Hermantown Soars Past Spring Lake Park in 2015 State Quarterfinal [PHOTOS]

Hermantown opened their sixth straight trip to the Minnesota State Boys Hockey Tournament welcoming the Panthers of Spring Lake Park to their first ever appearance at the tournament.

Ryan Kero marked the first tally on the scoreboard for the night, with Nate Pionk following with two goals late in the period. The Hawks wouldn't look back from there. Pionk and Kero each went on to earn hat tricks, accounting for 6 of Hermantown's goals in the Class A quarterfinal shutout. Wyatt Aamodt and Ryan Sandelin also contributed to the scoring efforts of the night, rounding out Hermantown's 8-goal night.

Luke Olson and Cade McEwen each spent time between the pipes for the Hawks combining for 10 saves in the game. Olson covered the first two periods blocking 8 shots, while McEwen stopped another two. Offensively, Hermantown assaulted the Panthers net with 50 shots on goal.

Hermantown goes on to play St. Cloud Apollo at 1 pm on Friday in a Class A Semifinal at the Xcel Energy Center. Apollo won their way to the semifinal in a 1-0 overtime win over Breck late on opening night of the tournament. Apollo's win goes into the books as one of 5 games in the history of the tournament to end in overtime where only one goal was scored between the two teams.