Ice Hawks home for state

Like many other sports around the Treasure State, high school hockey is winding down. But, before it does, there's one big tournament left.

And, for the Havre Ice Hawks high school hockey team, that tournament is being held on home ice as the State B High School Hockey Tournament comes to Havre, and the Havre Ice Dome this weekend.

The Havre Ice Hawks, who have now finished their regular season, will play in the first game of the tournament Friday against Glasgow at 4 p.m. There are a total of four teams in attendance. The other two teams are Bozeman and Miles City, who will play each other Friday night at 7.

The way that tournament works is there is one pool of the four teams. Each team plays each other in a round-robin format and at the end of that, which comes Saturday, the two teams with the best record will play for the state championship, while the other two teams will play in a consolation game.

After the Ice Hawks take on Glasgow Friday, they will play Bozeman Saturday at 9:45 a.m., followed by a game later in the day against Miles City at 5:15 p.m. Glasgow will also play Miles City that morning at 8 a.m., as well as Bozeman Saturday night at 6:45.

The Ice Hawks will be led into action by head coach Barry Brownlee and features a roster that includes Ethan Roberts, Havre's leading scorers, as well as Captain Jeffrey Ralph, Nicholas Stump, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Clifford Lehnhardt, Cole Hanson, Kinzee Peterson, Donovan McLain, Bryce Denton, Noah Kirsch and Bayron Merker. Peterson is Havre's starting goalie and has had an excellent season between the pipes.

The Ice Hawks also should do well, especially at home. Havre has beaten Glasgow twice this season, including once just last weekend. The Ice Hawks also went 4-0 against Miles City, and 0-4 against Bozeman. So the tournament should be an exciting one.

The State B High School Hockey Tournament starts Friday and runs through Sunday at the Havre Ice Dome. The third-place game will be held at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, followed by the championship game, which is scheduled for 10:45 a.m. The Ice Hawks took second in the State B tournament a year ago in Miles City.