DETROIT LAKES – The Detroit Lakes boys hockey team has seen enough of Kittson County Central in the Section 8A quarterfinals.
In a repeat of last year's first-round scare , the third-seeded Lakers (17-7-1) survived the sixth-seeded Bearcats' upset bid with a 6-4 win at the Kent Freeman Arena. Detroit Lakes overcame two one-goal deficits in the second period to earn a spot in the Section 8A final four for the second consecutive year.
"The crowd always gives you that extra energy," sophomore Jace Fields said. "We had to find our confidence. We were a little nervous for our first playoff game. But we played hard and got the job done."
Easton Kennedy's first of two goals gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission. However, KCC responded with Morgan Muir's game-tying shorthanded goal before Eli Muir put the Bearcats in front 2-1.
Cole Larson evened the score after tipping in Tommy Suckert's shot from the point before KCC regained a one-goal lead on Ethan Hanson's bouncing shot from inside the red line.
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"To start the game, we played scared to make mistakes," Detroit Lakes head coach Ben Noah said. "We let the nerves get the best of us. It hurts our ability to handle the puck but also our ability to think and anticipate. You can just see our game and the way that we play isn't there, at least not until we get on the scoreboard and we start to loosen up a little bit."
Aiden Kennedy tied it again for the Lakers with a seeing-eye shot through the legs of Bearcats' goaltender Jameson Turner. Detroit Lakes took a 4-3 lead into the locker room following Chase Kukowski's blast from the slot.
Sophomore defenseman Tommy Suckert has become more than a dependable two-way player. On Thursday, his 200-foot game was rewarded with a pair of assists. Despite his underclassmen status, he feels more comfortable in his second playoff stint on the varsity roster.
"Going into last year, I was super nervous for my first playoff game," Suckert said. "The physicality level goes up. Guys are finishing every check, and you can't hide. You can't just give the puck to someone else and have them do the work for you. You have to make plays and push the pace yourself."
"I learned it all from Jace Fields," Suckert said on playing a two-way game. "I've played with him growing up, and he's taught me a lot about jumping up into rushes. He gets a ton of the credit for that. He's my go-to guy."
The Lakers doubled their lead on Easton Kennedy's second goal early in the third. Timothy Johnson's unassisted tally cut KCC's deficit in half before Aiden Kennedy added his second of the night over the shoulder of Turner with under four minutes left. The Kennedy brothers combined for two-thirds of Detroit Lakes' scoring on Thursday.
Detroit Lakes scored six goals for the 10th time this season, but the Lakers' defense shined brightest. The Laker shut down Tyler Hennen, an Augustana University commit and the state's most lethal scorer with 71 goals and 51 assists, to just one point.
"You just have to put pressure on him," Suckert said. "It's pretty hard to score if you have three guys on you. You have to take away time and space and don't get outworked.'
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"We always push each other," Fields said of the defensive corps. "We do our best out there. We're not trying to do anything more than our best. We just try to play smart blue line to blue line and keep the puck out of our net."
When it's all said and done, Detroit Lakes' sophomore defensive duo of Suckert and Fields will log plenty of ice time at the varsity level. Fields leads the team in assists with 28, while Suckert had six goals and 17 helpers on the season.
"We had Tommy and Jace playing together for three-quarters of the year," Noah said. "We decided to change it because it's more going to represent what the future looks like past this year. We won't have (Jacob Thomas) next year. We see Jace and Tommy playing with some of the younger guys who will come up next year and become our leaders on the back end. We're very proud of the way those guys emerged, especially Jace. Tommy did it last year for us. Jace leads our team in assists and sees the ice well. Tommy is a heart-and-soul energy kind of guy. We're very lucky to have those guys."
The Lakers will have a tight turnaround to prepare for the Section 8A semifinals on Saturday in Thief River Falls. They will take on No. 2 East Grand Forks at 6 p.m. at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Green Wave beat Detroit Lakes in overtime in each of the last two meetings.
"I was very proud of the resilience (tonight)," Noah said. "It came down to finding a way to figure it out and get this win when the pressure is on us. We're a much better team when we're playing somebody people think we should lose to because we don't have that fear. My motto this season from day one is, 'All heart. No fear.' If you play with your heart and without fear, you're the best version of yourself. That's why I'm looking forward to Saturday. The pressure is on East Grand Forks, and we just get to go out and play."
KCC 0 3 1 – 4
DL 1 3 2 – 6
SCORING FIRST PERIOD- DL- Easton Kennedy (Ben Hines) 14:12
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SECOND PERIOD- KCC- Morgan Muir (Tyler Hennen) SHG, 4:04; KCC- Eli Muir (Hayden Olsonawski) 4:04; DL- Cole Larson (Tommy Suckert) 7:02; KCC- Ethan Hanson (Dana Brown) 8:26; DL- Aiden Kennedy (Cole Deraney, Larson) 9:57; DL- Chase Kukowski (Suckert, Carter Bellefeuille) 14:46
THIRD PERIOD- DL- E. Kennedy (Hines, Jace Fields) 4:28; KCC- Timothy Johnson (unassisted) 7:30; DL- A. Kennedy (Larson) 13:08
PENALTIES- DL- 8 minutes on 4 infractions; KCC- 2 minutes on 1 infraction
GOALTENDING- DL- Josh Mack, W, 19 saves, 4 goals allowed; KCC- Jameson Turner, L, 26 saves, 4 goals allowed
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