Hermantown at Duluth Denfeld
8 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 11

The nightcap Thursday night at Heritage Arena in Duluth features two Class 1A, Section 7 rivals in No. 2 Hermantown (3-2-0) and No. 15 Duluth Denfeld (3-1-0). Both should be competing for the section title again this winter, along with Duluth Marshall and Hibbing/Chisholm. This will be an important seeding game for both teams.

Denfeld hasn’t had a lot of luck against the Hawks lately, going 1-5-1 in the past three years, although the Hunters did take Hermantown to overtime twice last year (losing 3-2 on Dec. 17 and tying 4-4 on Feb. 3). Dylan Michaud (1-4-5) leads the Hunters in scoring and is a nice addition after playing on the junior varsity last year when he transferred from Cloquet-Esko-Carlton.

Hermantown has two losses in five games, but both were one-goal games against very good Class 2A teams from the Lake Conference (4-3 at Wayzata and 2-1 to Hopkins last Saturday). As expected, the Hawks have plenty of firepower with Ryan Kero (3-8-11) and Nate Pionk (7-4-11) leading the way.