MINNETONKA The Brookings Rangers won four of their five games over the weekend to win the 2023 Minnetonka Junior Gold Invitational Tournament, which took place at the Minnetonka Ice Arena and Pagel Activity Center.
The Rangers tied with Edina in their opening game before winning their final four games of the tournament to take home the title.
The Rangers now have an overall record of 7-0-1 and will return to SDAHA play when they travel to Huron on Friday night.
Brookings 3, Edina 3
The Rangers opened the tournament by battling to a draw with the Hornets on Friday night.
Jack Merritt opened the scoring for Brookings with a goal from David Brink with 14:25 left in the first period before Ryan Hurley tied it with his goal from Carson Dederichs with 11:25 left in the first period.
Cody Jacobson gave the Rangers the lead when he scored off an assist from Jay Harris with 8:32 left in the second period but back-to-back goals by Jack McCoy and Hurley gave Edina a 3-2 lead with six minutes left in the third period.
Harris was able to net the equalizer with 2:35 left, scoring on a power play goal from Talon Hyde and Riley Linstad. Addison Ronning was able to keep the Hornets out of the net from there as he made 29 saves to preserve the tie.
Brookings outshot Edina 32-25 in the draw.
Brookings 7, Stillwater 0
The Rangers made easy work of the Ponies, using a four-goal second period to win their second game of the tournament on Saturday morning.
Hyde opened the scoring with a goal from Chase Karch and Luke Honkomp with 14:42 left in the first period before Riley Linstad opened the second-period explosion with assists from Merritt and Honkomp.
Jacob Kahle (from Karch and Hyde), Owen Schneider (from Ren Jacobsen and David Brink) and Tre Christopherson (from Harris) all scored in the second period to break the game open and Kahle (from Karch and Hyde) and Schneider (from Hyde and Linstad) scored in the third period to cap the scoring.
Egan Jensen started at goalie and stopped all 11 shots to earn the shutout. Brookings outshot Stillwater 26-11.
Brookings 7, Rosemount 2
The Rangers offensive performance continued as they defeated the Irish on Saturday afternoon.
Schneider opened the scoring with an assist from Honkomp with 12:02 left in the first period before the Rangers scored five times in the second period.
Kahle scored four goals in the second period with two assists coming from Honkomp, one assist from Hyde and one assist from Jacobsen. Linstad also added a power play goal from Honkomp in the second period before Cooper Deatherage capped the scoring with a goal from Honkomp with 8:55 left in the third period.
Ronning made 22 saves in the win while Brookings outshot Rosemount 36-24.
Brookings 3, Minnetonka 2
The Rangers defeated the Skippers to advance to the title game on Sunday morning.
Grant Albrecht put Minnetonka on the board first with a goal from Jackson Wells with 12:54 left in the first period but Linstad answered with an assist from Honkomp with 11 minutes remaining in the first to tie the game at 1-1.
The tie would last until the third period when Kahle scored a shorthanded goal with 11:23 to go to put Brookings up 2-1. But Oliver Birkland tied the game with an unassisted goal with 2:14 left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
Kahle played the hero in the extra frame, scoring a game-winner from Schneider to send the Rangers to the championship.
Brookings 4, Edina 2
The Rangers scored twice in the third period to defeat the Hornets 4-2 on Sunday night.
Edina got on the board firs when Dederichs scored with assists from Michael Simonson and McCoy with 10:56 left in the first period but Deatherage tied the game with an unassisted goal with 2:27 left in the first period.
Kahle scored his ninth goal of the tournament to put the Rangers up 2-1 with 14:20 left in the second period but Simonson answered with an assist from Dederichs with 12:08 left in the second period to tie the game at 2-2.
Kahle broke the tie with two more goals in the third period, scoring the go-ahead goal from Harris and Linstad on the power play with 5:41 left in the third period and adding an insurance goal from Schneider with 11 seconds to go to put the game away.
Ronning started for the Rangers and made 31 saves and the Hornets out-shot Brookings 33-29.
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