It’s back to state for the South Washington County Thunderbolts.
The Thunderbolts easily qualified for the 2025 adapted floor hockey state tournament with a convincing 12-5 win over …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in, using the login form, below, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
It’s back to state for the South Washington County Thunderbolts.
The Thunderbolts easily qualified for the 2025 adapted floor hockey state tournament with a convincing 12-5 win over visiting Centennial/Spring Lake Park at Woodbury High School Tuesday.
The state tournament will be held Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8, at Coon Rapids High School. The Thunderbolts (7-2) qualified as the No. 3 team from the south and will play the No. 2 team from the north, Buffalo/Monticello/STMA (9-1) in the quarterfinals Friday starting at 8 p.m.
The championship semifinals and finals and third place games will be held Saturday afternoon at Coon Rapids High``.
The Thunderbolts previously have qualified for the state tournament five times, going in 2015-2019 and 2022, finishing as state runners-up in 2018 and 2019.
Expectations for the state tournament are high for the Thunderbolts, said head coach Jeff Figlmiller.
“A lot of good expectations,” said Figlmiller. “We’ve got a very good team. I expect us to do really well. If we keep our passing up and people stay healthy – that’s my biggest worry – if we can stay healthy, I think we can stay with anybody right now in the state.”
South Washington County led 9-0 after the second period before the visitors mounted a brief offensive surge in the third when the Thunderbolts starters were all on the bench and the team’s seniors were in the lineup. But the outcome was really never in doubt.
“The team just did great,” said East Ridge ninth grader Keira Walker. “Just succeeding and shooting and we made to to state and its pretty successful and I’m pretty happy about it.
Asked if she got nervous when Centennial went on a bit of a run in the third period, Walker said only a little. “A little bit yea when they started turning it around, but we knew that we could blow them out of the water.”
Senior goalie Logan Yannarelly of Park led the defense with 42 saves.
“I feel like I did really well,” said Yannarelly. “I really had like Herb Brooks in my heart for this one so I feel glad that he was here with us in spirit to see this miracle on the field.”
Yannarelly is looking forward to another trip to the state tournament.
“It’s good to be back here from the start of high school and the end of high school so I feel like its amazing to be back,” Yannarelly noted. “I’m feeling excited about it since like I said I haven’t been there since ninth grade. After two years of not going to state we’re finally getting a comeback.”
Woodbury sophomore Alex Gillespie and Woodbury juniors Jordan Nde and Logan Curtis each scored three goals to lead the Thunderbolts. Woodbury senior Autumn Hustings had two scores and Gretchen King one.
“I feel great,” said Hustings. “We passed and shot and we worked well as a team.”
