Duluth East at Lakeville South
7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 10

One of the greatest state tournament upsets came just three years ago in a Class 2A quarterfinal game between top-seeded juggernaut Duluth East and underdog Lakeville South, which featured Mr. Hockey Justin Kloos.

Duluth East, which the year before had lost the state Class 2A title in triple overtime on Kyle Rau’s diving goal, was 27-1-0 entering the matchup. But Lakeville South shut down the high-powered Greyhounds’ offense in a 3-2 stunner.

The stakes aren’t as great Tuesday night, but it’s still an important game between unranked Duluth East (10-10-3) and No. 18-2A Lakeville South (13-8-1).

East is in danger of its first non-winning season in more than 50 years, with only regular-season games against Lakeville South and No. 13-2A Minnetonka remaining. The Greyhounds are 0-2-2 in their last four games, following a four-game winning streak.

Lakeville South is quietly enjoying a good season, but it’s been somewhat overshadowed by No. 1-1A Lakeville North across town. For example, the Cougars have won six of seven games while scoring at least four goals in all of the victories. But the one loss was to Lakeville North 8-2 on Jan. 31. Minnesota-Duluth commit Nick Swaney (23-31-54) leads a strong offense, which also includes Nick Oelrich (19-22-41) and Jack Olsen (11-18-29).