Boys hockey: Duluth East saved its season by finding an identity

Despite the presence of so many underclassmen on his roster, Mike Randolph scoffs at the notion that his Duluth East boys hockey team is a young one.
East’s leaders are battle-tested seniors, Randolph says, and that’s all that matters to the venerable coach. Two of those veterans, Nick Altmann and Brian Bunten, helped salvage what had all the makings of a lost season when the Greyhounds stumbled through a mid-year slide. Six losses in eight games, including 7-1 and 5-1 blowouts to Edina and Grand Rapids, respectively, ushered in what Randolph calls “noise,” those skeptical whispers - which turned into shouts - that maybe, just maybe, this East team wasn’t any good.
“There was a lot of noise - they’re going to be the first East team not to make it to state, they’re going to be the first East team to have a losing record in 50-some years, they’re not very good, blah, blah, blah,” Randolph said after his team’s practice Tuesday evening at Heritage Center.
As Randolph spoke, he became more animated. Agitated, even, the very thought that his Greyhounds wouldn’t be a factor come playoff time as absurd as it was fleeting. East tuned out all the distractions, all the naysayers, and went to work. And that’s what this team has been about ever since - hard work and grit.
Altmann and Bunten set the tone, Randolph says.
“I can’t tell you how hard they’ve worked every day,” the coach said. “Do they have the skill of a lot of guys? No. But they have a work ethic that’s unparalleled to a lot of captains that we’ve had and kids we’ve had, and I think that’s what’s kept this thing afloat.”
Not only did the Greyhounds stay afloat, but they sailed right into the program’s seventh consecutive Class AA high school state tournament. East (14-10-4), fresh off last week’s instant classic in the Section 7AA final, a 5-4 double-overtime upset of Elk River, plays St. Thomas Academy (24-4) in the quarterfinals at
1 p.m. today at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
“Just because we were in a funk doesn’t mean that we couldn’t get out of it,” senior Bryton Lutzka said. “We had to come to practice every day and work hard, and we knew we’d eventually get out of it.”
On paper, today’s game looks like a mismatch. The third-seeded Cadets, playing their second season in Class AA after dominating the Class A tournament for several years, are loaded with high-end talent. Among the headliners, Christiano Versich has signed with Colorado College and Seamus Donohue will play at Air Force Academy. Versich is one of four St. Thomas players with more than 20 goals - Alec Broetzman (35) and Peter Tufto (30) have scored just 13 fewer goals than East’s entire output.
Conversely, Altmann is the leading point producer for unseeded East with 14 goals and 13 assists. The Greyhounds, though, have bought into a defense-oriented game plan. They can’t run and gun with powerful opponents, or “they’ll kill us,” Randolph said. Instead, East has to play smart, disciplined hockey and abide by the scheme that Randolph, who has more free time on his hands these days after retiring last spring as a teacher at Stowe Elementary School, has been tweaking along the way.
They enter today’s game in an unfamiliar role - underdog.
“Our record’s not the same, but we’ve played all these teams before and we definitely aren’t scared of anybody,” Altmann said. “We’ve seen ’em before. I guess you could say we’re the underdogs, and that just means we have to put more effort into the game.”
And, as Altmann said, they will need some of those younger players to step up. Last week against Elk River, it was freshman Garret Worth scoring the game-winner in the second overtime. That game improved Randolph’s career record in section finals to an unfathomable 16-1.