David La Vaque has covered all but one state hockey tournament game since 2009 and has worked as a Star Tribune high school sports reporter since 2004. His favorite tournament experiences include cheering for alma mater St. Paul Johnson in 1991 and staying for most of the Apple Valley/Duluth East marathon semifinal game in 1996. Loren Nelson has covered every state tournament since 2009 as the national media editor for Sport Ngin. He attended many, many other Tourney games as a high schooler from the far northern reaches of Minnesota making the annual pilgrimage south to the old St. Paul Civic Center in the 1980s.

Two-man advantage presents its much-awaited and highly coveted selections for the Day 1 All-Tournament Team:

FORWARDS
Jack Becker, Mahtomedi
Played as advertised and then some. Hat trick automatically gets you on this list.
Nate Pionk, Hermantown
See above comment about hat trick.
Ryan Kero, Hermantown
Again, see Becker comment (a hat trick of hat tricks!).
Dixon Bowen, East Grand Forks
Cheating to add a fourth forward here, but the Mr. Hockey candidate was a force while scoring two goals for the Green Wave.

DEFENSEMEN
Wyatt Aamodt, Hermantown
How’s this for a stat line: One goal, one assist, three shots, led team with four hits and two blocked shots and finished with plus/minus of plus 4.
Tanner Breidenbach, St. Cloud Apollo
Had four of the Eagles’ 12 blocked shots and notched an assist on the OT goal.

GOALIE
Nick Althaus, St. Cloud Apollo
Stopped all 25 shots he faced, including two in overtime, and seemed unflappable despite the bright lights and big stage.