Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page C9

STARTRIBUNE SUNDAY, MARCH 14, 2004 PAGEC9 PREPSPLUS STATETOURNAMENTSPECIALEDITION CLASS AA HOCKEYFINAL Breck 7, Orono 2Centennial 1, Moorhead 0 Breck finishes impressiverun, rollspast Orono for Class A title By Roman Augustoviz Star Tribune Staff Writer Breck and Section 5 are the kings of Class A hockey again. The Mustangs rolled over Orono 7-2 on Saturday in the small-school state championship game at the Xcel Energy Center and won their second title in four years. For Section 5, dominated by metro private schools, five state titles in the past six years. The score was 1-1 after the first period and, after Orono scored the first goal, Breck trailed for the first time as best as coaches and players could remember since a Dec. 29 game against St.

Louis Park. But the Mustangs (28-1-2) dominated the second period and scored five goals. Junior Blake Wheeler had three of those goals on four shots. Breck coach Wally Chapman expected Wheeler to be at his best with a title at stake: did this in football. He set a record for most catches by a tight end in the Prep The 6-4, 195-pound Wheeler caught seven passes for 147 yards as the Mustangs defeated Kingsland 5114 for the Class 2A state title.

after we won the Prep Wheeler said, started thinking of winning two titles in one year. This has been an unbelievable experience a year I will remember for the rest of my Orono first-year coach Todd Weisjahn knew how good Breck, a private school in Golden Valley, was because the Mustangs beat the Spartans 6-2 in mid-January. Marlin Tribune Blake Wheeler scored all three of his goals during five-goal second period. line combined for 27 points during the tournament. Three stars Blake Wheeler, Breck: Had a hat trick in the second period.

Alec Richards, Breck: The junior made 24 stops, 12 of them in the first period Dustin Fulton, Breck: One of three seniors on the Mustangs, he ended his career with a goal and three assists. Turning point Only 58 seconds after Orono had cut lead to 3-2, the puck was suddenly on Blake stick after a long breakout pass a defender just missed knocking down with his glove. Wheeler charged the net, used a few of his many moves and scored. Three stars Greg Stutz, Centennial: First goalie to hold his opponents without a goal for the duration of the tournament. Mike Montgomery, Centennial: Scored the only goal in the second period.

Derek Hittle, Moorhead: Goalie played a terrific game, making 28 saves. Turning point Junior Mike goal early in the second period is the obvious choice. It let the Cougars, banged up at forward, concentrate on holding a lead for the rest of the game. And exactly what they did. CLASS A HOCKEYFINAL BRECK continues onC10 Marlin Tribune Centennial goalie Greg Stutz, who posted three state tournament shutouts, made another save in the 1-0 victory against Moorhead.

Centennial, bruised and battered, trips Moorhead for Class AA title Courageous Cougars would have sat out at least four weeks because of his injuries, but he missed only the section quarterfinal. Centennial came into the tournament having scored a gaudy 249 goals. Overlooked, however, was that the Cougars had only given up 33. They left with the latter figure unchanged, a testament to their defensemen, relentlessly backchecking forwards and record-setting performance. gets boring working on defense all the time in Anderson said.

it really paid off in the end. The coaches know Said Centennial coach Erik Aus: is a special group of kids. go down in state hockey head (26-3), 0-5 in state championship games, charged hard, but its best shots went wide or high. The 15 on net compared with 29 shots for Centennial were snared by goalie Greg Stutz. were tired and beat up at the Centennial defenseman R.J.

Anderson said. we finally reached our Said Moorhead coach Dave Morinville: would have liked to get a lead to see how they would handle The Cougars withstood the pressure of dual burdens: being the No. 1 team in the state but also appearing in their first state tournament. Gorowsky, the Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year, said ideally he jans and did not play Saturday. The Cougars set a tournament record with three shutouts 2-0 over Holy Angels and 3-0 over Wayzata in the first two rounds.

They also finished with 27 consecutive victories and a 30-1 record. Centennial, located in the northern suburbs and drawing students from Lino Lakes, Circle Pines, Lexington, Centerville and Blaine, defeated the three teams directly below it in the Class AA rankings at the state tournament, ending with No. 2 Moorhead. The lone goal, at 4:04 of the second period, came from junior Mike Montgomery. After that, it was a matter of shutting the lid one more game.

Moor- Gorowsky said. just want to sit back and soak it all Finally, he and his teammates could. Nine of them needed ice packs after defeating Wayzata on Friday. Ryan Flynn, their third-leading scorer, injured his shoulder against the Tro- By Michael Rand Star Tribune Staff Writer Tom Gorowsky sat by himself in locker room, looking as if he might laugh or cry. He had a pulled hip muscle, a hernia and a partially torn muscle near his left knee.

He was overwhelmed and completely spent. But the look on his face said it all: euphoria. All the Cougars had earned that feeling after defeating Moorhead 1-0 in Class AA championship game before an announced crowd of 17,356 at Xcel Energy Center. Gorowsky, the wounded leader, was at the head of that list. Record turnout Paid attendance for the 2004 state tournament was a record 120,092 (Class 2A accounted for The previous record of 116,155 fans was set in 1998..