Staff photo by Travis Rosenau
Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Olivia Schieffert looks to pass while guarded by a pair of Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart defenders during a Section 2A girls basketball semifinals game Monday at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.
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NEW ULM — In the previous two seasons, the New Ulm Eagles boys hockey team has posted an impressive combined record of 44-11-1.
But in both of those years, their seasons have ended at Don Roberts Ice Arena at Gustavus Adolphus College in the Section 3A championship game.
In 2022, it was a 6-0 loss to Mankato East/Loyola while lsat season it was a 4-2 loss to Big South Conference foe Luverne.
The Eagles sat and watched other teams celebrating on the ice.
But Wednesday night, the Eagles were the ones celebrating after a 4-2 win over Marshall that sends New Um to the Xcel Energy Center for their first state trip since 2019 with a 22-5 mark.
New Ulm drew No. 2 seed Warroad (23-5) and will play the Warriors, the champions of Section 8A at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Xcel Energy Center.
Last year the Warriors lost 6-5 in two overtimes to Mahtomedi in the state Class A championship game.
For the Eagles and head coach Ryan Neuman, getting the proverbial monkey off of their back after two consecutive years of being the bridesmaid instead of the bride was important.
“It was huge,” Neuman said. “Especially for a few of the guys who have been a member of the team for years and who have watched [other teams celebrate] that and now finally get that blue medal instead of a red one was huge not only for the boys but also for the community. It means so much.”
For Austin Uecker, one of the players who watched two other teams take home a blue medal, getting the win was special.
“It was awesome finally getting to celebrate that feeling after losing the last two section finals in my sophomore and junior years,” he said. “We made the most of it on the ice and really enjoyed it.”
New Ulm goalie Bryer Hoffmann, who started in those previous two section finals and in the win Wednesday, said watching other teams punch their tickets to the state tournament is something that you never forget.
“That feeling of getting that ugly red medal, that fueled us for Wednesday,” Hoffmann said. “I was so proud of my team and so grateful of my team. We have had a great season and glad that we are continuing it to the X. And we had a lot of guys last year who deserved to play up there.”
Uecker, who enters the state tournament with 38 goals (eighth in the state) and 41 assists (fourth in the state), said the Eagles do not care who they have to play at state.
“We are going to go up, play hockey and have fun,” Uecker said as he hopes to improve on his New Ulm High School career point total of 202. “This feels amazing — we had our State Bantam taken away in 2020 [by COVID], so being able to finally get back up there. It really feels special.”
Hoffmann, who brings a 2.20 goals-against average into the X, remembers watching his older brother Braxten play in the state in 2019 as a freshman.
“He had gotten called up, so he made it in his youngest year in hockey and I made it in my last [year] in my high school career,” he said.
Neuman said that getting to the state tournament was a goal that they set this year.
“And when you achieve it, that is huge,” he said. “Our goal is to win a game at state, which is something New Ulm has never done. And getting to the state tournament is huge for our program, especially the youth.
“These players watched the team in 2019 and in 2015 — we have a lot of siblings and cousins that played on previous teams that are on this team that have been a part of it when they were kids watching. So for them to get to the state tournament is a huge accomplishment for them and something to hang their hats high on.”