Laker Boys Hockey Ready To Open Up Section 8A Playoffs Tonight

Detroit Lakes, MN (KDLM) – The Detroit Lakes Lakers boys hockey team is set to open up the Section 8A quarterfinals tonight against Kittson County Central.

The Lakers (18-4-2) enter the tournament as MidState Conference Champs and the three-seed, which is the highest they’ve ever been seeded in the Section 8A tournament.

“Our goal at the start of the year was to be a top-three seed in this tournament,” says assistant boys hockey coach Cody Einerson. “I think it’s the first time in Section 8 that we’ve even been a top-three seed. We worked hard this season, we picked up some big wins this season: we beat Thief River Falls, we took East Grand to OT early in the season, we beat Fergus in their holiday tournament. I think those are some of the games that pushed us up into that top-three conversation at the coaches’ meeting.”

Kittson County Central (8-15-1) is the #6-seed in the tournament. The Lakers beat the Bearcats 7-0 on December 4th, then beat them again in the opening round of the Fergus Falls Holiday Tournament 5-3 on December 28th.

“We’ve continued to improve since that Fergus tourney,” said Einerson. “The only game we’ve lost since then was to Warroad 3-0 in early January. One big way that we’ve improved as the season has gone on is our defenseman have gotten a lot more patient when they have a rush coming at them,” says Einerson. “If you look at a few of the odd-man rushes that Little Falls had last week, there were a couple of mental blocks that happened where we missed a guy flying out of the zone. But we’ve gotten a lot better there since the beginning of the season. It was definitely a struggle against fast teams that would get up and get out of the zone on us and we’re ready for it. We’ve been able to manage or neutral zone game and our forecheck to try to eliminate those odd-man rushes. Our special teams have been really good, too. Over the last eleven games, our power play is at 33% and our penalty kill is at 97%, including killing off all five penalties that we took against Little Falls. It’s a recipe for success when you start seeing numbers like that.”

Einerson says a major factor in the team’s success is the support of the home crowd filling the Kent Freeman Sports Arena on game nights.

“The atmosphere in the arena at that Little Falls game was one of the most fun that I can remember,” says Einerson. “We’ve had some great home crowds this season, but that one might top them all. That kind of atmosphere is tough to describe, especially in a big game like that, and to the student body and the parents and the pep band there…that kind of atmosphere is greatly appreciated and doesn’t go unnoticed by our players,”

The puck drops on the Section 8A quarterfinals tonight at 7:00. You can listen to the game on KDLM and at KDLMradio.com.

SECTION 8A PLAYOFF SCHEDULE:

Round 1

#9 Bagley/Fosston 3, Park Rapids Area 6 (Tuesday, February 22nd)

#10 Lake of the Woods 6, #7 Crookston 0 (Tuesday, February 22nd)

Quarterfinals:

#8 Park Rapids vs #1 Warroad, Thursday, February 24th 7:00

#5 Red Lake Falls vs #4 East Grand Forks, Thursday, February 24th 7:00

#6 Kittson County Central vs #3 Detroit Lakes, Thursday, February 24th 7:00

#10 Lake of the Woods vs #2 Thief River Falls, Thursday, February 24th 7:00

The Section 8A Semifinals will be held in East Grand Forks on Saturday, February 26th. The Section Championship Game is in East Grand Forks on Thursday, March 3rd at 7:00.