Doubt crept into Alex Bump’s mind.

He started the season playing junior hockey in Omaha, then returned for his senior year with Prior Lake. But the Lakers had a rough start. They were 4-7 following a four-game losing streak around holiday tournament time.

“When we were under .500, I had a little doubt in myself,” Bump said. “Like, ‘Hmm, was this not the right idea?’”

Prior Lake won a few more games, getting to .500 before a snowy 7-1 victory over East Grand Forks on Hockey Day Minnesota in Mankato. The Lakers kept up the momentum to win 14 of 17 games, the latest a 7-4 victory over Chaska for the Class 2A, Section 2 championship that sent Prior Lake to its first state tournament. The Lakers open state tournament play Thursday against Cretin-Derham Hall. 

Things came together in an overtime loss to Lakeville South a few days before Hockey Day. 

“It was a game where our players looked and said, ‘We’ve got the team that can win our section, go to the state tourney and do some damage,’” coach Joe Pankratz said. “And then they just all really started playing together, and the chemistry came together.

“So we had the talent mixed with the chemistry.”

That mix starts with the senior top line of Bump, center Sam Rice and Will Schumacher. All three returned from juniors this season, following the carrots of Hockey Day Minnesota and the potential push for a section title.

Bump sets the tone with his 41 goals and 75 points. Schumacher, who said he has enjoyed seeing Bump’s growth as a player from last season, compared watching Bump to watching the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid.

“He does stuff at practice every day that people are like, ‘Holy cow, what did I just watch?’” Schumacher said. “And it’s every practice, I swear. It’s insane.”

Rice, called the “motor” of the top line by Pankratz, has 11 goals and 40 points, but he missed a few games to start the season, first with injury and then with COVID-19. He’s usually the first guy to the puck on the forecheck, Pankratz said.

While Rice was out early, Schumacher also struggled. He had only three goals and three assists during that 4-7 start. But he turned his game around, too, coming into state with 23 goals and 52 points, ranking second on the team behind Bump. It might have been easy for Schumacher to doubt returning from juniors as well, but he didn’t want that regret.

“I knew even when I was struggling back here that it’d end up working itself out in the end, and I wasn’t going to let myself drop all year,” Schumacher said.

As far as weighing the decision to stay or go from high school hockey, Pankratz has his own perspective. He was part of the first of the Bloomington Jefferson three-peat of state titles as a sophomore in 1992. Like Bump, Pankratz played junior hockey in Omaha. Unlike Bump, Pankratz departed high school hockey as a sophomore.

“If I could do it all over again now that I’m 46, I would have stayed and won three titles,” Pankratz said.

He added that he didn’t push Bump, Rice or Schumacher in any direction, letting them make up their own minds.

Achieving goals like a Hockey Day Minnesota victory, a section championship and a chance to be named Mr. Hockey affirmed to Bump that he made the right decision to come back and play with his childhood buddies one more time at Prior Lake.

“You play high school hockey for three or four years,” Bump said. “And you can’t get it back.

“I’m really happy I made this decision. It’s nice to be at home.”