Congratulations to the Squirt B2 team for winning the 2020 Squirt Invitational Hockey Tournament

Congratulations to the Roseville Raiders Squirt B2 team for winning the 2020 Squirt International Hockey Tournament held February 13-16 in Fargo.

The boys were the only team to finish an undefeated 6-0 in the tournament while outscoring their opponents 36-10. 

The champions started off Friday by beating Sartell and Fort Garry North, 9-1 and 9-0, respectively. 

Then they played two very disciplined games Saturday by defeating Walker and East Grand Forks-Black, 7-2 and 4-2. (The EGF team had previously been undefeated and were ranked 2nd by the MN Youth Hockey Hub at the B1 level.) 

Sunday consisted of two games coming down to the final seconds. The Raiders fell behind 2-0 to a very skilled team from Langdon, ND (who had beaten the Bagley Flyers the day before who had themselves been ranked #4 in the MN B1 hockey poll). As the Raiders have all season, they came back and scored three unanswered goals through excellent passing, shooting, and skating. The Langdon team pulled their goalie and were on a 6 on 4 power play for the final minute of play, but the Raiders stood tall.

The championship game at the main Scheels Arena was against the Ames, Iowa Flyers. It saw the Raiders again fall to an early 3-0 deficit. But with great coaching adjustments and banding together like all good comrades do, the Raiders came roaring back to tie the game 3-3 early in the 3rd period. 

The Raiders goalie withstood a barrage of great scoring chances from the Ames team, but through two overtime periods, the score was still tied 3-3.

In the best-of-five shootout round, the Raiders once again rose to the occasion by netting 3 goals on 4 chances while the Ames team lit the lamp just 2 times in 5 chances.

The title game was videotaped by a professional film crew and remains available for internet streaming. It was the highest finish for any Roseville Raider Squirt team at the Fargo Squirtacular in recent history. 

The victory gives the Squirt B2 team a season record of 30-4 as they enter District 2 play as the #1 seed. As the District 2 tournament will be hosted by Roseville from February 27-March 1, come on out to watch some exciting hockey.

RAYHA wishes good luck to all teams entering the District 2 and other tournaments!