 4-0 in Section 2A final
First-time ever: Prior Lake going to state
No. 1 in 1A? Hermantown crushes Denfeld 11-0 for Section 7A title
Moorhead takes down Elk River 8-4 for fourth straight tourney trip
Wednesday, noon — pregame, Class 1A, Section 2
Delano boys’ hockey coach Gerrit van Bergen isn’t conceding.
Not a bit.
He “1,000 percent” wants the Tigers to beat Minneapolis in Wednesday’s Class 1A, Section 2 championship game at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center and advance to the state tournament for the fifth time in six seasons.
He also knows what’s at stake for a Minneapolis program last represented in the state tournament 28 years ago. And van Bergen understands what it means for a program to achieve success after many frustrating finishes.
“As a fan, it’s good to see new teams in the tournament,” van Bergen said. “You might be miserable that it’s not you, but you can appreciate what the other team accomplished.”
Not long ago, van Bergen’s now-solid program was the one on the verge. Five times in six seasons from 2011-16, Delano lost to Breck in the section playoffs. With internal expectations soaring for a talented team to break through, finally, in 2017, the Tigers slayed their nemesis in the section championship game and reached their first state tournament.
Parallels exist for Minneapolis. The nickname-less team, which draws players from several of the public schools within the state’s largest city, earned the No. 1 seed for the Section 2 playoffs. The past eight seasons, the team never drew better than a No. 4 seed and never won a semifinal game.
Legitimacy came over six days in January when Minneapolis beat section opponents Orono and Delano on the road. This newspaper and a few local television news stations took notice.
“The attention is fun,” said van Bergen, recalling his Tigers’ spotlight turn back in 2016-17. “And the kids deserved it. They were working to change the story of our program, and that created a lot of excitement. But that’s where it has to stop. Kids have to compartmentalize. You still have to work hard, get better and play for each other.”
Delano players on the 2016-17 roster put each other first. None bolted early to pursue a junior hockey opportunity. Fortunately, van Bergen said, they were rewarded with a state tournament appearance.
Minneapolis, which endures handfuls of youth association players each year choosing private schools, is buoyed this season by a critical mass of hockey-first players vs. good kids who play hockey. The team is crafting the most impressive season in coach Joe Dziedzic’s decade behind the bench.
“I think the kids playing for them see the varsity team having success and realize they don’t have to take off or transfer to have the experience of what high school hockey could be,” van Bergen said.
When Delano, about 30 miles west of Minneapolis, finally overthrew metro-area private school Breck, state tournament observers cheered the arrival of a new team from a small town.
Facing Minneapolis in an all-important rematch doesn’t mean Delano becomes the villain. But the Tigers are no longer the sentimental pick, either.
“It’s new for us,” said van Bergen, a former Delano player. “I told our kids, ‘We’re the No. 2 seed and we’ve already lost to them. In many ways, you’re the underdog.’ It’s a little different, for sure.”
One of the final scenes in the mob movie “Donnie Brasco” finds Al Pacino as gangster Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero receiving a phone call to attend a meeting he knows will end with his death. Lefty had vouched for the title character played by Johnny Depp — an undercover FBI agent.
Before leaving the apartment, Lefty tells his girlfriend, “And listen to me, if Donnie calls… , tell him …, tell him, uh …, if it was gonna be anyone, I’m glad it was him.”
The scene came to mind when van Bergen said, “If it’s not us, it would be cool to see Minneapolis go.”