EAST GRAND FORKS – After a quiet first period, Thief River Falls kicked it up in the middle frame and saw a clear shift in momentum. It led to the Prowlers' 5-1 Section 8A semifinal win over Detroit Lakes on Satuday and a hat trick for Jaxon Brouse.
It started, for the Prowlers, with a nifty individual effort from Tysen Loeffler as he toe-dragged around a pair of Laker defenders in order to set up Brouse for a rebound. It was a strong response to Detroit Lakes opening up the scoring.
Brouse would add his second of the night on a three-on-one as he elected to shoot from a tough angle, but managed to sneak out short side.
Shots in the second period were 12-2 for the Prowlers and grew to 20-7 well into the third period.
“The game started out defensive,” Thief River Falls head coach Tim Bergland said. “We get up one and they start to cheat a little. They have to, it’s the section semis and they are down one. We get a few more chances because of it and we get a hat trick from a guy that had two goals coming into the game.”
ADVERTISEMENT
After an Isaiah Villarreal goal, Brouse scored his third of the night on an almost identical goal to his second, with a short side shot beating the Detroit Lakes goalie again. It is the second hat trick for a Prowler this postseason as Loeffler notched one in the quarterfinals against Lake of the Woods in a 4-0 win.
“We’re just always going hard, work it down low and it has created a lot of opportunities (this postseason). They seem to be finding the back of the net,” Brouse said following his hat trick.
The Prowlers now have a Section 8A title meeting scheduled with No. 1 Warroad on Thursday at the Civic Center in East Grand Forks. Warroad advanced after a 5-1 win against East Grand Forks.
“Our first game this year against them was only 3-0 because they scored three power-play goals. The second time they scored with four seconds left in overtime. We’re going to come and we’re going to beat them,” said Brouse.
Thief River Falls 5,
Detroit Lakes 1
Second period – 1-0 DL: Aiden Kennedy (Carter Bellefeuille), 1-1 TRF: Jaxon Brouse (Tysen Loeffler, Morgan Rude), 2-1 TRF: Brouse (Justin Funk, Jonah Lunsetter)
Third period – 3-1 TRF: Isaiah Villarreal (Brady Skeim), 4-1 TRF: Brouse (Funk, Tucker Howe), 5-1 TRF: Villarreal (Braydin Lund)
Goalie saves – TRF: Brett Holmer 8 saves, DL: Elijah Blow 18 saves
