Chris Pohlkamp already had scored a goal, but now he was taking care of some even more pressing matters.

Mitch Slattery was skating with his head down, and Pohlkamp – aka “The Sledgehammer” – doesn’t let that sort of behavior go unpunished. 

BOOM! The Brainerd defenseman skating for Section 8A/AA leveled Slattery, the Hill-Murray star skating for Section 4A/AA, with a devastating open ice hit.

The confrontation in Sunday’s championship game of the Ted Brill Great 8 didn’t end there. Slattery had only just picked himself up from the ice and dusted the snow off his jersey when he once again found himself skating with the puck near center ice.

BOOM! Pohlkamp dropped the shoulder, and down went Slattery once again.

“I think the two hits that Pohlkamp had in the second period completely turned the game around,” said Section 8 coach Andy Lundbohm of Roseau, a fierce rival of Brainerd during the high school season. “We’ve seen that from our end, he’s done that to our players. It was real nice to see him explode into a couple of other players.”

Never mind that the “couple” of players actually was just one. The point had been made. And the game never was in doubt, as Section 8 cruised to a 5-1 triumph over longtime Great 8 powerhouse Section 4 at Wakota Arena in South St. Paul.

Slattery, who has committed to play at St. Cloud State, wore No. 16 but might as well have tugged on a 1, as in Public Enemy No. 1, for Sunday’s title game. He was involved in several verbal and physical confrontations throughout the matchup, none more dramatic than the two in a matter of seconds with Pohlkamp.

“The bench was going crazy, it brings energy to the whole team, all around,” said Section 7 forward Cole Smith, another Brainerd star, about Pohlkamp's demolitions of Slattery. “Pohlkamp, he always comes up with those big hits, especially those hip checks. Everybody thinks they’ve got a step on him, and then he throws that hip and flips you.”

Smith set up Pohlkamp’s first-period goal with a nifty pass back through the slot to the trailing defenseman. Smith finished with two assists, and linemates Logan Rivard, also of Brainerd, and Isak Bergland of Thief River Falls each had a goal and an assist.

Section 8 outscored its three Great 8 opponents by a combined score of 13-5 and came within 7:04 of the shutout in the championship game. Section 4 was making its fourth championship game appearance in five years in the Great 8.

“The forwards were coming back and helping out, that’s the main reason we weren’t giving up that many goals, everybody was playing defense,” Smith said. “Our defensemen were topnotch. Some of the best in the state.”

Pohlkamp was joined by Eddie Eades and Taylor Brierly from state Class 1A champion East Grand Forks, Nick Jaycox and Blayke Nelson from Warroad and Adam Pancoast of Thief River Falls on a crafty and punishing Section 8 defensive corps.     

Lundbohm praised the steady play of Section 8 goaltenders Wyatt Casavan of Red Lake Falls and Cody Brumbaugh of Park Rapids. But he also said the defensive dominance started with the team’s forwards.

“I think our forwards started it by coming back really hard all tournament long,” Lundbohm said.

Sunday’s victory in the tournament designed to showcase the state’s top seniors might have signaled a renaissance of sorts for northern Minnesota hockey. East Grand Forks won its Class 1A title in dominating fashion, and Roseau turned in a strong showing in the state Class 2A tournament by winning the consolation title after an overtime loss to Lakeville North in the quarterfinals. Although a Section 7 program, longtime northern power Grand Rapids produced this season's top two high school award winners in Mr. Hockey Avery Peterson and Frank Brimsek Award winner Hunter Shepard and recently won the state Bantam AA title.

Northern pride?

“Oh yeah, we were just talking about that, representing Section 8,” Pohlkamp said. “We had a lot of fun.”

The Brainerd trio of Chris Pohlkamp, Cole Smith and Logan Rivard combined for two goals, three assists and numerous thundering hits to help lead Section 8A/AA past Section 4A/AA 5-1 on Sunday in the championship game of the Ted Brill Great 8 Invitational at Wakota Arena in South St. Paul.

Smith set up Pohlkamp early in the period for Section 8’s first goal, and Pohlkamp continued to stamp the game with Brainerd fingerprints – and shoulders – by twice leveling Section 4 forward Mitch Slattery of Hill-Murray with open ice checks in the second period. 

Section 8 led 2-0 heading into the third, when Smith and Rivard sent up a goal by linemate Isak Bergland of Thief River Falls just 1 minute, 28 seconds into the final period.

Section 8 took a commanding 5-0 lead when Rivard and Aaron Herdt of Moorhead scored 32 seconds apart midway through the third.

Section 4’s Jake Dittel, a defenseman from White Bear Lake, ended Section 8’s  shutout bid when he scored with 7:04 remaining.

Section 8, which included defensemen Eddie Eades and Taylor Brierly among its three players from state Class 1A champion East Grand Forks, allowed just five goals in three Great 8 tournament games.

Wyatt Casavan of Red Lake Falls played the first half of the game and stopped all nine shots he faced. Cody Brumbaugh of Park Rapids entered midway through the second and stopped 11 of 12 shots.

Sam Illgen of Hill-Murray played the first half for Section 4 and made 12 saves on 14 shots before giving way to Justin Ball of Minnehaha Academy, who stopped 13 of 16 shots.