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Team WI ready to defend Minnesota tourney title

By Michael Trzinski, 04/06/11, 10:23PM CDT

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Took home inaugural championship last year

It's tough to know what to expect in the first year of a tournament.

After playing for 25 years in the prestigious Chicago Showcase--and winning two national titles--Team Wisconsin headed west and instead participated in the Minnesota National Invitational Tournament last April.

The movers and shakers of the Chicago Showcase decided that the tournament was getting too big and too expensive, so a group from Pittsburgh took over and moved it to Pennsylvania.

The Team WI brass elected to look elsewhere after doing some basic math and determining that the Pittsburgh trip would cost too much for the team to make it worth their while.

Thus the Minnesota NIT was born.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Dakota each organized teams to fill the field, along with a U18 team from Minnesota, thus giving the tournament a solid group of five teams that would compete for the inaugural Minnesota NIT title. 

TW set its team early in April and had some time for practice and a couple scrimmages.

Their first test at the Plymouth Ice Center would be Team Minnesota, and TW lost that by a 3-2 margin. Max McCormick and Dylan Dock scored for the good guys, while former long-haired goalie Mark Lambrecht stopped 30 shots.

That would be their last defeat of the weekend.

Next up was Michigan, whom they dispatched 4-2 despite facing a goalie that was very stingy in the early going. McCormick scored twice, while Russell Blaser and Alex Tesensky added goals in the win. Aarin McLaughlin made 22 saves in the win.

Then came the Saturday contest against the Minnesota U18s. This team was supposed to be better than Team Minnesota, and it looked that way after TW fell behind 2-0 after just 4 1/2 minutes of play.

TW sucked it up, and McCormick, Dock, Max Strasser, Nathan Trannel, and  Dustin Klitzke scored for Team WI in a great 5-2 comeback win. Lambrecht made 20 saves.

That set up Sunday's contest, with TW needing to win, while Michigan would have to knock off Team MN in an earlier battle.

When Michigan won its game, the stage was set for TW.

And they did not disappoint, turning back North Dakota by a 4-2 margin.

Shayne McLaughlin scored twice, and Casey Nelson and McCormick added tallies as Aarin McLaughlin steered aside 17 shots in the win. 

Although the field was 1/4 the size of the Chicago Showcase, the competition was top-notch, as Minnesota had won 9 of the last 11 Showcase titles. Michigan and North Dakota were not exactly slouches, either.

The tournament was well-attended by NHL scouts, with junior and college coaches and scouts taking in the event as well. It was a great opportunity to get exposure.

This year's tournament field is increased to six with the addition of Team Massachusetts.

It might not be the biggest tourney in the country, but with the quality of the field, the winner should definitely be crowned as National Champ.

 

2010 CCM Minnesota action

All photos by Jennifer Lohmann of Getting to Know You Productions.