Lake City native Jeff Munneke has been with the
@Timberwolves
since Day 1 of the franchise, June of 1988.
It’s safe to say no one is enjoying this playoff ride more than the Wolves VP of Fan Experience.
@MinnesotaMunn
is as passionate today as ever:
I don’t watch a ton of hoops but it’s ok now for coaches to be across the 3-point line while the ball is in play? Or the refs are just scared of Kim Mulkey?
Saddened & a bit stunned to wake to the news that Pat Lund has passed away. He & I always wanted to beat one another to news, but he wasn’t a competitor, he was a friend. Section semifinal Saturday won’t be the same. Thoughts & prayers with his wife Jamie & family. RIP buddy. 💔
Anybody from Century or John Marshall want to go to St. Paul next Thursday?
Final score: Century/JM 4, Lakeville South 1. The 15-year drought is over. Panthers are going to The Tourney!
Hockey fans, it’s time to thank Doug at
@FollowThePuck
for all he does for us during the season. The time and effort he puts into keeping us all updated on hockey across the entire state is awesome.
It's that time of year again. I need to send out my annual reminder for all high school hockey fans in Minnesota to thank Doug at
@FollowThePuck
for all he does for our favorite sport. He doesn't do it to get rich. And he's a great ambassador for Minn. high school hockey
Ok,
@DCWHockey
fans, break out your Gophers gear.
@brodylamb2
has signed his NLI and will be a member of the
@GopherHockey
team this fall. The Byron native was the 4th-leading scorer for
@GamblersHockey
this season with 19 goals and 41 points
Teams have gone to their locker rooms as the shattered glass is replaced with 12:32 to go 2nd period.
Except for South goalie Carson Hauger, that is. He’s pushing the wheelbarrow full of broken glass off the ice. 😂
Ask anyone about
@RochesterGrizz
coach
@ChrisRatzloff7
& you’ll get the same answer: The nicest guy you’ll ever meet. So how has the nicest guy in the NA3HL built one of the best 2 or 3 franchises in the league? We asked a bunch of people who’d know:
Looking forward to a full day of hockey at the Rec Center — best day of the year! Definitely miss
@PatLund63
today. It’s not the same without him. He used to show up on this day every year with a giant box of Otto’s Bakery donuts. Some long johns will be had in his honor today.
Money quote from
@DCWHockey
senior d-man Charlie Blaisdell: “I’ve been dreaming of going to play at the X every day since I was 3 years old.”
He’ll get that chance next week
This needs to stop! We have a shortage as it is. This parent/fan from Brainerd yells obscenities and throws money at an official after the game, here in Rochester, during The Big Pumpkin PEEWEE TOURNAMENT. Terrible.
@YouthHockeyHub
@FollowThePuck
@mnhshockeytalk
Austin native Bob Motzko still has a fondness for southeastern Minnesota. He brought his No. 1-ranked
@GopherHockey
team to Rochester over the weekend to play an intrasquad scrimmage in front of a packed house at Graham Arena:
Byron’s Brody Lamb had a great NCAA Tournament debut, with a goal and an assist in a 9-2
@GopherHockey
win. It should come as no surprise, considering his history in big games and in the postseason:
Congrats to
@mayospartans
AD/Jack of all trades/umpire/former hockey coach Jeff Whitney, who will be inducted into the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame this weekend. Whit coached with Lorne Grosso for 20+ seasons. A much deserved honor
Who knew these 7-year-olds, a decade or so down the line, would lead
@DCWHockey
to the high school state tournament for the first time? They’re still buddies today, and they’re roommates this week in St. Paul.
I’m happy to announce that
@isaac_trotter2
has accepted an offer to join our sports staff at the PB. Isaac is a very talented young multi-media journalist who‘s currently the lead U. of Illinois football reporter for . He’ll start with us mid-January.
Lost my mom to cancer three years ago today.
The outcome of a football game is totally in perspective for me.
But, DAMN, the Vikings just did some hearts good in the Feldman house. 💜💛
Final score at The X, Class A state championship: Gentry Academy 8, Dodge County 1.
Shots on goal: 54-9.
Outstanding season for the Wildcats ends in the state title game. D.C. took its fans on quite a ride this year. Great group of kids and hockey players.
Brody Lamb doing … well, you know.
A 2-point game in his first NCAA Tourney game.
When the Gophs were in Roch a few weeks ago, Bob Motzko said Lamb is “really close to breaking out.”
That’s 3 points in the past 2 games for Lamb. Might as well “break out” on national TV.
Want to see the definition of class & sportsmanship? This from the lone senior on the No. 2-ranked
@StewieVball
team that had its season end last night in a loss against No. 1-ranked
@KoMetVolleyball
So honored and proud that I was apart of Stewartville volleyball. We put up a great fight. Congratulations to the KM team. You guys played really well. Win the championship this year. 🏐❤️
From Byron & Owatonna to a national championship game today with
@GopherHockey
.
Brody Lamb (left) and Zach Wiese (right, with
#rochmn
native & former Gopher Alex Kangas) could have a dream come true in about 10 hours.
Photos courtesy of their dads,
@JeffLamb17
and
@mwiese60
Hockey fans, keep thoughts with Lakeville South senior Tate Pritchard. Suffered a severe, deep cut on one of his hands from a skate blade in the 3rd period tonight, was taken to the hospital immediately. That’s all I know at the moment. Nice kid, great player. Hoping for the best
Is there anyone left in Kasson, Mantorville or Byron today?
Girls hockey in the state title game. Boys in the section semis.
Gymnasts at state.
A bunch of wrestlers still alive at sections.
… What a winter season it’s been so far for K-M & Byron, with more to come
Stopped at a travel center in Sioux Falls.
Girls: Dad, what is this? It looks like a telephone.
Me: it is a telephone.
Girls: 😐
Me: You put a quarter in then dial a number. Then talk.
Youngest girl: did they get this from a museum.
Me (spirit broken): Yes. It came from a museum.
How does a trip to the state championship game sound, Dodge County?!?!
Maysie Koch with an empty net goal with :22.4 to go!
@Dcwildcats10
4, Orono 2
Dodge County will play at 4 p.m. Saturday for the Class 1A girls hockey state championship!
Dryden McKay tied Ryan Miller’s NCAA career shutout record last weekend. His next shutout will put him in a class of his own. A look at what makes the
@MinnStMHockey
goalie so dominant, and a look at every one of his 26 shutouts:
The
@dcwildcats10
are off to the state tournament for the first time in team history.
They’re all riding to St. Paul in 3 fire trucks.
(Kidding, they all got to the rink in time to get on the bus).
Wildcats face Fergus Falls at 1 p.m. tomorrow in the state quarterfinals
This is either crazy or awesome, or both: Some die-hards in Roch are going to attempt to set the Guinness Book of World Records mark for playing the coldest hockey game in the world. They’re playing 3 1-minute periods beginning at 5 a.m., when temps are the coldest.
Here's the North Dakota record setting field goal from Emmet Kenney tonight from Shanley. 58 yards is the new state record. Was impressive to see it in person.
@emmetkenney
@shanleyfootball
#SCTop10
@NDHSAA
To answer some questions I've seen on here tonight, here's the backstory to the
@CenturyJMhockey
co-op. This wasn't done to try to build some sort of Rochester powerhouse. It was done to give a few JM kids a chance to keep playing.
I’m always amazed at teenagers’ ability to sit in front of a room full of reporters staring at them minutes after their high school career has ended and offer such articulate answers to questions that usually aren’t nearly as articulate. Very well done
@VossRudy
and
@thebradbuhl
As
@MSHSLJohn
noted, after JCC's loss to Pierz, Rudy Voss (
@VossRudy
) and Bradley Buhl Jr. (
@TheBradBuhl
) with an emotional response on how much football and their team has meant to them.
🎥"Football has been a blessing in my life....wins and losses don't define my team."
Tried to post this earlier and it didn’t post, but … in what other sport can you celebrate a state championship this way?! PIZM has waited a long time to do this
I’ve watched
@RZmolek21
play hockey since he was a freshman (I remember seeing his dad feeding him pucks in an empty arena one day and Riese was zipping them off the crossbar from the blue line). Really cool to see him wearing the “C”. Great teammate, great leader
“Xander is very clear that he wants to be a player and he wants to make a living at it.”
Former
@RocketBoysPuck
forward
@xanderlamppa17
is one of the top scorers in the USHL this season and he has all of the top college programs knocking at his door:
Big congrats to our
@pbpruff
for receiving the Region 1A Distinguished Service Award today from Region 1A administrators and ADs. There’s not a more deserving media member in southeastern Minnesota
“My life is going to mean something to someone, somewhere.” Shannon O’Hara passed away 7 years ago today. Me & my hockey-playing girls stop & look at the tribute to Shannon in Graham Arena often. Thinking of
@dublindano
@Jenohara
&
@erinohara11
today
Cleaning out my desk earlier today as we get set to move to a new building this weekend. Amazing what you keep in a cabinet over the course of 15 years. This young RYHA player is a D1 defenseman now.
@WZmolek12
Love this.
@taylorheise9
doesn’t just talk — she backs it up. She often says how she loves being a role model for young girls in southern Minn.
She’ll be in Kasson Oct. 16 to talk to the Dodge Co. girls at their captains practice, and for a meet & greet that’s open to the public:
The past year has been a blur for Lake City’s
@taylorheise9
:
• Patty Kazmaier Award winner
• MVP of the Women’s World Championships
• Helping
@GopherWHockey
to the NCAA tournament.
For all that & more, Heise is the 2022 PB Sports Person of the Year:
Former
@KometSoftball
& current
@msumavericks
senior catcher
@Corikenned
has gone viral on social media in recent weeks. She’ll be back close to home this week as the NSIC softball tournament is held in Roch.
@PBglimbeck
has the story:
My kids are 15 and almost 10. They're not big sports fans, but they do like the Vikings. I'm offering them an opt-out clause right now. Life is hard enough. Why force them to like this team for 6-7 more decades?
I’d be remiss if I let today go by without recognizing it’s been a year today since we lost a true friend, media colleague and a larger than life southeastern Minnesota sports icon. There will never be another
@PatLund63
. My column from a year ago:
Lourdes juniors Zach Guyer and Silas Pederson spoke from the heart for this remembrance of their friend AJ Quimby, who died in May after struggling with mental health.
Take it from these guys: DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT YOUR MENTAL HEALTH.
PLEASE.
Ohhhh my! The
@ByronMNFootball
team upsets top-seeded Stewartville in OT to earn a trip to the Section 1AAAA title game against
@KMKoMetFootball
on Friday. Byron coach Ben Halder has liked the way his team has played in recent weeks, obviously for good reason
This is what high school sports are about.
Listen to the reaction.
LOOK at the reaction from his teammates.
A kid who’s busted his butt for years gets his first varsity goal in his last home game.
Couldn’t draw it up any better.
@RocketBoysPuck
@PBFeldy
Dylan Greer has entered the chat! Sound on! Senior D that does everything right, scores his first 🚨in our regular season finale!!!!
Former
@theaustinbruins
forward
@rileycolvard
didn't think about becoming a coach until a severe injury changed things. Now he's an assistant coach with Sioux Falls (USHL) and has a national championship ring. Here's how a broken neck altered his path:
Can’t believe I missed this yesterday, but in addition to 5 All-State players (Maysie Koch, Nora Carstesen, Abby Simons, Mollie Koch, Ida Huber),
@dcwildcats10
coach Jeremy Gunderson was named the Class A state Coach of the Year.
All very much deserved honors
That was a 23-minute pit stop for the Rec Center crew. Not too shabby.
Bringing the Zam out now to resurface, then we’ll start the 2nd period for the 2nd time.
Panthers student section chanting “let’s get rowdy!”
Playoff hockey, man. Just when you think you’ve seen it all…
Dear Twitter fam, I’m driving my daughter and her boyfriend to their first prom tonight. I’m certain I’ll regret asking, but, suggestions for music? I’m thinking “Cleaning This Gun” by Rodney Atkins is a good place to start, but I’m open to other options. Fire away…
Gotta be honest here. When I took over the high school hockey beat 15 years ago, I didn’t think the first team I’d cover in a state championship game would be Dodge County.
But here we are, an hour from puck drop in the state title game. What a run for
@DCWHockey
this season
It’s Gameday! The
@DCWHockey
team is playing for the State Championship!!!! Let’s Go Wildcats! Bring home the WIN! 🥇🏆🥇
#dcwildcatshockey
#ByronBears
Game time = 6pm
KSTC Channel 45 or stream at
Photo Credit -
The cancellation of the college hockey and USHL playoffs has brought the Zmolek brothers back home.
@RZmolek21
@WZmolek12
&
@BZmolek17
are under the same roof for the first time in a long time. They’d rather be playing, but they’re glad to be together:
The game meant a lot, the team and friendships mean more. Ida Huber, Nora Carstensen & Abby Simons talked about that extensively in the post-game press conference.
And all is not bad: Congrats to
@dcwildcats10
coach Jeremy Gunderson, who found out he’s gonna be a grandpa!
Four years ago
@DCWHockey
finished the season 5-20. Tomorrow the Wildcats will play for a state championship. They beat Little Falls 4-1 and advance to the title game in their first ever trip to state.
I’m taking the rest of the day off. Analysis will now be provided via my daughter, a junior at JM who has become a hockey fan after yesterday’s pep fest.
This is awesome.
@RocketBoysPuck
d-man
@JaydenVeney
making his NAHL debut tonight for the St. Cloud Norsemen, in Austin against the Bruins. Big things are ahead for the big defenseman
That’s how you win and celebrate a NAHL Central Division championship.
@theaustinbruins
goalie Trent Wiemken stops all 3 shots in the shootout. Bs beat St. Cloud and clinch the division championship
Just call ‘em CHAMPS!
More history made by these two — Lake City native Taylor Heise
@taylorheise9
and Mayo Clinic nurse Clair DeGeorge are inaugural PWHL Walter Cup champions with
@PWHL_Minnesota
“They do the heavy lifting.”
@MavHockey
head coach Mike Hastings is happy he listened to Dean Blais about MSU assistant coaches Todd Knott and Darren Blue. They’ve been vital to the Mavericks’ success and run to the Frozen Four this season:
This guy is an institution in SE Minnesota sports, the 🐐. Yes, we’re competitors &want to beat each other to stories but
@PatLund63
treated me with respect & friendship from the time I got here 16 years ago. Happy retirement! Won’t be the same without you
He had chances to go play hockey elsewhere this season, but
@JaydenVeney
’s heart was always with
@RocketBoysPuck
. The junior d-man made the most of what could be his final season of high school hockey.
He’s our 2023 All-Area Boys Hockey Player of the Year:
So few kids ever get to play in a state tournament. Next week, these guys will get to play in a state championship game for the second time in ~7 months
Good Luck to Dodge County Wildcats Ben Nelson, Matt Donovan, Michael Huff and Gavin Giesler as they head to The Bank for semifinal action. Komets vs Becker. Thursday @ 4:30. Let’s Go Boys!!!
@KM_Activities
@KMKoMetFootball
@KMKometsHS
Who knew a lemonade stand could make some money? When it’s for a good cause, it actually works. Very proud of these little ladies, who made their stand and are donating all of the $ they made to the Rochester Women’s Shelter. They’ve raised $28 so far and are having a blast
"Day in and day out, I lean on Riese Zmolek and Jack McNeely. ... Riese has become a security blanket for us." --
@MavHockey
coach Mike Hastings on his two senior defensemen, who hope to lead MSU to new heights in their final college season
Congrats to
@RocketBoysPuck
big man and 2023 PB Player of the Year
@JaydenVeney
. He’ll play D1 college hockey at Union College in Schenectady, NY.
Dutchmen are getting a great player and an even better person
Tip of the cap to Winona girls hockey goalie Aliya Gricius, who made 92 — NINETY-TWO! — saves in the Winhawks’ 9-0 loss to Northfield last night. Gricius has been outstanding for an inexperienced Winhawks team this year, with an .884 save pct. while averaging 52.7 saves/game
Prayers tonight for ROCH Century JR and YHH employee Austin Gibson. He was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma - Stage 2B a couple weeks ago.
He started chemo therapy this week and was discharged today. His prognosis is survivable if all goes well. Treatment will be 6-8 months.
🙏
“When I said yes, Fleck jumped out of his chair and said ‘This is insane! This is awesome!’”
@GopherFootball
is as happy to have
@KMKoMetFootball
stud OL
@TrippReese
as Tripp is to become a Gopher. The KM big man calls his commitment to the Gophers a dream come true.
Amazing.
Not only is he the first
@RochesterGrizz
player to go D1, but goalie Zach Wiese is doing it big-time. He’ll join
@GopherHockey
this fall. Story coming soon to
I am very honored and excited to announce my commitment to play hockey at the University of Minnesota. I would like to thank my family, coaches, teammates, and
@HockeyHawkeye
@NguyenLinc
The
@theaustinbruins
&
@RochesterGrizz
have done the "Goalie Shuffle" over the past few weeks. It'll lead to former
@Tonnaboyshockey
standout Zach Wiese getting his first NAHL start this weekend.
(also, a quick look at this weekend's Grizz & Bs games):