GRAND RAPIDS HOCKEY VS ANDOVER-SECTION 7AA SEMIS-FEB 2025 AMSOIL ARENA DULUTH MN

Grand Rapids Thunderhawks take on the Andover Huskies in Section 7AA Semi Finals at Amsoil Arena in Duluth Minnesota-Feb 22nd 2025-Hard fought battle goes into 3rd period tied 3 to 3. Andover scores with 7 minutes remaining and holds on to move to the Section Finals against Roch ridge. A combination of WDIO TV Duluth broadcast and a fan's video.

DULUTH — With Grand Rapids and Andover barreling toward overtime Saturday at Amsoil Arena, Huskies senior forward Luke Babineau didn’t want to leave things to chance.

Last year, the Thunderhawks stung Andover in the Section 7AA final in a double-overtime classic that saw Grand Rapids end up in the state semifinals.


Defenseman Chase Nadeau started up the ice and sent the puck forward to Camden Langfield, who made a pass to Babineau.

high school boys play ice hockey
Grand Rapids players react after losing to Andover during the Section 7AA semifinals on Saturday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
“We worked it to the outside, but then I saw the goalie reaching down,” Babineau said. “I was like if I pull to the middle, hopefully I can get a shot or maybe a rebound to get something going and it happened to go in.”

It was Babineau’s second goal of the game and secured a 4-3 win for Andover, giving the Huskies a spot in the Section 7AA title game for an eighth-straight year.

“We played hard the whole game, but it’s a game of mistakes,” Grand Rapids coach Grant Clafton said. “They were able to cash in on ours, we had plenty of opportunities to cash in on theirs and we weren’t able to get it done, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles, we were on the other side of the coin last year.”

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The double-overtime win for the Thunderhawks was certainly on the mind of Babineau in the moments before the game.

“It was a great win by them — they were an unreal team — but I couldn’t have that happen again,” the Huskies’ senior captain said. “So I got the boys fired up and said if you weren’t here last year, get on the bus. Let’s go.”

The Thunderhawks picked up a goal from Jameson Duell just 23 seconds into the game and had the first nine shots of the game. Once the initial Grand Rapids flurry was over, the Huskies responded.


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Seth Carlson (22) of Grand Rapids skates with the puck against Andover during the Section 7AA semifinals on Saturday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
“Any time you get a hot start, they’re going to have a push and they had a good push,” Clafton said.

Andover has had to rally all season and Saturday was no different. The Huskies started 0-9 this season before winning 13 of 17 coming into the section semifinal.

“We just had to survive the first 10 minutes and one goal is not going to get this team down,” Andover coach Mark Manney said. “We’ve been through it all this year, we're pretty mentally tough. They got one, then we kept them to the outside, they got some more shots, but not a ton of great opportunities…They took a penalty, we were able to zip the puck around. We got one at the end and then we got our feet going.”

high school boys play ice hockey
Grand Rapids goaltender Carter Casey makes a save against Andover during the Section 7AA semifinals on Saturday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Babineau fired the power play goal past Thunderhawks goalie Carter Casey with a 2:15 to play in the first period. The Huskies' William Thackery and Casey Rodgers each scored to put Andover up two, but Grand Rapids wasn’t done.

Rohloff scored an unassisted goal just 36 seconds after Rodgers and Luke Palecek tied the game 20 seconds later.

“They cashed in on their power play and we were 0-for-2 on the power play,” Clafton said. “We didn’t win the special teams battle and that was the difference in the game.”

Andover will play Rock Ridge for the Section 7AA championship at 7 p.m. Thursday at Amsoil Arena. The Wolverines beat Duluth Marshall 5-3 in the other semifinal.