Top-ranked Bears headed to St. Paul
By Nick Clark
Sun Newspapers
(Created: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:27 PM CST)
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The Blake girls hockey team has grown accustomed to getting its collective heart broken over the past four years.
That was until last Saturday, when the Bears pieced that heart back together and put it out on the ice of Parade Ice Garden.
The result was a 3-0 win over Mahtomedi in the Section 4A final and a trip to St. Paul and the girls Class A state hockey tournament this week.
"Every single person played their hearts out," said senior Katharine Chute. "I am so proud of our team."
Chute is the Bears only link to the 2003 team that won the Class A state title. Since the, Blake has amassed at least 18 wins each season, only to get ousted in section play each year.
Getting back to state felt good for the Bears.
"This is amazing," said senior goaltender Rachel Bowens-Rubin, who turned away 23 shots to earn the shutout, her fifth straight goose egg.
"It hasn't hit me yet," she said. "Maybe it will Wednesday, but it hasn't hit yet."
It better hit by Wednesday. That is when the Bears are scheduled to open the Class A state tournament at 11 a.m. against Breck.
Blake has already beaten the Mustangs twice this year - 4-0 Jan. 1 and 4-0 again Feb. 3 - but one of the oldest clichˇs in sports says the toughest thing to do is beat a team three times in a year.
"When they came and they played us on the final game of the season, they came out just blazing," said Blake head coach Brano Stankovsky. "Five or six minutes into the first period, they had out shot us 7-0. They were all over us, and what is good is that we know they are going to come out flying again. It will be another battle."
Blake needed to win twice to earn its fourth trip to state in school history.
After getting a bye in the opening round of Section 4A play, Blake started off its postseason run with a 7-0 shutout of Totino-Grace.
The Bears top line of Katharine Chute, sister Margaret and Sally Komarek accounted for 14 points in that win.
The Chute sisters both finished with two goals and three assists, while Komarek scored once and also set up three others.
Saturday, the task differed for that top unit. Instead of scoring goals, their most pressing challenge was to shut down Mahtomedi senior Laura May, who had scored 35 goals coming into the game.
"We were matching lines and going out every time she was out there," Katharine Chute said.
That left the scoring to the rest of the team, and they did their part.
Third line wing Julia Heffelfinger started it off, rifling in a shot a little over five minutes into the game to put Blake up 1-0.
In the second, that top line broke through, but it came while Blake was shorthanded.
Margaret Chute fed her sister, who was racing out of the zone, setting up a 2-on-1. Katharine's shot was stopped, but Margaret was there to pounce on the rebound and make it a two-goal game.
"[Margaret] made that play," Katharine Chute said. "She got the pass on the breakout and passed it over to me. I shot and she was right there crashing the net for the rebound."
Laura Komarek ended any drama there was late in the third, picking the top-left corner to put Blake up 3-0 and all but clinch the trip to state.
"When we got that third goal I started to think we might have it, but it was a dog fight all the way to the end," Katharine Chute said. "I don't think I felt comfortable until the very end."
The entire Bears team looked comfortable when it was over, posing with their section championship trophy in front of a sea of their fans.
But, they admit, the journey is not over.
Blake gets Breck in the tournament opener. If they win, the Bears will face either Alexandria or Hibbing for a trip to the state final Friday morning.
The consolation semifinals will be Thursday morning.
The championship game is set for noon Saturday, and will pit either Blake, Breck, Alexandria or Hibbing against Crookston, Marshall, Farmington or Austin.
"This is what it is all about," Stankovsky said. "We are in a good position, but we are not satisfied just getting there. We still have some work to do."
Reprinted with permission Sun Newspapers
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