Agendas are likely to differ when the Hermantown and Duluth Marshall boys hockey teams take the same ice for the first time since the 2007 Minnesota Class A high school championship game.
Today's 7:30 p.m. game at Mars Lakeview Arena won't have as much meaning as last season's title game at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, but it could have a bearing on each team's progression for the rest of the season.
The third-ranked Hilltoppers (9-3) hope to avenge a 4-1 loss to Hermantown, a defeat that deprived them of their first state championship.
"I think the returnees remember it quite well," Marshall coach Brendan Flaherty said Wednesday. "We'd like a little redemption -- the coaches feel that way, too."
Hermantown coach Bruce Plante said the 12th-ranked Hawks (8-4) aren't listening to any of the hype surrounding the game, but instead hope to use it as a building block to the rest of the season.
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"This is a development game for us," Plante said. "If we can play with these guys, we probably can play with anybody."
The Hawks lost seven forwards and three defensemen from that title team, including Drew LeBlanc, the owner of the top two scoring seasons in school history, who left a year early for the United States Hockey League. All those changes caused problems in the first quarter of the season, when Hermantown scored just 16 goals in a 2-4 start.
"We're starting to put things together. A lot of it was learning and a lot of it was chemistry," said Plante, whose team has scored 29 goals during its six-game winning streak. "Now we're starting to score goals, and that's probably the biggest difference. Our offense was pretty pathetic [early in the season], but it's gotten better."
The Hawks will be without senior winger Dan Smith (bruised collarbone) and may be missing junior center Grant Huttel, who suffered a slight shoulder separation in Saturday's 5-3 win over Thief River Falls in the championship game of the Prowlers' tournament. The win was Plante's 300th of his high school coaching career.
Marshall usually hasn't had trouble scoring goals, having totaled 66 in the first half of the season. But replacing a first line that included Jack Connolly and Bob Gutsch has caused rough moments.
"We're looking for some players to step up and fill the void," Flaherty said.
Senior David Hafferty (12 goals) and junior Zach Mausolf (11) lead Marshall in scoring. The Hilltoppers are coming off a 4-3 loss to Madison Edgewood in the final of their holiday tournament.
"We definitely had the better club in that game, but didn't show it," Flaherty said. "So we're coming off a disappointing loss, and hopefully we can rebound from that."
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The teams tied 1-1 in their regular-season meeting last season, one of only two blemishes in the Hawks' 29-0-2 campaign. That was still enough, however, to deprive them of a Lake Superior Conference title, which Cloquet-Esko-Carlton earned.
With losses to Duluth Denfeld and Superior, the Hawks already are out of the running for a LSC title. But perhaps they can find some incentive in derailing Marshall's chances.
"Maybe we can knock them out of it, too," Plante said.
