Delano celebrates a goal last season and are off to a great start this season with a pair of wins over two team in the Top 5.

Delano jumps to No. 3 after two big wins to start season

The Delano Tigers may have had the two toughest games to start the season of any team in either class. They opened against No. 3 Warroad on Friday and then had to turn around and face No. 4 and defending Class A champion East Grand Forks Saturday.

Yet all they did was win both, beating the Warriors 3-1 and following up with an impressive 5-1 win over the Green Wave. Both wins were also on the road.

After making the trip to The Gardens in Warroad, the Tigers got three unanswered goals after Warroad’s Sam Hard gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead. Henry Tate and Austin Kazin scored second-period goals and Brody Geislinger added an empty netter late for the 3-1 win. Warroad outshot the Tigers 33-16, but Delano goalies Evan Geyen and Lincoln Truax were up to the task, stopping 32 shots combined.

They traveled to East Grand Forks on Saturday and after falling behind 1-0 again, scored five unanswered goals for the 5-1 win. Connor Oja, Daniel Halonen and Lance Halonen scored and Brady Kangas scored twice to lead the Tigers. Kangas also had three assists and Danial Halonen added pair of helpers. Truax was stellar in goal stopping 22 shots.

Top-ranked Hibbing/Chisholm maintained the top spot after getting off to a great start with a 6-3 win over No. 8AA Cretin-Derham Hall. In a fast-paced game that saw 77 shots on goal (39-38 Hibbing), the Bluejackets overcame a 1-0 deficit and a 2-2 tie. Jackson Strukel tied the game 1-1 with a power play goal 45 seconds into the second period and Ethan Sundvall gave them a 2-1 lead less than three minutes later. After CDH tied it, Tate Swanson scored to give them a 3-2 lead. Kelin Elsner scored midway through the third period for the 4-2 lead, but the Raiders answered with Jonny Bloedow’s second of the night and a 4-3 game. Swanson and Isaiah Hildebrand each added empty-net goals to secure the 6-3 win. Gavin Lamphere made 35 saves for the Bluejackets to earn the win. They will face No. 15 Cloquet/Esko/Carlton tonight and No. 11 St. Cloud Cathedral on Friday.

No. 2 Hermantown opens their season Friday at Cretin-Derham Hall, now ranked No. 10 in AA. Warroad fell to No. 4 in the rankings and Sartell-St. Stephen remained No. 5 with a nice win over Rock Ridge, 7-3. The Sabres scored four third-period goals to pull away and were led by Devin Jacobs with two goals and an assist.

Other Top 10 teams looking to start their season this week are No. 6 Mahtomedi and No. 8 Monticello. Northfield cracked the top 10 this week and is off to a 1-0-0 start.