Delano at Blake
4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 22

It’s another terrific rematch from last year’s Class 1A playoffs, as No. 15 Delano travels to No. 12 Blake. The Tigers defeated the Bears 5-2 in the Section 2 quarterfinals before losing by that same score to top-seeded Breck in the semifinals. It’s early for a game to mean so much in section seeding, but this one certainly does.

Delano has a new coach in Gerrit van Bergen, who is familiar with the program as he was an assistant under former coach Steve Brown. The Tigers feature one of the top sophomores in the state in forward Ben Meyers, who scored 18 goals and 38 points as a freshman and was invited to play in the USA Hockey Select 16 National Development Camp this past summer.

Blake has had its own youth movement the past few years, but most of those youngsters are now juniors and seniors and are the reason the team is expected to contend for a state berth. Mark Lyman is a big and strong power forward who leads all returners with 23 goals and 43 points. With Lyman, Blake gets back seven of its top nine scorers. The Bears, however, did lose Cade Gleekel, who transfered to Benilde-St. Margaret’s.