With a pair of wins in the past week, New Prague’s floor hockey team is making its final push for an automatic bid into the state tournament and avoid a potentially grueling playoff.
The Trojans, 8-0 overall, will face Mankato this afternoon, Thursday, Feb. 5, 4:30 p.m., at the Community Education Center. A win will give NP an automatic berth in the Minnesota State High School League’s state tournament Feb. 27-28 at Bloomington Jefferson High School. A setback will likely place New Prague into a playoff against powerhouse teams from the southeast conference, where Lakeville-Farmington-Burnsville and Dakota United await, said New Prague coach Jeremy Kalal.
The playoffs must begin by Feb. 11.
NP and Mankato have twice postponed the contest, one of two meetings originally scheduled between the two teams. The second meeting between the undefeated defending state champion Trojans and the Mankato club, with its one loss, has been canceled, Kalal said.
Trojans 12, Minnetonka/Wayzata 2 New Prague’s seniors went out in style in the senior night win over the west-suburban floor hockey club Monday, Feb. 2.
Senior Ryan Swenson scored five goals in the first five minutes of the contest. Senior Carter Tupy added a goal.
The Trojans built a 10-0 lead after the first period. After a scoreless second period, the two teams both scored a pair of goals.
Besides the fireworks from Swenson and Tupy, Luke Ryburn scored twice and Curtis Lund scored twice. Dalin Gherasimov and Dayle Carroll added goals in the win.
Trojans 9, Shako/PL/Chaska/Chan 4 The Trojans overcame a challenge Wednesday, Jan. 28, from a much-improved Shakopee/ Prior Lake/Chaska/Chanhassen team they dispatched earlier in the season.
NP built a 5-1 lead in the first period and led 7-2 after two periods. The two teams evenly split four goals in the final period to wrap up a win.
“We stayed undefeated but we have been shown that there are teams in our league that will push us come playoff and state tournament time,” NP coach Jeremy Kalal said after the contest.
New Prague’s Logan Bermel paced the Trojans with five goals and an assist. Carter Tupy added two goals and an assist. Ryan Swenson and Nikos Patrin both scored goals while Dalin Gherasimov set up a goal.
“Logan Bermel did a nice job tonight controlling the middle of the floor,” Kalal said. “Shakopee has a very good goalie and he was able to shoot through traffic and hit the net multiple times. Our defense and goaltending did a great job keeping Shakopee’s pressure at a minimum and our forwards worked hard against a good defensive team to capitalize when they had chances.”