January marks the halfway point in the high school hockey season, and two area teams appear to be elevating above the rest in section 2AA.
While they do not play in the regular season, Chanhassen (11-1) and Holy Family (8-3) could be on a collision course for a next-door neighbor matchup in the section 2AA tournament, whether it be in the semifinal or championship round.
Both teams fell in the opening round of last season’s tournament, but the Storm currently sit atop the section with the most wins and an advantage over Minnetonka with a head-to-head win, and the Fire have the third-best record among the eight-team section. With both programs aiming for a state tournament appearance, here’s a look at where both teams stand with eight weeks until the postseason.
The Storm’s strong start
Sitting at No. 3 in the Class 2A rankings, Chanhassen is in the middle of one of the program’s best seasons. The Storm have only had winning records in three other seasons (2021-22, 2015-16 and 2011-12), and the group feels prepared to try and achieve even more success.
“We’ve all been playing together for almost our whole hockey career, so now that we get to play on a pretty big stage in high school hockey is really exciting,” senior captain Evan Miller said at the beginning of the season.
The goaltending for the Storm has been exceptional. Junior Kam Hendrickson, along with the defensive unit, has led Chanhassen to six shutouts – the most team shutouts in the state. The Storm also have the state’s best goals against average (1.08) and also have a team save percentage of 94.6.
Offensively, Chanhassen stacks up with several of the top teams in the state. After their most recent game against Waconia, a 6-0 home win, the Storm rank sixth in points with 162. Miller thinks the collective attitude of the team has helped the team be successful.
“I think everyone’s buying in this year. It doesn’t matter what role you have, it doesn’t matter if you’re first line or fourth line or even if you’re playing JV and you want to be on the varsity team,” Miller said. “Everyone’s buying in, everyone wants to be a part of it.”
Young firepower for Holy Family
Holy Family, however, is an offensive threat that can attack an opponent in different ways. While the roster includes senior leadership, senior captain Tommy Agerland said the youth on the team has stepped in and been successful quickly.
“It’s their first year playing high school hockey. And on varsity, it’s hard to just jump in right away and make an impact. But so many of them have, so there’s a bright future for the team,” Agerland said.
The Fire have three players in senior Parker Osborn and sophomores Bryce Wiitala and Holden Pajor who have recorded 20 or more points through 11 games this season, with Osborn leading the way at 29. Another young player who has impacted the team is sophomore Mason Grinnell, who is tied for the team lead in goals with 11.
Holy Family ranks in the top five in several offensive categories, including goals (62) and assists (116). Agerland said he did not know some of the sophomores as well but soon learned about the talent of the group.
“[Summer training was] my first chance to really meet the guys. I had heard before when they were all freshmen that it was a really strong class of kids,” Agerland said. “Then the summer right away, you can just tell how much skill they have.
A challenging postseason
Making it to the later rounds of the section tournament, however, is no easy task. After the top three in the section, Prior Lake (6-5), Shakopee (5-3) and Eden Prairie (5-6-1) are all hovering around the .500 win mark. With competitive foes, nothing is guaranteed for the top seeds. Last season’s section 2AA championship featured the No. 3 and 4 seeds in Chaska and Prior Lake, with the Lakers winning a tight game 7-4. Miller said at the beginning of the season that it does not matter what a team’s record is if they lose the first game of the tournament.
“There’s five, six, seven teams even out of the eight in our section that are really powerful, and any one of them I could see making a run to state,” Agerland said. So if you don’t get that number one seed, you have three tough games ahead of you before even getting to the state tournament, which is kind of unheard of for high school sports.”
Because no one is guaranteed a playoff win, teams will continue to take the remainder of the regular season seriously to try and move up the standings as the season progresses.
“But it’s good for our team, specifically preparation wise, [because] we’re not going to take any games off in the section or late season,” Agerland said.