Section 3A/AA, Kelly Green- 3 vs. Section 4 A/AA, Royal Blue-5
Game 1 of the Minnesota Hockey HP Spring Festival opened with Section 3 A/AA facing off to Section 4 A/AA. Section 3 (Kelly Green) took the lead halfway through the first half with a goal from Jack McVey (East Ridge). Less than 30 seconds later, teammate, Liam Baird extended the lead to 2. Section 4 answered back at 15:03 with a goal from White Bear Lake's Lleyton Roed, closing the gap to 1. Jonston Meiers (Eagan) closed out the first half with an unassisted goal to bring Green's lead up 3-1.
Both teams came out fighting in the second half and remained even keeled for the first 12 minutes. The final 12 minutes of play saw Section 4 dominating the ice and pushing for the comeback. Nicholas Dario (Stillwater) scored the first goal of the half off an assist from fellow Ponies teammate, Mike Sweetland. Owen Ramirez (South St. Paul) followed suit and tied the game at 17:59. Royal Blue would ultimately go on to extend their lead by two with goals from Dario and Mahtomedi's Nikolai Dulak in the final 4 minutes of play.
Section 2A/AA, Orange- 1 vs. Section 5 A/AA, Sky Blue-7
Game 2 of the day was a showdown between Section 2 A/AA and Section 5 A/AA. Both teams played a stellar first half, matching each other with every skate. The first and only goal of the half would come at 8:32 with Section 5's Ian Barbour (Osseo-Maple Grove) knotching the puck past goaltender Zach Hansen (Chaska) off an assist from Blaine's Jack Reimann.
The final half brought about a different game. Sky Blue dominated the final 24 minutes, racking up a total of 6 goals. Jack Southard (Princeton), Thomas Carls (Coon Rapids) and Hunter Hanson (Blaine) would all score in the first five minutes of the half. Section 2's Preston Lindholm (Prior Lake) would tally the first and only goal for Orange with just over 15 minutes to play. In the end, it was Section 5 that would take the game with two additional goals from Osseo-Maple Grove's Chris Kernan and another from fellow teammate, Kyle Kukkonen.
Section 1A/AA, Red- 0 vs. Section 7 A/AA, Gold-3
The 3rd game of the afternoon saw Section 1 A/AA facing off with Section 7 A/AA. The first half would prove to be quiet, each team skating neck and neck. Much of the second half would prove the same, not picking up until the final 15 minutes of play. At 11:12, Section 7's Joseph Pierce (Hermantown) scored on an unassisted goal, giving Gold the 1-0 lead. 2 more empty net goals would follow in the final 3 minutes of the game; Greenway's Mitchell Vekich would extend Section 7's lead to 2 before Gunnar Thoreson (Andover) would seal the win with a last minute goal to close the game with a 3-0 victory over Section 1.
Section 6A/AA, Gray- 6 vs. Section 8 A/AA, White- 1
Section 6 A/AA (Gray) took on Section 8 A/AA (White) in the final game of Day 1 with Gray dominating both halves! St. Cloud Cathedral's Christian Zins kicked things off with a goal at 21:22 putting Section 6 on top 1-0. Teammates, Jakob Stender (Alexandria) and Emmett Wurst (Edina) extended the lead to 3-0 by scoring back to back goals within 1 minute!
Section 6, again, came out scoring the first two goals of the second half. Stender, with his second goal of the night, wristed one past goaltender Noah Rupprecht (TRF) to give Gray the 4-0 lead. 6 minutes later, Jack Smith (St. Cloud Cathedral) brought Section 6 to a 5-0 lead. With 5 minutes to play, Section 8's Michael Overbo (Moorhead) tallied the first and only goal for White. Ultimately, Gray took the game with a final goal at 21:51 by Tristan Broz (Blake) to win 6-1.