Ice Hawks crowned regular-season champs
Minnesota secures MJHL's first berth to Nationals

February 24, 2008

The Minnesota Ice Hawks won the Minnesota Junior Hockey League’s regular-season championship after their 10-0 shutout of the St. Louis Lightning on Friday.

The victory, coupled with the Hudson Crusaders’ 5-4 overtime victory over the second-place Wisconsin Mustangs on Friday, left the Ice Hawks celebrating their fourth straight title.

“Winning another championship is certainly a nice thing to be able to smile about, but in the end player development is always No.1 for us,” said Ice Hawks coach Nick Fatis.  “It’s nice to be able to lift trophies, but lifting kids to the next level is most important.”

With the regular-season crown, the Ice Hawks have guaranteed themselves one of the league’s two berths to the USA Hockey Tier III Junior A National Tournament, which will be held from March 24-29 at the New England Sports Center in Marlboro, Mass.

This marks the fifth straight year the Ice Hawks will head to Nationals.

“This team is just another one in a line of great teams that a have come out of this program the past 5-6 seasons,” said Fatis.  “They’ve got a lot of heart, a lot of grit. They’re more than willing to go through a wall for each other and that’s what it takes to get a championship. 

“And that’s great, and hopefully they’ll be able to translate this onto college programs or other level junior programs and continue to bring championships wherever they go.”

The MJHL playoff champion will receive the league’s second bid to Nationals.  If the Ice Hawks also win the playoff championship, the playoff runner-up will earn the league’s second berth to Nationals.

Fatis credits his players’ character for much of the program’s recent success.

“These young men are more than just good hockey players, and sometimes you have to sacrifice talent for character,” said Fatis.  “They’re the kind of young men you want to be around and you want around the program representing you.

“They work hard enough to get their talents to where they can succeed at a very high level.  These are the type of young men that all young men should strive to be.  These are good kids.”

Even with their tickets to the national tournament already in hand, don’t expect the driven Ice Hawks to take the postseason lightly.

“Every goal that we’ve put in front of these kids to hit, they’ve hit, and getting to compete against themselves in the playoffs to is another goal,” said Fatis.

“Some people say it’s got to be tough to keep these kids motivated when they already have their berth to nationals, but I think this group is in it for more than one thing; they’re here to climb every mountain they can and slay every dragon they can and win every championship they can.”