The Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament continued into its second day on Thursday morning as the Class AA teams got underway. The first upset happened during the third session of the tournament, too, during the first game of the day.
The No. 2 seeded Maple Grove Crimson suffered a 5-2 loss to the Hill-Murray Pioneers to open the action on Thursday morning at the Xcel Energy Center. Our friends at Hockey Wilderness say that there wasn't a certain moment that caused the upset, but the second period ended with Hill-Murray having a 4-1 lead.
The second period was a pretty balanced frame. The Crimson seemed to have the better scoring chances early, but John Dugas was a man possessed, somehow robbing a pair of prime scoring chances. A goofy goal for Hill-Murray came when Zach LaValle poke-checked the puck off of a Crimson defender's stick and in. The Pioneers stretched their lead to 3 when a Crimson penalty put a very good offensive powerplay to work. The physical play also picked up in the 2nd, as both teams laid some massive hits on each other. Maple Grove would have to start the 3rd period in a 4-1 hole.
There would be an upset in the second game, too, as Moorhead High School shutout fourth-seeded Eagan High School 4-0. Hill-Murray and Moorhead will meet in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Friday.
SB Nation's Hockey Wilderness is covering each session individually, so be sure to check there early and often. We'll continue to post updates here at SB Nation Minnesota in our StoryStream for the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament.