Both returning after tournament appearances last year, Lake Superior Conference rivals Hermantown and Duluth Marshall clashed in the quarterfinal round of the Class A Boys High School Hockey Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Wednesday.

Third seed Hermantown and sixth seed Duluth Marshall entered the game looking to earn the rights to move on to play #2 seed Breck, who won 6-1 over Marshall High School earlier in the day. The last time Hermantown and Marshall met was their only regular season match of the season on January 3. The Hawks beat the Hilltoppers in this game 4-3 at Hermantown Arena.

After an opening period where neither team put any points on the scoreboard, Hermantown led 11-4 in shots on goal. The Hawks continued their dominance in the shots category into the second, capitalizing twice in the middle period with Bo Gronseth the first to find the net on a power play early in the middle period and Travis Koepke adding to the lead at the midway point of the second.

At the 5:31 mark in the final period of the game, Chris Benson took advantage of a Hermantown power play opportunity to score the final goal of the game setting up a 3-0 final score in favor of Hermantown. Senior Bo Gronseth told KSTC 45 he credited the defense for the win. The Hawks defense kept the shot count down and goaltender Adam Smith provided 17 saves to earn the shutout.

The #3 Hawks advance to play the #2 seed Breck High School in the semifinals. The last time these two teams met was in the championship round of the 2009-2010 State Tournament. In that game, Breck skated to a 2-1 win over Hermantown. The Hawks will look for a little revenge when the puck drops on Friday morning at 11 am at the Xcel Energy Center.

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