WARROAD, Minn. -- Thief River Falls is headed back to the Minnesota state Class A tournament for the second year in a row.
The Prowlers finished their roll through the Section 8A tournament on Thursday night, beating East Grand Forks Senior High 4-1 in The Gardens in Warroad. That victory completed a section tournament where Thief River Falls outscored its opponents 15-1.
Logan Engelstad scored two goals, while Austin Odberg and Riley Soderstrom each added goals for the Prowlers, who opened up a 3-0 lead after the first period and cruised to victory.
Prowler goalie Jon Narverud stopped 22 of 23 shots in the section championship and stopped 60 of 61 for the tournament.
The only goal he allowed was off the stick of Tommy Hajicek in the second period.
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The Prowlers, who lost to eventual champion St. Thomas Academy in the semifinals last season, will advance to St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center again next week. Their quarterfinal opponent is yet to be determined.
Thief River Falls has now won six straight games since a loss to Roseau, including the section championship.
The Prowlers started the game with a bang, scoring three times in the opening period. Odberg scored just 3 minutes, 18 seconds into the game to stake Thief River Falls to a 1-0 lead.
Then, Thief River Falls scored twice in the span of 2:06 at the end to make it a three-goal game. Engelstad scored at 14:08 and Soderstrom added another at 16:14.
Hajicek cut the Prowler lead to 3-1 with a goal at 7:18 of the second period, assisted by Kolton Aubol and Zack Lawdermilt, but couldn't get anything else past Narverud.
The Prowlers tacked on the final goal at 14:50 of the third, when Engelstad scored on the power play.
Thief River Falls improved to 20-4-2 overall. Senior High ended its seas
