Boys hockey: Area players help state tournament teams

Four area hockey players made an impact on the 2011-12 State Hockey Tournament.

Cottage Grove’s Zach Mills and Woodbury’s Brandon Thompson and Jake Guentzel were members of the Class AA runner-up Hill-Murray Pioneers and Cottage Grove’s Jack Dougherty played for Class A state champion St. Thomas Academy at this year’s state tourney, held Wednesday through Saturday, March 7 through 10, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.

Mills is a freshman forward, Guentzel is a junior forward and Thompson is a senior forward for Hill-Murray, which finished the year 21-6, falling to Benilde-St. Margaret’s 5-1 in the Class AA championship on Saturday night at the Xcel Center. Dougherty, a sophomore defenseman, helped St. Thomas Academy go 24-5 and win its second-consecutive Class A state championship with a 5-1 win over Hermantown in the title game.

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