Boys' hockey: Playoff run starts tonight at home

Hutchinson has 110 goals on the season — 53 of those has come from the dynamic duo of senior forwards Riley Bengtson and Mitchell Cowger.
As the green line goes, so goes the Tigers. Especially when you add in the 10 goals from linemate Michael Hantge. Their former wing Jesse Baune has 11.

“We pretty much say if we don’t play the way we should play, we’re not going to state,” co-captain Cowger said. “Our line is getting on average probably like three goals a game. That’s like half of our team’s goals. For us to win, we have to be on top of our game and play like we have been.”

Both Cowger and Bengtson have one goal — reaching the state tournament. It was a mark that the Tigers felt they had a shot at last year, but a 2-0 defeat to Litchfield-Dassel-Cokato in the semifinals ended the run two games short.

Again the No. 2 seed this season, Hutchinson has played themselves into one of the favorites in Section 3A. Despite what a local hockey magazine may write.

“Obviously the way we started out with all those wins was nice. Seventeen wins in a season is a great achievement, but 20 wins and a trip to state would be even better,” Bengtson said.

Playoffs begin tonight
The road to St. Paul starts tonight in a quarterfinal game with No. 7 seed Windom Area, which sports an 18-7 record out of the Southwest Conference.

The Tigers don’t have to go back far in their history books to find how difficult a No. 7 seed can be. It took every goal in a 4-3 win over Luverne a year ago.

“Anything can happen. You look at the girls’ game with West. Who would have thought?” Bengtson said. “So, underdogs win once and a while too. We need to start fast against Windom. We have to play our game and just get the job done. Seedings don’t mean much now.”

To read more about Bengtson and Cowger, check out Thursday's print edition on newsstands right now.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com.