Duluth East Greyhounds Skate Past Grand Rapids 5-2 [PHOTOS]

AMSOIL Arena played host to both of the Section 7AA semifinal playoff games on Saturday, with Duluth East facing off against Grand Rapids to start the day, and Andover and Elk River doing battle later in the afternoon.

Tournament number four seed Grand Rapids struck early in the matchup against the top-seeded Greyhounds, with Avery Peterson netting the first goal of the game assisted by Ben Monley and Hunter Shepard just over two minutes into the game. From there, Duluth East's Maysen Rust and Jack Kolar each scored goals midway through the first period, making it 2-1 in favor of East going into the first intermission.

Phil Beaulieu's unassisted goal midway through the second period extended East's lead to 3-1, and was the only goal scored in the middle period. Three and a half minutes into the third period, Maysen Rust found the net for the second time, giving the Hounds a 4-1 advantage. Grand Rapids sophomore Alex Adams cut the Duluth East Lead to 2 after a goal midway through the period, but East senior Alex Trapp answered with a goal of his own late in the third period to give the Greyhounds the 5-2 win.

Duluth East will face Elk River in the Section 7AA Championship, following the Elks beating Andover 4-2 in the other game at AMSOIL Arena on Saturday. In their regular season matchup, Elk River beat Duluth East 3-2 at the Heritage Sports Center. The championship game will be played on Thursday (February 22) at 7:30 at AMSOIL Arena. The winner of the game will go on to represent Section 7AA in the State Tournament, which starts March 5.