NP falls to champs in Saturday semifinal round
Rebounding from a tough loss in the semifinal round to the tournament’s eventual champion, the New Prague Trojans’ floor hockey team took third-place honors at the Minnesota State High School League’s floor hockey tournament at Bloomington Jefferson High School.
The Trojans defeated an old rival, Lakeville-Burnsville-Farmington, 7-3, in the third-place game Saturday, Feb. 28. The loss was a rebound from Saturday’s 12-3 thumping earlier in the afternoon at the hands of South Suburban, a team NP defeated twice during the regular season. New Prague opened the tournament Friday evening with a 6-3 win over Shakopee-Prior Lake-Chaska-Chanhassen, a team the Trojans defeated twice during the regular season.
South Suburban defeated the Mankato Knights in the championship game, 11-2.
The Trojans advanced two players to the all-tournament team, senior Carter Tupy and junior Nikkos Patrin were named to the MSHSL’s All-Tournament team.
New Prague finished the season at 11-1 overall. They are 22-1 the last two seasons and 31-3 the past three seasons. Their only losses have been to South Suburban this season and Lakeville-Burnsville-Farmington. This year’s team will see the graduation of seniors Tupy and Ryan Swanson.
Trojans 7, Lakeville-Burnsville-Farmington 3 Uncertain how the team would respond after a shellacking against the eventual state champions, the Trojans wasted little time reaching the scoreboard.
Playing in his final game, senior Carter Tupy’s long wrist shot hit the back of the net before the Blazing Cats’ goalie flinched. The goal 15 seconds into the third-place game calmed any uneasiness among the NP fans who filled the stands and watched from the overhead walking track.
“When Carter scored, I knew we were going to be OK,” NP coach Jeremy Kalal said. He had remarked the importance of scoring the first goal to assistant coach Joe Johnson. “Carter was excited to play again. The kids wanted to beat Lakeville.”
Logan Bermel added NP’s second goal with 4:24 left in the opening period as NP took a 2-0 lead to intermission. Tupy’s apparent goal just after the buzzer was disallowed.
Undaunted by the disallowed goal, Bermel gave New Prague a 3-0 lead with12:46 left in the second period. The goal came when Bermel emerged from a scrum in front of the Blazin’ Cats goal. He stepped back from the mass of humanity and ripped a shot by the screened goalie.
After Lakeville cut NP’s advantage to 3-1 with a goal with 7:41 left in the period, Bermel restored the...