Adapted team takes Consolation title at state
The New Prague Adapted Floor Hockey team claimed the consolation championship at the State CI Adapted Floor Hockey Tournament, which was held Friday and Saturday, March 16 and 17, at Bloomington Jefferson High School.
The Trojans finished their season with a 14-2-1 record. They finished in second place in the Southern Conference.
The team included students from New Prague, Tri-City United, Le Sueur-Henderson, Belle Plaine and Jordan schools. Coaches were Shellie Kriha, Jeremy Kalal and Steve Kriha.
"Overall we had a really good season and to end the season with the consolation championship at the state tournament we feel very fortunate." coach Shellie Kriha said.
Mustangs 10, Trojans 7 New Prague opened the tournament with a disappointing loss to Anoka-Hennepin Friday, March 16.
The Mustangs scored first, but the Trojans’ Garret Gagner answered with a goal a few minutes later and the game was tied 1-1 after one period.
Scoring picked up in the second, with The Trojans taking a 2-1 lead on a goal by Alexis Parks. With the score tied 2-2, the Trojans scored three straight to take a 5-2 lead.
Anoka-Hennepin closed the second period with a goal and opened the third with another to cut the lead to 5-4. After New Prague another Trojan goal, Anoka-Hennepin tied it at 6-6. The Trojans’ Dylan Raaen scored to put the Trojans up 7-6 midway through the third period, but then the Mustangs scored the next four goals for the win.
Raaen had four goals and an assist, Gagner had two goals, Parks had a goal and three assists and Jake Schurman had two assists.
"We played hard and held the lead until six minutes left in the third period, but we just ran out of gas," said Coach Shellie Kriha. "Anoka-Hennepin is a good team and is able to use their deep bench to rest their top line a lot more than we were.
"Our kids fought really hard and we were proud of the effort that we put forth, we didn't beat ourselves, we just got outplayed by a very talented team."
New Prague outshot Anoka-Hennepin 39-36.
Trojans 10, Rams 7 New Prague defeated Mounds View/Irondale/Roseville 10-7 in the consolation semifinals Saturday morning, March 17.
The first two periods were very tightly played. The teams were tied 1-1 after one, with Parks scoring the lone Trojan goal. New Prague added two more in the second, by Raaen and by Parks, to take a 3-1 lead.
The floodgates opened in the third. After the Rams pulled to within a goal, New Prague scored five unanswered goals to take an 8-2 lead and withstood a late rally for the win.
Raaen scored....
To see more on this story pick up the March 22, 2018 print edition of The New Prague Times.
