’95 Blades Win International Prospects Tourney

The ’95 Blades traveled to Toronto, Canada on May 2 – 5 to complete in the highly competitive prospects tourney.

The 36 team tournament consisted of 26 Canadian teams, 2 European and 8 US teams.

The ’95 Blades team consisted of 2 goalies, 5 D and 10 forwards from 15 different MN high schools.

G     Jordan Moran               Prior Lake
G     Will Dupont                  Eagan
D     Dylan Adler                  Anoka/Chicago Fury
D     Will Peterson               Eagan
D     Matt Koch                   Hastings
D     Charlie Curt                 Mound
D     Luke Meade                Rosemount
F     Derek Lodermeier        Totino-Grace
F     Cullen Willox               Eagan
F     Jack Brandstetter        Mound
F     Jack Stang                 St. Thomas
F     Andrew Bertrand         Centennial
F     Andrew Bussey          Hastings
F     Andrew Jordahl           Edina
F     Robb Stautz               Roseville
F     Connor Thie                Minnetonka
F     Mitch Fritz                  Cathedral

Head Coach            Craig Shermoen
Assistant Coach      Dan LaCroix
Assistant Coach      Bryan Dewees

Every team plays 4 “pool” play games.  The top 16 teams get to advance to the play-offs.

The play-offs are single-elimination mini-games consisting of two 15 minute halves.

The Blades started the tourney strong by winning 7-2 & 6-1 on Friday.  Saturday’s games were much tighter.  A late goal in the third game got us a 2-2- tie.  The 4^th game was 5-3.  With a 3-0-1 record the Blades were ranked #7 out of 16 teams for Sunday’s play-offs.

First play-off game was a tight 3-2 win.  2^nd game was a 5-1 blow-out.

Of the final 4 teams, 2 of the other teams were teams the Blades had played in pool play.

The 3^rd game on Sunday was against the North York Rangers, the team the Blades had tied 2-2 in a very physical contest.  North York had 2 highly recruited D-1 players.  The Blades came out strong and blitzed them early.  Game ended in a 6-2 win.  At this point the kids had been wearing their equipment for 5 hours. 

One more game for the championship.

The Blades proved they were the strongest team from the drop of the puck.  Shots were heavily favored for the Blades.  The Blades took home the hardware with a 4-1 win.

This team was the talk of the tourney after their first 2 very impressive wins on Friday.

There were a tremendous amount of scouts in attendance.  Several of the players will be taking advantage of being scouted internationally and playing in Canada next year.

The team was led in scoring by Fritz, Thie, Stautz and Lodermeier.  Defense and goaltending was solid all tourney.  All in all, every player felt it was a great experience.