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Minnesota Blades U16 Boys catch fire, roll through Buck Classic to Championship

By Terrance Moore, 10/02/14, 9:45PM CDT

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On  September 28, 2014, Minnesota Blades U16  lined up to face the Kansas City Mavericks Elite team for the Buck Bowl Championship in Des Moines, Iowa.   Kansas City goalie Chris Poczos has a great game in losing to  the Blades in pool play and hoped to steal a championship trophy for his team.   That was not to be.  The Blades came out hard. In the first three minutes, the Blades scored three times  and  established that they would be successfully defending their U16 Buck Bowl Championship.

The scoring started at 1:16 on a back door goal by Taylor Schneider, with assists from Auggie Moore and Zach Risteau.   Twenty seconds later, Moore scored from Risteau.   At 2:51 Clay Phillips converted after a pass from Dalton Weigel and the victory was imminent. The Blades eventually won the championship 6-0, on goals from Risteau (assists to Moore and Schneider); Isaac Johnson (Brian Hurley) and Mack Byers (Jens Zerban; Willie Reim).   Jake Begley had the shutout to capture the title.

In the semi-final game, The Blades dominated the Iowa Wild, winning 8-1. Goals were scored by Ben Copeland, Zerban (2), Moore, Reim, Isaac Johnson, Risteau and Sammy Walker.  Assists came from  Hurley, Johnson, Byers, Reim (2), Schneider (2), Phillips, Colin Baird (2), Walker, and Moore (2). Begley stopped 20 shots to get the win. 

The Blades were 5-0 on the weekend and demonstrated strong  balance in winning all five tournament games, with each line scoring in every game.  Defense and goaltending was strong all weekend, with only three goals against total.  Thomas Hanson had a shutout and two wins, while Begley had a shutout and three wins.

Scoring came from everywhere. Moore led with 13 points (5 goals-8 assists), followed by linemates Schneider (5-6) and Risteau (4-6).   Walker (2-2), Copeland (2-2)  and Johnson  (4-1) combined for eight goals.   Byers (3-4), Zerban (4-3) and Reim (2-3) combined for 10 goals.   The blue line also contributed.  Hurley (4-2) and Nick Perbix (2-3)  led the way.   Jack Harris had one assist before being injured.  Nate Knoepke (1-1);  Weigel  (0-2) and  Baird (0-2) each had two points.  

The Blades were well-prepared for this tournament by coaches Dave Tanabe, John Wessbecker, Brandon Worthley and Jeff Vannelli.     At this writing, The Blades have won seven straight and are 8-2-1 for the season.