If you were asked to name a few of the hockey hotbeds in Minnesota, your mind is going to take you to the usual suspects.
Up north there’s Warroad, Roseau, Eveleth, International Falls, Hermantown.
In the metro there’s St. Paul and Edina.
Come a little further south and of course there’s Sherburn and Heron Lake. Wait, what?
A native of each of those communities was the winning goaltender in a Division I college men’s hockey game and next Friday and Saturday their teams will face each other.
The teams play at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday.
Musser
Sherburn native Carsen Musser was in goal for Colorado College in its 3-2 overtime win over No. 3 Western Michigan and Heron Lake’s Hobie Hedquist was between the pipes as No. 16 North Dakota was a 6-2 winner at St. Cloud State.
A freshman at CC, Musser made his third start and claimed his second win for the Tigers. His first win came last weekend at No. 11 Arizona State.
If you’re not familiar with his route to Division I hockey, Musser was a member of the U.S. National Developmental U17 and U18 teams and played in two games for the gold-medal winning Team USA at the 2023 IIHF Under-18 World Championship.
He was selected by Madison with the No. 17 pick in the 2023 USHL Draft and played last season with the Capitols. Musser was selected in the sixth round (pick 166) by the Arizona Coyotes (now Utah Hockey Club) in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Saturday in Colorado Springs, Musser finished with 34 saves in the win over the Broncos. He made nine saves in the first period, 10 in the second, 11 in the third and four in the overtime, which lasted 3:18.
There was an important stretch at the end of the second period and start of the third for CC when it received a five-minute major at a time the game was tied 1-1. Western scored only 13 seconds into the penalty but Musser and the Tigers held the Broncos without another goal the rest of the way.
After a pair of wins, could Musser be in line for more starts, beginning when the Tigers visit Grand Forks?
"I don't know. We'll figure that out,” CC coach Kris Mayotte told the Colorado Springs Gazette. “(Musser) played really well and I think we'll continue to evaluate and continue to play the guys that we think give us the best chance to win."
For the season, Musser has played in seven games, starting three and has a 2-1 record. In 207:22 he has a goals against average of 2.89 and save percentage of .921.
Colorado College is 13-12-1 overall, 7-8-1 in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
Musser’s counterpart in goal Saturday was Warroad’s Hampton Slukynsky. They were briefly teammates with the NTDP in 2023 as Slukynsky joined the squad after leading Warroad to the championship game of the state Class A tournament.
Hedquist
Playing in his eighth game of the season in St. Cloud, Heron Lake native Hedquist made a career-high 33 saves, although the load didn’t feel as heavy as it sounds.
"I thought our team did a really good job blocking shots," Hedquist told the Grand Forks Herald. "I thought we had a lot of big blocks at big points. It might have been a lot of shots on net, but I thought we kept a lot of the high-danger ones away with blocks on the penalty kill and good sticks on pucks on rushes. I thought we played a really good defensive game."
By period, he made 8, 12 and 13 saves.
Hedquist was asked if the win helps his confidence.
"My confidence? I'm just happy we won," Hedquist said. "That's all it's about at this point."
The Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud has an Olympic-sized ice sheet, which is 15 feet wide than an NHL rink. It was the first time Hedquist played on an Olympic rink in his college career.
"It's definitely different," Hedquist said. "It was nice having (an Olympic rink) at The Ralph. Having that other rink, that was big for us, just getting used to the angles and different things. But it's definitely a different game than the NHL rink."
According to the Herald, Hedquist's best moment came when North Dakota had to kill off a 5-on-3 for 1:37 to start the third period. He made seven saves in that time.
UND is 13-10-1 overall, 8-5-1 in the NCHC with the Tigers coming to Ralph Engelstad Arena next weekend.
"We're searching right now for some consistency and putting some wins together,” Fighting Hawks coach Brad Berry commented. “We had a lot of different guys in the lineup this weekend. We're going to give Hobie a piece of it. He stepped forward tonight. You need goaltenders to make saves at key times and he did."
Hedquist is 3-3 this season. In 423:37 his goals against average is 2.41 and his save percentage is .911.
He is a sophomore at UND. Prior to joining the Fighting Hawks he spent two seasons with Alberni Valley in the British Columbia Hockey League, where he is the franchise's all-time leader in games played (83) and wins (54).