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.

Switching gears tonight and presenting our All-Tournament Team, instead of an all Day 4 team. Since we only saw the two championship games, we are limiting our selections to players who were in all the championship round games at the Xcel Energy Center.

FORWARDS
Dixon Bowen, East Grand Forks
The Mr. Hockey finalist and North Dakota commit scored nine points in the tournament, including a goal and three assists in the title game. He was a beast on faceoffs, winning 54 of 86 for a sparkling 63 percent. He was a big-time physical presence, too, delivering nine hits. Would be in the discussion for tournament MVP, if there was such a thing.

Jack Poehling, Lakeville North
The senior Mr. Hockey finalist scored four goals and had three assists in the tournament, including a power-play goal and three assists in a dominant title-game effort. The St. Cloud State commit also had four hits and three blocked shots in the three games.

Nick Poehling, Lakeville North
The senior Mr. Hockey finalist registered eight assists in the tourney before cementing the Panthers’ championship-game win an empty net goal with 5.1 seconds left. His tenacious style led to eight hits and two blocked shots. Like Bowen, this is not a fun guy to play against.

DEFENSEMEN
Jack Sadek, Lakeville North
Future Gophers' player is known for offense but he helped beat Duluth East at its own patient, defensive-minded game. He won battles along the wall and forced the Greyhounds to go 200 feet all night.

Wyatt Aamodt, Hermantown
Just a junior, Aamodt contributed four points and nine hits during the tournament, showcasing himself as one of the state's top blueliners.

GOALIES
Ryan Edquist, Lakeville North
As the last piece to Lakeville North's title run, Edquist repsonded with his own perfect season. He went 29-0 with a 1.30 goals against average, a .940 saves percentage and eight shutouts. He was the Panthers' best player in the semifinal victory against Eden Prairie.