Visiting Cretin-Derham Hall got off to a fast start and took a 4-1 decision from the Park Wolfpack in Suburban East Conference boys hockey action Thursday.
The win by the Raiders avenged an earlier 3-2 loss to the Wolfpack and also snapped Park’s three-game winning streak.
The two rivals will meet again as the Section 3AA boys' hockey tournament starts this week. Park drew a four seed, a first round bye and will host a quarterfinal match against the fifth-seeded Raiders on Thursday, Feb. 22, starting at 7 p.m. at Cottage Grove Ice Arena.
Eastview (17-7-1) earned the top seed, Rosemount (18-7) was seeded second, St. Thomas Academy (15-8-2) third, Park (15-10) was fourth, Cretin (14-10-1) fifth, Two Rivers (17-8) sixth, Eagan (11-13-1) seventh, Hastings (15-9-1) eighth and Apple Valley/Burnsville (5-20) ninth in Section 3AA. The section semifinals are set for Monday, Feb. 26 and the finals schedule for Friday, March 1.
Park ended the regular season at 11-5 in the SEC and 15-10 on the season.
Cretin-Derham Hall also finished at 11-5 in the SEC and 14-10-1 after losing 5-3 to White Bear Lake on Saturday.
Stillwater (14-2, 14-9-2) and White Bear Lake (14-2, 17-7-1) tied for the 2023-24 SEC championship with Park and Cretin-Derham Hall tying for third place. Park lost twice to Stillwater this winter, split the season series with both White Bear Lake and Cretin.
On Thursday the Raiders scored the first three goals of the game, leading 2-0 after the first period and 3-0 early in the second. Park didn’t look sharp in the opening period and the Raiders took advantage.
Owen Corkish got the Wolfpack on the scoreboard with an even strength goal at 11:35 of the second period. Gavin Moss and Jackson Rudh assisted on the play.
Cretin then went up 4-1 with a score at 14:42 of the third to close it out.
Park goalie Henry Voss sopped 18 of 22 shots for an .818 success rate. Cretin outshot Park 22-16.
It was the final game of the 2023-24 regular season for the Wolfpack. Section 3AA tournament play starts Feb. 22 with the section finals set for March 1.
Park 5, Two Rivers 2
Junior forward Gavin Moss scored a hat trick and Park won its third straight game with a 5-2 decision over visiting Two Rivers in a non-conference goys hockey game at Cottage Grove Ice Arena Tuesday evening.
After scoring all four goals in Park’s win, Jackson Rudh got off to another fast start Tuesday, staking Park to a 2-0 lead with two goals within 30 seconds of each other in the first period. For those counting at home, Rudh thus scored six straight goals for the Wolfpack.
Park went up 3-0 on a score by Moss in the second period. Two Rivers pout in back-to-back scores in the middle of the second. But after the Warriors closed to within 3-2, Moss scored 10 seconds later to build the Park lead to 4-2.
Moss then put the game on ice with a third goal at 14:34 of the third period.
Henry Voss once again got the call in goal and stopped 15 of 17 Two Rivers shots.
Tommy Lucas, Owen Corkish and Rudh had two assists each and Moss had one.
Park’s win dropped Two Rivers to 17-7 on the season.
