St. Cloud Slapshots Are The #1 Seed Heading Into State Tourney
ST. CLOUD -- The St. Cloud Area Adapted Floor Hockey Team, "Slapshots" are the number 1 seed heading into the state tournament at Bloomington Jefferson High School this weekend.
The team's made a few appearances in the tournament. Last year, they fell in the championship game 10-7 against North Suburban, who've won the last two state championships.
Michael Bakken is an Adapted Physical Education Teacher at Apollo High School and the team's Coach. He says they're looking forward to taking the champs on this year since they split the season series.
"First time we played them this year, they beat us 5-3, when one of our best players was out on suspension. The second time we played them with him back in the lineup, we won 12-2."
He says an advantage the Slapshots have is their depth, which features Freshmen who are putting up plenty of points.
"We just have some depth, we have 9th graders that are scoring around 30 points a year."
Bakken says the biggest thing he's trying to manage going into the tournament is the expectations attached to being the number 1 seed. He says they need to play how they have all year.
"When you're the number 1 seed obviously everyone is expecting you to win. You gotta live up to expectations, gotta go out there and play. We'll take it one game at a time -- that's our motto -- and we'll go from there."
The Slapshots will take on Mounds View/Irondale/Roseville in Gym C at Bloomington Jefferson High School at 5:00 Friday. If they win, they'll play at Noon on Saturday. The Tournament wraps up with the championship game at 4:00 on Saturday.