Blaine at Hill-Murray
7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 19

Blaine stumbled last week when it fell to rival Centennial 6-2, but rebounded from that disappointment with a 4-2 road victory on Saturday night at No. 8-2A Elk River.

It’s unlikely that the loss will, at this point, cost the Bengals a top seed in Class 2A, Section 5 playoffs, and No. 2-2A Blaine still remains on the short list of the state's elite teams.

Tuesday night’s meeting with No. 10-2A Hill-Murray at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood ought to offer an interesting nonconference, non-section meeting between top-shelf programs that could meet again in the state tournament.

Hill-Murray (11-4-1) has been playing well in the new year, going 3-0-1 heading into Tuesday night’s home game against Blaine.

Goaltender Jake Begley continues to anchor the Pioneers’ defense, taking an impressive .930 save percentage and a 1.94 goals-against average into the week. The junior has two shutouts in four games this month.

Conversely, offense continues to fuel Blaine, which is averaging five goals per game as a team.

Senior Riley Tufte, a Minnesota-Duluth recruit who is a projected first round pick in this summer’s NHL draft, has 26 goals and 20 assists through 16 games while his linemate, senior Luke Notermann, has tallied 30 assists and 18 goals, which puts him on a three-point-per-game pace.