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Other than the final outcome of Cloquet winning, this year's Cloquet/Hermantown hockey battle was the complete opposite of the 2009-10 overtime game that the Lumberjacks came out on top of 3-2 defensive battle at home.
The Lumberjacks built a big lead, then held on to beat Hermantown 7-5 in Hermantown, February 3, 2011. Karson Kuhlman scored twice in the first period, sandwiching a Hawks Jared Thomas goal, and Nolan Meyer finished the 'Jacks first period scoring to take a 3-1 lead to the first intermission.
Beau Michaud and Adam Hanson scored 1:12 apart (7:38-8:50) to give the 'Jacks a 5-1 lead that stood until Brian LeBlanc scored at 14:01 of the 2nd. Nolan Meyer added a second goal, just 44 seconds after the LeBlanc goal to rebuild the 4 goal Lumberjack lead.
Hermantown opened the third period scoring early at 1:35, when Grant Sega made the game 6-3. Kuhlman completed his hat trick at 7:35 of the period making the score 7-3. The 'Hawks Garrett Skrbich scored two goals, 56 seconds apart, getting behind the Cloquet defense at 13:38 and 14:34 of the period. Hermantown pulled goaltender Connor Lucas with 2 minutes left but couldn't get any closer, as the 'Jacks held on to win 7-5. Lucas stopped 25 of 32 Lumberjack shots, while John Scheuer stopped 19 of 24 Hermantown shots for the win.
Beau Michaud gets the puck past Connor Lucas
Karson Kuhlman
