1997-1998 Hill-Murray Hockey


Section 3AA 2nd Place
Twin Cities Suburban East Champion
  • An overtime win over White Bear Lake in the final game of the regular season gave Hill-Murray another TCS East title, the school's seventh conference championship in a row. The Pioneers rallied down 4-2 in the third period, with four-year defenseman Zach Scribner scoring the tying goal and another four-year defenseman, David Graham, scoring the winner.
  • Hill-Murray tied Elk River 5-5 after being down 5-1 in the third period at Elk River Arena, a place that was nearly impossible for visiting teams to win during the 1990s.
  • Former assistant coach Bill Lechner returned to Hill-Murray, this time as head coach, after a stint at Stillwater.
  • Nine losses were the most by a Hill-Murray team since 1968. However, the team had to replace its top three forward lines, an all-state defenseman, and starting goalie for half the season, and faced perhaps the toughest schedule in the state, going 3-6 against teams that reached the state tournament.
  • Hill-Murray returned to the Edina Holiday Classic, now a four team round-robin tournament at Braemar Arena, which was moved after suffering declining crowds at the St. Paul Civic Center. There, the Pioneers lost to state powerhouse Jefferson, a game in which Hill-Murray had two would-be tying goals nullified in the final minute of the game.
  • This was the only season that Forest Lake seriously challenged for the conference title. Hill-Murray ended their contention with a 6-5 overtime win at Forest Lake.
  • Eight players on the roster went on to play Division 1 hockey.

DateOpponentScoreLocation
12/4Edina4-2WAldrich
12/6Duluth East0-3LAldrich
12/13Stillwater5-2WAldrich
12/18White Bear Lake2-1W (OT)Aldrich
12/20Roseville2-7LRoseville Arena
12/29Edina1-2LBraemar Arena
12/30Bloomington Jefferson3-4LBraemar Arena
12/31Moorhead5-0WBraemar Arena
1/3Maple Grove*6-3WMaple Grove Arena
1/8Coon Rapids*4-0WColiseum
1/10Osseo*2-2T (OT)Aldrich
1/15Park Center*4-5LBrooklyn Park Arena
1/17Stillwater*5-2WAldrich
1/22Elk River*5-5T (OT)Elk River Arena
1/24Champlin Park*8-0WChamplin Arena
1/29Mounds View*9-1WAldrich
1/31Roseville*3-4LColiseum
2/3Bloomington Jefferson4-5LBIG (Bloomington)
2/5Forest Lake*6-5W (OT)Forest Lake Arena
2/7Blaine*5-2WAldrich
2/12Anoka*0-3LAnoka Arena
2/14White Bear Lake*5-4W (OT)Aldrich
.
Section 3AA Playoffs
2/19Woodbury8-4WAldrich
2/24Tartan6-4WColiseum
2/27White Bear Lake1-4LColiseum

Final Record 14-9-2



Varsity Roster


Coach: Bill Lechner
Assistant: Dave Schwartz

No.NamePos.GradeHeightWeight
Landon FranzmeierG9
6Troy MaherG125' 10" 170
7Steve CzechD105' 11" 180
8Rob StoyF125' 11" 170
9Kyle HolzingerF95' 10" 145
10Christian TollF105' 11" 160
12Josh SingerD116' 0" 185
14Dave KlosnerD125' 9" 155
15Mike EngstromF115' 10" 195
16David Graham (C)D126' 0" 180
17Cole BassettF105' 11" 165
18Adam NelsonF115' 10" 175
19Bobby AhmannF106' 0" 180
20Brad HolzingerD115' 11" 190
21Jason Carey (C)G125' 9" 170
22Scott SavreF116' 0" 185
24Matt KoalskaF115' 10" 170
25Derek LarsonF116' 2" 210
26Zach Scribner (C)D125' 11" 180
27Joe ShillingsF125' 9" 165
28Dan MillerF116' 2" 180

Pioneer Press All-state honorable mention: David Graham, Zach Scribner

Copyright 1999-2024 hmpioneers.net

.