MINNEAPOLIS - Roseau sophomore defenseman Aaron Ness is on the Associated Press all-state second team.
Ness had 13 goals and 38 assists for 51 points in 31 games for the Rams. He had a plus-52 plus-minus rating.
Ness helped lead the Rams to the Minnesota state Class AA title.
"All year, he's logged a lot of ice time for us," Roseau coach Scott Oliver said. "There was no question that I thought he was the best player at the tournament last week. I thought he has played that way all year."
In the meantime, the AP player of the year is Grand Rapids forward Patrick White.
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White's senior season didn't start the way he had planned.
He spent eight full games on the bench with an ankle injury, gritting his teeth and watching his Grand Rapids teammates struggle against AA heavyweights like Edina, Moorhead and Eden Prairie.
"It's really one of the harder things I've had to go through in my hockey career," White said. "Missing so many games at the start of my senior year, it wasn't fun."
Once the ankle healed, White hit the ice with a vengeance, and the Thunderhawks reclaimed their position as one of the elite programs in the state.
White scored 18 goals and had 31 assists in just 24 games to lead Grand Rapids to the Class AA state championship game, where they lost for the second straight season.
The two losses, including Saturday night's 5-1 defeat by Roseau, certainly sting. But White and his senior teammates, including forward Zach Morse and goaltender Reidar Jensen, can leave school knowing they put Grand Rapids hockey back on the map.
Rapids was a powerhouse in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making nine state tourney appearances and winning three titles between 1972 and 1981.
But the Thunderhawks had gone 15 years without a state tournament appearance until White's junior season last year. They repeated the effort this year, and in doing so, turned a whole new generation of Rapids residents into hockey fans.
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White was joined on the first team by forwards Mike Dorr of Roseville and Jordy Christian of Moorhead, defensemen Ryan McDonagh of Cretin-Derham Hall and John Lee of Moorhead and Cloquet-Esko-Carlton goaltender Reid Ellingson.
Joining Ness on the second team are forwards Jordan Festler of Little Falls, Drew LeBlanc of Hermantown and Tyler Johnson of Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, defenseman Brian Brutlag of Holy Angels and goalie Ben Hause of Cretin-Derham Hall.
