Annual Marshall Thanksgiving "Hockey Fights Cancer" Tournament

Marshall "Hockey Fights Cancer" Thanksgiving Classic PCA Dragons vs. Marshall Tigers The Pine City Area boys' hockey team started the season off with a 5-1 victory over tournament host, the Marshal Tigers. Senior captain winger Gavin Broz started off the scoring late in the first period on the power play for the Dragons with a quick wrister from the left slot to beat the Tiger goaltender through the five hole. Broz's goal was assisted by sophomores Brady Berglund and McCall Leger. The assist for Beglund was his first career varsity point for the Dragons. The Dragons would add three more goals in the second period to take a 4-1 lead heading into the final frame. Two of those goals were scored by Junior forward Blake Painovich, followed by Broz getting his second of the game. Sophomore captain center McCall Leger would get his first goal of the year in the third period to extend the lead to 5-1. Leger's goal was assisted by Broz for his third point of the game. Senior forward Cody Klein also picked up two assists in the game with Junior captain defenseman Logan Kirby picking up an assist as well. Junior goaltender Aaron Rootkie picked up his first win of the season stopping 20 of the 21 shots he faced. "We have a lot of young, new players in the fold to start the season." "It was great to see the chemistry improve as the game went on." "Senior captain Gavin Broz set the tone early with his play and Painovich was a force to be reckoned with the entire game." "Rootkie bailed us out a few times when we had some defensive breakdowns." "A great win and team effort to start the year." PCA Dragons vs. Irondale For the second year in a row the Dragons would face AA opponents the Irondale Knights in the championship game. The Dragons would have to face one of the top goaltenders in the state, Irondale senior Alex Sabev. Last year the Dragons would come from behind to beat Irondale late in the game to win the tournament. This year the Knights would flip the script and steal one from the Dragons in overtime. After two hard fought scoreless periods, Senior Cody Klein would deflect a shot by senior Trysten Thurman to give the Dragons a lead with under five minutes left in the third period. The goal was assisted by junior center Blake Painovich and Thurman. The Dragons ended up taking a delay of game penalty with a minute left and the Knights would capitalize on the power play with their goalie pulled scoring with thirty seconds left to tie the game. After a barrage of chances from the Dragons to start the overtime period the Knights would score on a fluke goal to steal the game from the Dragons. "There was some confusion with both teams on the last play." "The entire building, including the opposing coaches, thought the penalty was on Irondale." "That was something I have never seen in all of my years involved in hockey." "Needless to say, we were very proud of the effort from our boys." "We dominated the third period and early in overtime. We just couldn't get one past the Knight goalie." The Dragons would end up outshooting the Knights 39-29 in the game. Senior goaltender Oscar Gribauval would stop 27 of the 29 shots he faced for a solid performance for the Dragons. "Overall the coaching staff was very pleased with the performance on the weekend. Our special teams were solid, we were great in the face-off circle, we outshot our opponents both games and we got great performances from both our varsity goaltenders Aaron Rootkie and Oscar Gribauval. We were very impressed with our returners and our rookie class on the weekend." The Dragons have their home opener at the Pine City Civic Center on Tuesday 11/28 against Mississippi 8 conference rival the Cambrdige-Isanti Bluejackets. Pine City JV The Pine City Junior Varsity had a great showing winning both of their games to take home the JV title. " The coaching staff was very impressed with the JV squad on the weekend. They dominated both games playing great team hockey."