Determined: 15u B North Shore Girls Hockey Team to State Tournament

By Becky Johansen

After a taste of the Minnesota Hockey State Tournament in March 2023, the North Shore Storm Girls Hockey team wanted to do it again. They wanted to extend their youth hockey teams for another at­tempt at the state title.

In the off season, these young ladies pe­titioned both the Silver Bay Blue Line Club along with the Two Harbors Area Youth Hockey Association to form a 15u B girls hockey team. They confirmed players, re­ceived parental approv­al, confirmed funding, and made sure there was a coach willing to work with them.

With few local teams competing at the same level, the North Shore Storm 15u B team trav­eled all over Min­nesota and Canada to find tough competition to challenge and test their skills.

In December, they played in the Centen­nial Tournament in Blaine where they took second place. In Janu­ary, the Storm played in Duluth where they won the consolation bracket without losing a game. Then later in January, they again won the consolation bracket in the Alexan­deria Tournament.

The Minnesota Hockey Regional Tour­nament in Blaine was a long road. After losing their second game to Stillwater Black, the Regional Champion, the Storm had to win the next three in a row to qualify for the state tournament. They beat Northern Tier for a second time that tournament, Centenni­al/Spring Lake Park, whom they beat earlier in the season, and Still­water White, which just lost in an upset to the lower seeded Still­water Black.

Two weeks later, the Minnesota Hock­ey State Tournament started with a hard played game against Wayzata Gold. The North Shore Storm 15u B girls team came out racing. A fast and hard played hockey game started with a defen­sive first period. In the second period, Hallie Komerak scored for the Storm. Late in the third period, Wayzata tied the game which led the game into over­time. With a break­away, Wayzata won the game. It was one of the hardest played, fastest games these gals played throughout the season.

The game against Fairmont was anoth­er fast paced, tough game. Fairmont came shooting right out of the gate. The Storm played defense throughout much of the game. With sever­al penalties along the way, the Storm ended up losing to Fairmont, who ended up placing third in the tourna­ment.

Congratulations to this group of hard­-working young ladies who are an asset to our communities and any organizations they align themselves with.