Sartell Hockey Looking to Make History

The Sartell-St. Stephen boys hockey team is just 1 win away from their first boys hockey state tournament appearance.  The top seeded Sabres in section 6A will play for the section title against 2nd seeded Northern Lakes Thursday night at the MAC in St. Cloud at 7pm.

Ready for the Section Final

Sartell head coach Ryan Hacker joined me on WJON.  He says the 24-3 Sabres are excited but have also done a great job of staying in the moment.  Hacker says this team really likes putting in the work together.  Sartell has had a varsity boys hockey program for 30 years and has never reached the state tournament. Hacker says a win Thursday would be a great accomplishment for the program.

The Opponent

Sartell defeated Northern Lakes 3-2 on February 10 in their lone meeting of the season.  Hacker describes Northern Lakes is a physical team with a "really good goalie who'll be tough to crack if we're going to have any success on Thursday".  Hacker is confident the team is focused on the details and are ready for the challenge.

Top Performers

The Sabres have been led this season by their top line of Braden Klande, Devin Jacobs, and Preston Deragisch.  Hacker says that line has a ton of chemistry.  Jacobs and Deragisch are both over 70 points with Klande is over 50 points for the season.  Hacker says he's been tinkering with the other lines all season looking for the right matchups.  He is confident they have the right lines setup for Thursday's game.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Ryan Hacker, click below.