ST. PAUL — For 34 minutes Mankato West boy’s hockey was nip and tuck with No. 6 Delano.
The final 17 minutes, well, that was a different story.
The Tigers blew the game open with four unanswered goals to hand the Scarlets a 6-2 loss in the state quarterfinal round Wednesday at Grand Casino Arena.
West now advances to the consolation bracket, where it will play the loser of Warroad and Northern Lakes. That game is slated for noon Thursday at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis.
“Our goal is to play Saturday at noon, win that game and live in that eternal glory of Minnesota high school hockey,” West head coach Nate Olsen said. “Our kids are working toward that. And that’s why this is disappointing. It hurts.”
The Scarlets found themselves in a 2-0 hole 5:13 into the first period. Olsen called timeout in hopes of calming things down. And by all accounts, it worked.
A little over five minutes later freshman Brooks Baukol was once again left unguarded on a back check. He buried a loose puck to put the Scarlets within one.
Less than a minute into the second period Baukol fired from the blue line. His shot found the stick of junior Brodie Cox and went in the back of the net.
Suddenly the Scarlets and Tigers were tied 2-2 with a grand total of 43 seconds bleeding off the clock in the second.
“This is a big stage. The lights were bright right away and we weren’t playing our game,” Olsen said. “We believed that we belong here. We believed we were going to win.”
Then Delano senior Daniel Halonen reminded the crowd in attendance why he’s a finalist for the coveted Mr. Hockey Award. He broke the tie with his second goal of the night and 40th of the season 5:18 into the third period.
From there, the Tigers pounced three more times in the third. Daniel Halonen finished with two goals and two assists on the night, and he wasn’t even the most productive Halonen on the ice. Lance Halonen tallied two goals and four assists.
“The game wore us down, and Delano’s speed wore us down,” Olsen said. “We were ready, prepared and believed we were here to do a job.”
West sophomore Blake Brekke made 45 saves. He was swapped out for senior Mason Schreiber with 1:23 remaining in the game.
It was a moment where Brekke didn’t pout. He didn’t complain. He didn’t throw a fit. He was just happy Schreiber had the chance to play on the state’s biggest stage.
“I knew this was going to be his last time and his only time playing here,” Brekke said of Schreiber. “I knew this experience had to be shared. This wasn’t just my net the whole year, it was also his. He should experience the same thing.
“It was the right choice.”