East Grand Forks Boys Hockey Uses Last Season as Motivation to Get Back to State Tournament

GreenWave lost to Warroad last year in section tournament; beat them this year

EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. — East Grand Forks boys’ hockey makes their 13th appearance at the state tournament as Class A action begins Tuesday in St Paul. The Green Wave won a double OT thriller against Warroad in the section championship to return again after being there in 2019.

Despite winning six in a row and 7 of the last 10, it was a rocky start for the east side beginning the season 2-4 and not getting to .500 until game number 16.

Led by their depth, with three players having 17 plus goals, head coach Tyler Palmiscno says what’s ignited the spark as of late is the motivation of how last season ended.

“Going back to the end of last year and losing to Warroad. Getting beat in that last section final game has been on their mind since basically getting back to the rink after the defeat in 2020,” Palmiscno said. “Sometimes when you have that in the back of your mind its hard to give your best effort. Your best game throughout that process. Finally at the section tournament we started playing better because we know it was the culmination of that point of a long year plus of planning and working and striving from that one game.”

EGF plays Litchfield in the quarterfinals at 1 P.M. They’ll play the winner of the two seed Gentry and Northern Lakes. The semifinals are an early face-off on Friday at 11 A.M.