The Northland Pines Boys Hockey team took fourth place at the Rochester Kiwanis Hockey Festival for the second year in a row, two years after they took home the top prize in a shootout win over Hudson. Pines fell to Rochester John-Marshall in the second day of the tournament 1-4 and lost the third place game to Park-Cottage Grove on Wednesday in their final game of the tournament 2-5. 

Pines started strong against Rochester John-Marshall after Jack Rhode grabbed the puck off of the face-off and rushed the puck towards the Rochester net before Tyler Hunt tipped the puck in. Rochester tied up the game at the end of the first period. 

 Ethan Polich had some great saves throughout the game along with Colton Raymond and Connor Cox firing big shots at the Rochester net, but it wasn’t enough for the Eagles to overcome the Rockets. Rochester scored on an empty Pines net to seal their victory and advance to the championship game against Chanhassen while Pines was sent to the third place game against Park-Cottage Grove. 

In Wednesday’s game, Northland Pines faced off against Park-Cottage Grove in a penalty fueled match. Park-Cottage Grove had a four goal lead going into the third period before Noah Wittkopf finally put Pines up on the score board. It only took Wittkopf fifteen seconds to get the puck in the net, launching the puck top-shelf unassisted. 

Sammy Spencer and Tucker Wittkopf played key roles in blocking shots in front of the net before Tyler Hunt notched a second goal for the Eagles in the remaining minutes, but it wasn’t enough for a comeback. Park-Cottage Grove took the game 5-2 and the Eagles are returning home to Eagle River with a fourth place finish. The Eagles host Medford for a Great Northern Conference game January 5th.