Ice Hawks skate at state

After playing hockey for more than three months, the Havre Ice Hawks will finally get a chance to show what they can do on the big stage of the Montana State high school hockey tournament.

The tournament, which is held in Missoula, will pit 12 teams against each other this weekend. The teams are separated into four pools and each team will play two games of pool play before the top two advance to the eight-team tournament that begins Saturday. The Ice Hawks will open their state tournament Friday against Glasgow at 2 p.m., followed by a matchup against Bozeman at 7 p.m.

"I am excited about our team," Ice Hawks head coach Scott Gunderson said. "This is one of the best Ice Hawk’s teams I have gotten to coach. I think we have a good pool and the kids have really picked it up at the end of the season so we are excited."

Gunderson feels good about his opening matchups because the Ice Hawks own a win over Glasgow, while also playing very competitively against the Bozeman squad they will see Friday.

"Friday is going to be really important for us," Gunderson said. "If we can play well then, that will give us lots of confidence and positive momentum and I think if we can get that, we can do well this weekend."

In addition to Havre, there will be a number of other top teams in the tournament. Gunderson said the bigger teams like the two from Bozeman, as well as Billings, Missoula, Butte, Great Falls, Helena and Kalispell are always hard to beat, but there will be other teams such as Glasgow, Miles City and Salmon, Idaho, in attendance as well.

"Obviously, the bigger teams have a little more depth than we do and they are probably the favorites," Gunderson said. "But I feel that we can play with each and every one of them. I think our kids have really picked it up at the end of the season. We have been working hard on our power play and making sure we get more goals out of that and all around, the kids have worked hard and we have gotten better and better."

The Ice Hawks will bring a veteran team to Missoula, and they will be led by seniors Gavin Gunderson, Caleb McLain, Alex Hanson, Kyle Konesky and goaltender Josh Emge. Other players that will contribute this weekend for the Ice Hawks are Alex Cole, Blake Hanson, Nick Stump and Madison Knudson. Newcomers for Havre include Jeffrey Ralph, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Cliff Lenhardt and Kade Friede.

"The biggest thing for us it to have fun," Gunderson said. "I want the kids to play as hard as they can. I want the underclassmen to help the seniors do well in their final state tournament. I think everything just depends on Friday. If we do well there and get some confidence, who knows what we can do. Obviously, our goal is to win the championship, but we just want to go out and play as hard as we can and see how we do."

Havre will kick off its state tournament Friday against Glasgow at 2 p.m. It will then conclude pool play Friday evening at 7 p.m.  All games will be played in Missoula. The tournament will conclude Sunday, when the consolation and championship games will be played.