Hermantown and state tournament quarterfinal games are hardly synonymous with drama.
 
Runner-up at the state Class 1A tournament each of the last six years, the No. 1-seeded Hawks (25-2-1) took another step closer to either ending or extending that unfathomable streak by overpowering Litchfield 11-3 during Wednesday’s quarterfinals at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
 
The unseeded Dragons (20-9-0) managed to pull within 3-2 with 6:55 left in the second period when a puck deflected in off senior David Raisanen’s skate.
 
“Purely by accident,” Raisanen said about the play that was reviewed to determine if he directed the puck into the net.
 
Lucky or not, it didn’t matter. From there the game was all Hermantown. 
 
“It kind of gave us a reality check a little bit, maybe” said senior Cole Koepke, who scored just 26 seconds after Raisenen’s deflection and finished with four goals and added two assists.
 
The reality is that this Hermantown team, and its No. 1 line of Kopeke (who also had two assists), Jesse Jacques (two goals, one assist) and Ryan Sandelin (one goal, four assists) might just be the best they’ve brought to the big stage yet.
 
The Hawks entered the state tournament having outscored their three section opponents, including top-ten ranked Greenway and Hibbing, 29-2. They have been ranked No. 1 in the state coaches’ poll for most of the season and defeated state Class 2A tournament qualifiers Wayzata and Grand Rapids.
 
“They were definitely on a higher level than most of the teams we play,” said Raisenen, the Dragons’ leading scorer.
 
Koepke, the Hawks’ leading scorer with 39 goals, one-upped the three players with hat tricks in Wednesday’s previous two quarterfinal games.
 
“All you have to do is just get it to him, he’s got an electric shot,” Sandelin said. “He knows where to put it every time if you put it on his tape.”
 
The game’s finish was much the same as so many of the Hawks previous quarterfinal demolitions. They have defeated their last quarterfinal playoff opponents by a combined 42-10.
 
The only drama left after Wednesday’s game was the potential for Hawks coach Bruce Plante to launch into a dissertation on private schools, officiating, recruiting or any of a number of politically incorrect topics during the postgame media session. He was asked if he had any thoughts on playing a private school (either St. Cloud Cathedral or St. Paul Academy) in Friday’s semifinals.
 
Fully baited, Planted wasn’t biting.
 
“None,” he said. “Not for you guys anyway. I’m not sucking into that this time.”
 
Instead he talked about the unselfishness of his top line, which seemingly produces a different hero every game.
 
“Any given night, one of them is going to do that,” Plante said about Koepke’s performance. “Because they are so unselfish and they just move the puck. Whoever is the right guy to get it to, that’s what they do. It was just Cole’s night tonight.”

First Report

Heavily favored Hermantown used a flurry of second-period goals, including two by leading scorer Cole Koepke, to surge past Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 11-3 on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the state Class 1A tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Koepke finished with four goals, the last on a gorgeous deke-and-drag around Dragons’ goaltender Dylan Lemke in the third period, to give him 38 this season.

The unseeded Dragons (20-9-0) pulled to within 3-2 with 5:55 left in the second when the puck deflected in off leading scorer David Raisanen’s skate.

The No. 1-seeded Hawks (25-2-1), state runner-up each of the previous six seasons, took over from there, getting a goal just 26 seconds later from Koepke. Junior Parker Simmons and Koepke again followed with goals in rapid-fire succession to give Hermantown three goals in span of 1:47 and a 6-2 lead heading into the third period.

Koepke opened the scoring just 31 seconds into the first period. His four goals one-upped the previous three hat tricks in Wednesday’s first two quarterfinal games of the small-school tournament. His third goal came on a feed from linemate Ryan Sandelin with the pair racing into the Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato on a 2-on-1 rush.

Hermantown junior forward Jesse Jacques scored twice in the first period, one on a breakaway after taking a long feed from defenseman Eric Gotz and the other on a deflection of a Gotz shot shot from the high slot.

Given the lopsided nature of so many state Class 1A quarterfinal games, including the two earlier on Wednesday (No. 2 seed Breck beat unseeded Mankato West 8-0 and No. 3 seed Thief River Falls beat unseeded Princeton 6-1), it appeared the rout was on the for the Hawks after Koepke’s early goal.

But Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato tied the score at 1 early in the first when Raisanen converted a turnover by Gotz into a wicked snapshot that sailed over Hawks goaltender Luke Olson’s left shoulder. Raisanen, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound senior, entered the state tournament with 41 goals.

Jared Pederson added a third-period goal for Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato. Sandelin, forward Brendan Baker and Hermantown defenseman Dylan Samberg also scored in the third.

Hermantown goaltender Luke Olson made 18 saves on 20 shots before giving way to backup Cade McEwen with 4:43 remaining. Lemke made 32 saves for the Dragons.

Hermantown, ranked No. 1 in the state coaches’ poll for most of the season, won its three section playoff games by a combined score of 29-2. During the Hawks current seven-year run at the state tournament, they have defeated their quarterfinal opponents by a combined score of

Since seeding was introduced in the tournament in 2007, unseeded teams have gone 3-36.


Gallery: Hermantown 11, Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 3