Duluth East made five trips to the Twin Cities a year ago for six regular-season games, and the Greyhounds collected four souvenir wins, a loss and a tie before returning for a sixth time to participate in the Class 2A state tournament, where they finished as runners-up.
The Greyhounds are logging even more miles down Interstate 35 this season.
Duluth East has nine visits scheduled this season and the Greyhounds will be making their fourth foray to the metro when they arrive in Lakeville to face North on Saturday.
After last year’s 6-5 finish in Duluth, where the Panthers twice lost a two-goal lead and allowed the Greyhounds to score six times in the second period, this Top Game of the Week has the potential to be a worthy sequel.
The Greyhounds, ranked No. 4 in the Class 2A state coaches' poll from Dec. 12, are 1-1 in the two trips they’ve made to the Twin Cities so far, with a 3-2 win over No. 8-2A Wayzata on Dec. 1 and a 2-1 overtime loss at No. 2-2A Andover on Dec 8.
Six Greyhounds (4-1) have at least four points, led by Logan Anderson (2-6-8) and Brendan Baker (3-3-6), who had a goal in last season's matchup against the Panthers. Junior forward Charlie Erickson leads the team with four goals.
The Duluth East special teams, which has allowed just one power-play goal in 13 penalty kills, will face a Lakeville North power-play unit converting 33.3 percent — the state's 10th-best.
Lakeville North (5-1, 4-0) has squeaked out some narrow victories, with three one-goal games in six contests and may need to lean on Spencer Schneider to help outdistance the Greyhounds.
Schneider (6-5-11) leads the Panthers offense and had two goals in last season’s meeting, including an early third-period tally that got the Panthers to close the deficit at 6-5.
Ben Konik has four goals, and six other players have at least three assists for Lakeville North.