River Lakes boys drop opening playoff game, season ends

Parker Welz got the River Lakes Stars boys’ hockey team off to a strong start with a goal 2:17 into the first period of their opening round road playoff game versus the Little Falls Flyers. The team held this lead midway through the second period, but it was all Flyers after that.

Behind four unanswered goals, including three in the second period, the sixth-seeded Stars fell to the third-seeded Flyers 4-1 on Tuesday, Feb. 18, in the Section 5A quarterfinals from Little Falls on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

With 8:15 left in the second period, the Flyers’ Mason Oothoudt scored a goal to tie the game at 1-1. The Flyers’ Alex Thoma broke the tie on a goal with 3:36 left in the second period, later proving to be the game-winning goal.

One minute and one second later, the Flyers extended their lead to 3-1 with a Ryan Oothoudt goal, the score the Stars trailed by going into the final period.

Ryan Oothoudt scored his second goal of the game with 5:32 remaining in the game, providing for the final margin.

Welz finished with one point on the one goal, and Jaiken Mackedanz one point on one assist to lead the Stars.

In the playoff loss, Stars goalie William Robinson finished with a save percentage of 88% (30 of 34), according to numbers provided on The Minnesota Star Tribune Minnesota Boys’ Hockey Hub.

With the loss, the Stars finished the season 15-9-2. According to the team roster, the Stars program loses eight seniors to graduation: Walker Greeley, Jace Griffin, Carter Wood, Arthur Olson, Blake Schultz, Danny Mooney, Hawken Swanstrom, and Ethan Rossell.