Thief River Falls seniors Cooper Anderson and Max Arlt celebrate after a first period scoring play that saw Arlt pass the puck from behind the net to Anderson, who scored on the one timer. Braydin Lund was also credited with an assist on the play that put the Prowlers up 1-0 in the first period. Thief River Falls went on to defeat Red Lake Falls 7-2 to advance to Saturday’s Section 8A semifinal round against Warroad. Warroad defeated Thief River Falls 5-2 to end the Prowlers’ season. by Scott DCamp Sports Editor Warroad defeated Thief River Falls 5-2 in a boys hockey Section 8A semifinal game Saturday to advance to the section championship for the sixth consecutive season while simultaneously ending the season for Thief River Falls. The Prowlers started fast in Saturday’s semifinal game, with Cooper Anderson scoring his third goal of the playoffs 3:56 into the opening period, with Rylan Leake picking up an assist on the play. The Warriors answered quickly with a pair of goals in the next 30 seconds. Carson Pilgrim scored the first goal at the 4:08 mark, with assists by Murray Marvin-Cordes and Taven James. Twenty seconds later, Broden Hontvet scored with an assist by Marvin-Cordes to make it 2-1 in favor of the Warriors. Both teams tightened things up defensively and the score remained 2-1 Warriors for the remainder of the first period. The Warriors broke the game open early in the second period with goals by Kyler Lien at the 1:55 mark, James at 9:16 and Marvin-Cordes at the 10:36 mark to make the score 5-1. The Prowlers took advantage of a power play chance early in the third period, with Spencer Anderson scoring with 11:27 remaining to make it 5-2, but that would be all the closer they would get. The Prowlers have lost 14 straight games against the Warriors dating back to the 2018-19 season. The Prowlers swept the regular season meetings between the teams in 2018-19, but they dropped a 2-1 overtime decision in the section semifinals to start the current streak. The Warriors have eliminated the Prowlers from the section for three consecutive years, including a championship game meeting in 2022 and semifinal games in 2023 and 2024.
Scoring 1 2 3 T Thief River Falls 0 0 0 0
East Grand Forks 0 0 0 0
First period - TRF, Cooper Anderson (Rylan Leake) 3:56; W, Carson Pilgrim (Murray Marvin-Cordes, Taven James) 4:08; W, Broden Hontvet (Marvin-Cordes) 4:28.
Second period – W, Kyler Lien (Draydin Johnson) 1:55; W, James (Pilgrim, Marvin-Cordes) 9:16; W, Marvin-Cordes (Pilgrim, James) 10:36.
Third period – TRF, Spencer Anderson (Max Arlt) 5:33.
Shots - TRF 7-5-5 - 17; W 16-10-8 - 34.
Power plays - TRF 1-for-4; W 1-for-3.
Penalties - TRF 3 (6 minutes); Warroad 4 (8 minutes).
Goalie saves - TRF, Conner Roff 29; W, Ben Norris 15.
Section 8A playoffs • First Round, Tuesday, Feb. 20 - Lake of the Woods 6, Bagley/Fosston 0; Park Rapids Area 7, Kittson Central 1. • Quarterfinals, Thursday, Feb. 22 - East Grand Forks 15, Lake of the Woods 0; Detroit Lakes 7, Crookston 1; Thief River Falls 7, Red Lake Falls 2; Warroad 6, Park Rapids 0. • Semifinals, Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Gardens Arena in Warroad - East Grand Forks 7, Detroit Lakes 1; Warroad 5, Thief River Falls 2. • Championship, Thursday, Feb. 29 - East Grand Forks vs. Warroad at the Gardens Arena in Warroad 7 p.m.
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