Hermantown took another step Wednesday toward a return to the Class A boys hockey championship game with a 5-1 victory over Alexandria in the small-school quarterfinals at the Xcel Energy Center.
The Hawks (24-3-2) scored five goals in the second period to advance to Friday's semifinals against the winner of today's second semifinal between Rochester Lourdes and Hibbing/Chisholm. Hermantown lost to Breck in last year's Class A championship game.
Chris Benson ended a five-goal flurry in the second period on a long rebound with 2:44 left.
Hermantown's flurry continued with a goal by Jesse Dyson, who backhanded a rebound past Alexandria goalie Ben Allen for a 4-1 lead with 10:26 left in the second period.
Travis Koepke gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead with 11:53 left in the period when he flipped a wrist shot over Allen.
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His goal came moments after teammate Jared Thomas snapped a 1-1 tie on a tip shot that went under Allen's body and slid about 10 feet into an open goal.
Hermantown, the No. 2 seed, tied the score 1-1 on a power-play goal 49 seconds into the period from Garrett Skrbich.
Five seconds into the second period, Alexandria took a short-lived lead on a goal by Jordan Domine.
-- Copyright (c) 2011, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn./Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
