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Kathleen Mulligan and Garry Waldeck
Lindsay Family Bob Allen '71 Dan Frawley and Arlene Schubert John Arundel 03 Bader Family Peter and Ann Baskin Michael Beach '91 Bruce and Kathleen Behounek Brad and Suzie Benson Ken and Vivian Benson Jack Bohn 86 P.J. and K.M. Boldischar Charles A.Greenman and Bonnie Mulligan Thomas and Diane Brandabur Burt Family Thomas and Georgia Burton Jeff Callinan 91 Tim Campbell '04 Peter and Terese Ciaccio John and Marcia Coatta Peter Dauwalter 03 Dan Devel '78 Kevin Eidsmo 04 Patrick Eidsmo 03 Georgia Frawley Darin and Allison Gachne John, Jill, Jake, Max, Paige Gardiner Jake 07, Max 10 Jim and Laura Glockner Gary and Martie Glockner Birk Griffen 07 Ryan Hampson 04 Gary and Laurie Hansen Greg Hanson 01 Tim Hanus '88 Paul Harvener Nick Heiberg '01 Tami Helmer Nick Helmer 09 Brett and Troy Hesketh 06/10 Justin Holl 10 Jerry and Sue Holl '72 Huminski Family Dave Jecha '85 Scott and Sue Johnson Jay and Jamie Karlovich Guy and Jean Katopodis Kaye Family Mark Kruger '82 Joe and Mary Kuehn Jeff Kuzara 87 Robert and Danielle LaRue 97' Jesse Ledin 04 Tom Lee 75 Tino and Michelle Lettieri J.T. and Margaret Lindberg Tommy Lundquist 10 Justin Magnuson 95 Brian Mark 75 Tom Martin '82 Rob and Dave McCallum Justin and Andrea McHugh 91 Kevin Murphy 94 Patrick Murray '03 Ollie Murray 96 Patrick Murray 03 Peter Newberry 99 Jeff Nolan 03 Al and Gail Ofstehage Bho Olson 06 Justin Pagel '90 Jack Paul 07 Erik Peterson '06 Micheal Pilkington '75 Tom and Laurie Pohlad JD Pribble '07 Bryan and Jo Ellen Price Mike and Beth Prochno Andrew Prochno 10 Kyle Reagan '07 Corey Reagan '02 Thomas and Cindy Redmond Jason Ridge 06 Ridge Family Jake Rossman 10 Molly, Sam,Clara, Michaela, and Grace Rothstein Dan and Pam Ryan Steve Schottler '85 Steve and Shari Schult and family C. Martin Schuster Michael Schutt 04 Steven Schutt 07 Jeff and Pia Schutt Yale Smiley Scott Steinkamp 99 Jeff and Lori Teal The Singer Family Elizabeth Thompson Jon and Julie Thornberg Jake Thornberg 10 Drew Twaddle 04 Jeff Urban '85 Brian Urick 95 Vannelli Family Kurt Von Steinbergs 78 Al Wahlin Tyler Wenkus 98 Josh Winter 01 Jay Witta '87 Ian Wolff 04 John Woodburn 78 
Former Skippers Advance
To The Frozen Four Two Tonka Alumni will be skating next weekend in Tampa, Florida in the 2012 NCAA Frozen Four. Sam Coatta, a Skipper from 2005-2009 is a member of Union College who face off vs. Ferris State. Coatta is the 3rd all-time leading scorer in Minnetonka history totalling 60 goals and 75 assists over his four years as a varsity player. As a freshman for Union Sam has played in 39 games totaling 3 goals and 5 assists. Justin Holl, a member of the Skippers from 2007-2010 captained the 2010 state runner up team. Holl is Sophomore at the University of Minnesota who play top ranked Boston College in the semi finals. He has played in 42 games this year for the Gophers totaling 3 goals and 8 assists.  Sam Coatta (Union College) ranks 3rd in school history in career points  Justin Holl captained the Skippers to a State Runner Up Finish in 2010 ------------------------ Tonka Finishes Regular
Season 22-3 and Wins
Share of Lake Conference
Title
The Skippers took care of business this past week, although one would have thought the games against Eden Prairie and Buffalo would have been very different in terms of difficulty. Tonka disposed of a depleted Eden Prairie team 6-0 Thursday evening, and then beat a very determined Buffalo Bison team 3-2 in OT, on Saturday afternoon.
Missing several players, Eden Prairie was no match for the Skippers who came out with a different attitude against the Eagles on Thursday evening. Using a smothering defense and an aggressive forecheck the entire game, Tonka outshot Eden Prairie 47-11. Sam Rothstein continued his hot scoring streak, scoring the first goal midway through the first period. Sam then completed the hat trick as he scored the first two goals of the second period and Erik Baskin added a third goal to put the Skippers up 4-0 at the end of two periods. Tonka limited the Eagles to a total of nine shots on goal through the first two periods. Vinni Lettieri and Charlie Huminski completed the Skipper scoring and put the game into running time. Paul Ciaccio stopped all 11 shots for the win. With the shut out of Eden Prairie, Paul recorded his 4th shut out of the year and now has a record of 12-1.
Saturday afternoon, the Skippers ran into the "The Little Engine That Could" in the form of the Buffalo Bison. Entering the game with a record of 7-16-1, most of the Skipper faithful would not have given the Bison a realistic chance of leaving their building with a win. Someone forgot to Bison goalie Blake Schmidt of who they were playing, as Schmidt came up with save after save, stopping 51 of 54 shots. Had the game ended 28 seconds earlier than it did, the Bison would have had their biggest win of the year. Max Coatta scored the first Tonka goal, on the power play, with some nice passes coming from Vinni Lettieri and Sam Rothstein, but Buffalo scored the next two goals to take a 2-1 lead until late in the third period. With the Tonka goalie pulled, Sam Rothstein tied the score with seconds left in the game, and then got the game winner midway through the OT period. Matt Behounek recorded his 10th win of the season and raised his save percentage to .904. Matt is now 10-2 on the year with a GAA of 2.22. With a final record of 22-3, this year's Skippers squad tied the record for the most regular season wins in team history along with the 2008 and 2010 teams.
The Skippers open Section 6AA play Thursday evening at Pagel. We will host the winner of the Minneapolis vs Cooper game played earlier in the week.
--------------------------------
Skippers Improve To
20-3 with Wins Over
Hopkins and Wayzata
The #2AA Skippers had two games this past week, disposing of Hopkins 6-1 on Thursday evening, and then had a thrilling 4-3 OT win at Wayzata on Saturday afternoon.
Tonka wasted very little time in taking it to the Royals, as they raced out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first period, and outshooting Hopkins 23-1. The Skippers had their best balanced scoring of the year as all three lines contributed goals and six different players scored. Jack Ramsey, Sam Rothstein, Phil Katopodis, Max Coatta, Tommy Vannelli, and Jared Ridge all found the back of the net. The Skippers scored on two of four power play opportunities, and outshot the Royals by a wide margin of 48-19. Matt Behounek stopped 18 of 19 shots to record the win.
If anyone was looking for the best way to spend $7 on Saturday afternoon, it would have had to have been the Plymouth Ice Arena from 2:30-4:30pm. This rink has proven to be a very difficult arena to play in over the years, and this game was no different. The Tonka forwards were frustrated for most of the game, as the Wayzata defense blocked shot after shot. With Tonka on a power play in the first period, Vinni Lettieri scored with the assists going to Tommy Vannelli and Max Coatta. Even with Lettieri's goal, the Skippers found themselves down 3-1 after two periods, and were being outshot 18-13, the lowest shot total of any game this year, after two periods for the Skippers. With less than five left minutes left in the game, Erik Baskin stepped up in a big way bringing Tonka to within one goal on a great give and go with Connor Thie and Sam Rothstein. Tommy Vannelli tied the game very late in the period, and the air went out of the Plymouth Ice Arena. Midway through the OT period, Baskin continued his strong play and won the game, with a goal on Sam Rothstein's third straight assist and the Skippers stole a game to get their 20th win of the season. Paul Ciaccio stopped 19 of 22 shots and was especially tough in the first period when the Trojans outshot the Skippers 10-5.
Tonka has a huge game against the #6 Eden Prairie Eagles at the Pagel Center tonight, which will have significant section seeding implications, and then finishes up a very, very successful regular season at Buffalo on Saturday afternoon.
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Tonka Back In The Conference
Race With 5-4 OT Win
Over Edina
The #2AA Skippers had only one game this week and it was the rubber
game against the Edina Hornets at Braemar Ice Arena on Saturday night. Tonka beat Edina in the Schwan Cup Tournament 6-0 in late December, and the Hornets recently beat the Skippers 3-2 at Pagel a few weeks ago. Teams have had little success trying to skate with the Skippers this
year, and the last two games against Eden Prairie and Edina the coaches have tried a different defensive approach. The Hornets and Eagles used a neutral zone trap with some success, as they have forced the speedy Skippers to try to dump the puck as they clog the neutral zone with five skaters. The #5AA Hornets used every approach possible to slow down the
Skippers, but Sam Rothstein, Erik Baskin and Connor Thie were able to find the right formula against Edina, as this line scored four of the five Tonka goals. Erik Baskin gave Tonka an early lead in the first period, with the assists going to Connor Thie and Jimmy Schuldt. The game was very even with seven shots apiece as the first period ended 1-0 Tonka. Edina scored two quick goals early in the second period to take a 2-1
lead. However, a few minutes later Erik Baskin and Sam Rothstein made a number of passes down low, before Baskin made a highlight reel pass to Sam who put the puck in the back of the net to tie the game. The goal came when both teams were four on four due to major penalties. The second period ended 2-2, with shots favoring Edina by a slim margin of 18-17. Both teams had a number of scoring chances early in the third period,
but it was Connor Thie and Erik Baskin who worked the puck to Rothstein and Sam scored his second goal of the game. Michael Prochno put Tonka up by two goals with a wrist shot from the blue line that beat the Edina goalie on his glove side. Sam Rothstein slid the puck to Prochno to pick up the assist. As Edina has done in previous games, they came back to tie the game late in the third period to force overtime. The Skippers wasted little time in taking it to the Hornets in
overtime as Rothstein won the face off and after crossing the blue line, made a short pass to Prochno. Michael controlled the puck along the side boards and made a tape to tape pass back to Sam in the slot who found himself all alone and fired a hard wrist shot passed a stunned Hornet goalie. Rothstein ended the game with his first hat trick of his varsity career, and Baskin also had a big night contributing a goal and three assists. Statistically, the game was very even as Tonka outshot the Hornets 27-26, with the Skippers being called for three penalties, to the Hornets two penalties. Paul Ciaccio stopped 22 of 26 shots and came up big in the third period as the Hornets were forcing the play with their aggressive forechecking. The Skippers have two conference games this week as they host Hopkins
on Senior Night this Thursday at Pagel, and then travel to Wayzata for a Saturday afternoon game against the Trojans. ------------------------------------
 Phil Katopodis Puts Skippers Up 3-1 vs Top Ranked East The #2AA Skippers showed up, at least physically, on Thursday to play the #5AA Edina Hornets and went home on the losing end of a 3-2 score. Then, on Saturday afternoon in front of the largest crowd of the year, Tonka completely dismantled #1AA and previously undefeated Duluth East, by a score of 9-3. Thursday evening, the Pagel Center was packed once again for one of the great rivalries in hockey, Minnetonka vs Edina. The Skippers had beaten the Hornets by a score of 6-0 earlier in the year at the Xcel Center. From the very outset of this game however, it was the Hornets who had more jump in their step, more swagger and were playing together as a team. Edina used an aggressive forecheck, as they have in the past, to disrupt the passing lanes and wear down the Skippers in their defensive zone. Sam Rothstein got the Skippers first goal which came in the second period, and was assisted by Jack Ramsey and Erik Baskin. With Tonka down 2-1 late in the same period, Charlie Huminski crashed the net and was rewarded with his first varsity goal to tie the game. Charlie was assisted by Erik Baskin and Michael Prochno. Even though Tonka was outshooting the Hornets by a wide margin over the last two periods, the Skippers were not playing with the same intensity you would have expected against a team like Edina. Edina scored the winning goal midway through the final period to hand Tonka their second defeat of the season. Saturday afternoon was part of Hockey Day Minnesota and the largest crowd of the year saw a rematch of #1AA Duluth East and #2AA Minnetonka. Duluth East embarrassed the Skippers in the championship game at the Schwan's Cup Tournament in December. But, much to the credit of the players and coaches, the Skippers came out of the tunnel a very different team, and you could see the focus and intensity even in warm ups. Tonka played outstanding two way hockey, getting the puck in deep and had very few neutral zone turnovers. The Skippers scored early and often Saturday afternoon with Max Coatta scoring 4 goals, and most of them being one timers in front the Duluth East goaltender. Vinni Lettieri spent most of the afternoon doing the heavy lifting, as he assisted on most of Coatta's goals and also added a goal of his own in the third period. Tonka's first two lines completely dominated play the entire game and the large crowd witnessed some of the prettiest goals of season, goals which the Duluth East goaltenders had no chance of stopping. Erik Baskin and Sam Rothstein also had big games with Erik contributing 2 goals and an assist and Sam had a goal and 3 assists. One of the highlight goals was by Phil Katopodis, as he went around the Greyhound defenseman and scored glove side in the first period. Matt Behounek stopped 33 of 36 shots, with 2 of the goals coming on the Duluth East power play, which is one of the most potent in the state. Matt avenged his only loss of the season and is now 8-1 on the season. The Skippers schedule doesn't get any easier as they play host to the Wayzata Trojans on Thursday night, and then travel to Eden Prairie Saturday night. --------------------------- Senior Defenseman Joe Schuldt Commits To Michigan Tech  --------------------------- Former Skipper Jake Gardiner
Makes NHL Debut with
Maple Leafs
 --------------------------------------
Former Net Minder Jimmy Kruger Verbally Commits to Dartmouth  ---------------------------------------- Minnetonka Skipper Lettieri Commits to The Gophers 
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Over #1AA Duluth East
