News Archive

March 26, 2008

Highlights from KSTC-TV's state tournament broadcast of the Lakeville South, Roseau, and Edina games.

Nice article by Joe Kimball on Pat Schafhauser.

Section 4AA Championship: Hill-Murray 2, White Bear Lake 1

State Quarterfinal: Hill-Murray 3, Lakeville South 0

State Semifinal: Hill-Murray 6, Roseau 2

State Championship: Hill-Murray 3, Edina 0

March 9, 2008

Hill-Murray is the 2008 Minnesota State Hockey Champion.

The Pioneers defeated #1 Roseau and #2 Edina on successive nights to win the school's first hockey championship in 17 years. The team posted its second shutout of the tournament and allowed just four goals in six playoff games.

Ryan Furne, Dan Cecka, Dan Sova, and Joe Phillippi were named to the All-Tournament team. The same four also were recognized on the Pioneer Press All-State team.

Phillippi's shutout was his 9th this season and 17th of his varsity career. He was also the recipient of the Herb Brooks award and finishes a four year Hill-Murray career with a record of 63-11-3.

Phillippi was gracious and humble in his post-game interview. But who could forget this colorful interview by Kevin "Boog" Powell, the winning goaltender in the 1991 championship game.

Two goals allowed in the state tournament eclipses the school record of four set in 1978. The team finished with 196 goals scored, the second highest total in school history.

Hill-Murray and Edina played each other in one other state championship game. In 1988, Hill-Murray also scored with one second remaining in the first period. Current coach Pat Schafhauser was a junior defenseman and had an assist in that game.

It was a good day for the Classic Suburban conference. Congratulations to St. Thomas Academy on their Class A championship.

Star Tribune articles here and here. Pioneer Press recap here and here.

March 8, 2008

Not that the current players had anything to do with it, but here are the previous Hill-Murray/Edina state tournament games:

Edina East 4, Hill-Murray 3 (1979 quarterfinal)
Edina 5, Hill-Murray 3 (1988 championship)
Edina 5, Hill-Murray 4 (3OT, 1997 semifinal)
Edina 2, Hill-Murray 1 (2OT, 2000 quarterfinal)

We're due.

Tickets go on sale at the Hill-Murray cafeteria at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Reports on the Roseau game from the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune, and the Lakeville South game.

Friday's AA semifinals set a state hockey attendance record of 19,559.

March 7, 2008

A 3-0 win over Lakeville South was just the third state tournament shutout in school history. Current coach Tony Ciro was in the nets for the last one back in 2002.

Hill-Murray now gets a crack at undefeated Roseau (29-0). Since Hill-Murray joined in MSHSL, only two teams have gone undefeated, the '83 Pioneers and '93 Bloomington Jefferson. Once-tied Duluth East was the last team to enter the tournament without a loss in 1997, but lost the final to Edina.

Joe Phillippi and Dan Cecka were named to the Star Tribune All-metro hockey team.

March 1, 2008

Once again, KSTC and B2 networks will offer fee-based streaming video of all championship bracket games.

March 1, 2008

Hill-Murray is the 2008 Section 4AA Champion.

Notes on the section playoffs...It is the school's third consecutive state tournament, and first three-peat since 1991-1993...Hill-Murray had never played the same school three straight years in the section final. They beat White Bear Lake three straight years in the playoffs from 1984-1986 and Mariner in 1975-1977. White Bear Lake won three in a row from 1994-1996.

Hill-Murray allowed two goals total in the section playoffs for the second straight year. That equals the school record which has been done five times...Joe Phillippi's career goaltending record against White Bear Lake will stand at 8-0, 1.69 GAA and a 93.6 save percentage.

On the offensive side, this was only the third time all season that Hill-Murray did not score three goals. The team has 184 goals in 28 games and will enter the tournament as the highest scoring team in Class AA. The highest totals in school history are 243, 195, and 188 (twice).

Pioneer Press report on the section final.

February 26, 2008

Link to the Star Tribune report of the Section 4 semis.

February 26, 2008

The remaining sectional games will be broadcast live on internet radio by the Minnesota Sports Broadcast Network and Fox.

February 17, 2008

Video highlights from the St. Thomas Academy and Moorhead games.

February 17, 2008

Link to the game report from the Moorhead Forum.

February 17, 2008

The Section 4AA playoffs start with a play-in game Wednesday and four quarterfinals Saturday. A look at the nine teams in the section:

Hill-Murray (21-3-1, 14-1-1) is the Classic Suburban champion. They defeated White Bear Lake and North St. Paul twice each and split with Tartan.

Roseville (16-8-1, 11-4-1) finished second in the Suburban East behind Woodbury. The Raiders went 1-1-1 against White Bear Lake, split with Stillwater, and defeated Mounds View twice.

White Bear Lake (16-8-1, 10-5-1) was third in the Suburban East, one game behind Roseville. The Bears split with Stillwater and defeated Mounds View twice.

Stillwater (9-15-1, 7-9) was sixth in the Suburban East and split with Mounds View. The Ponies played a tough schedule and generally play low scoring games, allowing seven goals while scoring one in three non-conference losses at the end of the season.

Mounds View (12-13, 4-12) was eighth in the Suburban East and defeated Johnson, Tartan, and North St. Paul.

Tartan (13-10-1, 7-8-1) was fifth in the Classic Suburban. Tartan split with Hill-Murray, defeated and tied North St. Paul, defeated Johnson and lost to Mounds View.

North St. Paul (5-18-2, 3-11-2) tied for seventh in the Classic Suburban, and had an early season victory over Como Park.

Johnson (14-10-1, 1-1) and Como Park (8-15-1, 1-1) split the two games between them.

February 12, 2008

Scores from private school tournaments prior to 1975 are now linked from the playoff scores page. Thanks to Jim Just for researching and providing this information.

February 12, 2008

Hill-Murray is the 2008 Classic Suburban Champion.

Congratulations to Joe Phillippi, who won the Frank Brimsek Award which is given to the state's top senior goaltender.

February 10, 2008

Link to Star Tribune article on the St. Thomas game.

February 9, 2008

Season summaries from 1990-1999 are now linked from the history page.

February 1, 2008

Section playoff scores from 1990-1999 are now up.

January 24, 2008

Hill-Murray's historical won/lost record broken down by opponent.

January 19, 2008

At which arenas has Hill-Murray played the most? View the all-time results by location.

January 19, 2008

Statistics on goals scored, goals allowed, and overtime games throughout the years.

There have been eight 1-0 games in school history:
01/08/1964 W 1-0 vs. St. Paul Academy
12/28/1971 W 1-0 vs. Roseau
03/09/1978 L 1-0 vs. Grand Rapids (State Tournament)
02/23/1980 W 1-0 vs. St. Paul Johnson
02/09/1991 L 1-0 vs. Anoka
12/07/1999 W 1-0 vs. Duluth East
12/28/2002 W 1-0 vs. Hibbing
12/06/2005 W 1-0 vs. White Bear Lake

There was also a 0-0 tie, 2/15/1965 vs. Blake.

January 16, 2008

New summaries for each of the years from 1980 to 1989 are available off the history page. Also, playoff scores from those years (though not complete) are also posted.

January 10, 2008

Fox 9 video highlights of the St. Thomas game.

Reports from the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune on the St. Thomas game.

January 2, 2008

From Adamson to Zollman, the all-time Hill-Murray hockey roster.

December 29, 2007

Link to Pioneer Press article of the Minnetonka game.

Hill-Murray won the JV Gold Division with a 5-4 victory over Duluth East at Highland Arena.

December 28, 2007

Despite being dominant by virtually all measures in the school's hockey history, holiday tournaments are one of the few titles that are not common in the Hill-Murray trophy case. The school has won only four in the past 20 years. A look back at those titles:

1989(-90) - South St. Paul Premier Tournament (Wakota). The Premier tournament in the late '80s and early '90s had very strong fields. Hill-Murray beat Johnson 4-3 in overtime after scoring the tying goal in the final minute of regulation, then defeated Burnsville 5-3 and Wayzata 5-2 for the title.
1996(-97) - East Side Showdown (Aldrich). One year after defeating powerhouses Johnson and Duluth East only to lose to unranked Burnsville in the final, Hill-Murray won the second and last six team East Side Showdown, with victories over Johnson 8-2, Burnsville 6-2, and Rosemount 5-3.
1998(-99) - Edina Holiday Classic (Braemar). Hill-Murray swept the four team round-robin tournament, beating Edina 7-3, Jefferson 5-3, and Moorhead 4-2.
2005(-06) - Schwan Cup Silver (Aldrich/Xcel). The Pioneers showed why this was the wrong year to be relegated to the second tier, powering through the field with wins over Maple Grove 5-2, Edina 7-1, and Brainerd 6-1.

December 26, 2007

Crystal Clear Sports will provide a live webcast of the Gold Division games. Cost is $8 for three hours.

December 17, 2007

Schedule for the Dec 26-28 tournament.

December 17, 2007

The January 19 game vs. Henry Sibley is at 3:00 (JV 1:00) at Aldrich, not in the evening as indicated on the initial schedule.

The 1983 championship team will be honored during Saturday's game.

December 7, 2007

The Park game has been rescheduled for 8 p.m. Monday at the Coliseum. JV game at 6:00.

December 7, 2007

Pioneer hockey alumni who have gone on to play D1 college, major professional, or Olympic hockey.

December 5, 2007

Link to Star Tribune report of the Benilde game.

December 1, 2007

Saturday's game vs. Park has been postponed due to weather conditions. Reschedule date to be announced.

November 30, 2007

Video highlights of the Wayzata game are available from the Fox 9 webcast.

November 30, 2007

Park replaces St. Paul Johnson on the non-conference schedule this year. Hill-Murray has not played Park since the 1991 playoffs. Prior to that game, Park was ranked #1 in the state, and Hill-Murray defeated the Indians in overtime after Park tied the game in the final second of regulation.

November 24, 2007

Fox 9 sports is launching a new site, My Fox Hockey, that will broadcast streaming video of selected games this season, including Hill-Murray vs. Wayzata on Thursday. They will also host a high school hockey preview show Monday at 7 p.m.

November 7, 2007

Pioneer alumni playing pro, college, and junior hockey, with year of Hill-Murray graduation and current team:

Brian Arrigoni, 2006, Southern Minnesota (NAHL)
Jay Cascalenda, 2004, Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)
Steve Czech, 2000, Florida (ECHL)
Tony Danna, 2007, St. Thomas (MIAC)
Tom Dickhudt (left after 2001), Bentley (Atlantic Hockey)
Mike Gatzke, 2003, Wisconsin-Eau Claire (NCHA)
Gabe Guentzel, 2006, Sioux Falls (USHL)
Ryan Guentzel, 2005, Notre Dame (CCHA)
Mike Hoeffel (left after 2006), Minnesota (WCHA)
Mike Hohenwald, 2005, St. Thomas (MIAC)
Jim Jensen (left after 2001), Wisconsin-River Falls (NCHA)
Craig Johnson, 1990, Salzburg (Austria)
Brian Kaufman, 2002, Miami (CCHA)
Dan McEnaney, 2007, St. Thomas (MIAC)
Joey McEnaney, 2006, St. Thomas (MIAC)
Jim McKenzie (left after 2000), Elmira (ECHL, Ottawa Senators affiliate)
Erik Morrow, 2005, St. Olaf (MIAC)
Tom Morrow, 2002, Hannover (Germany)
Mike Phillippi, 2005, Nebraska-Omaha (CCHA)
Garrett O. Regan, 2003, Notre Dame (CCHA)
Kyle Ronning, 2005, Bethel (MIAC)
Bryant Skarda, 2006, North Iowa (NAHL)
David Tanabe (left after 1997), Carolina (NHL)
Vince Unklesbay, 2006, Southern Minnesota (NAHL)
Sam Yearsley, 2005, Aurora (OPJHL)

November 1, 2007

The 2008 schedule is now released. Games of note include St. Thomas Academy at the Xcel as part of Hockey Day Minnesota on February 9. The White Bear game is a few weeks later this year, on December 22. But those still looking for an early season barnburner need not look past Benilde-St. Margaret's, which visits Aldrich Arena on December 4.

Bill Schafhauser, who coached the boys JV hockey team for the last four seasons, is now the Hill-Murray varsity girls head coach. Two other former players, Tony Ciro and Peter Allen ('02), will be coaching the JV boys this season.

July 1, 2007

Check the history section for records from 1961 to 1971. The entire history of Pioneer hockey is now online, well, almost. We are missing a few scores and player info from the early years; please e-mail if you can fill in any omissions.

March 15, 2007

The MSHSL has finalized section realignments for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons. It appears to be the most radical change at least since the two-class format was adopted. For the first time ever, Hill-Murray will not play in Section 3. However, the new Section 4AA looks a lot like the old Section 3AA (see below). Go to MSHSL.org for the complete new section assignments.

The new Section 4AA:
Hill-Murray
Mounds View
North St. Paul
Roseville
St. Paul Como Park (new)
St. Paul Johnson (new)
Stillwater
Tartan (new)
White Bear Lake

Out (formerly in 3AA): Centennial, Irondale