Junior forward Teddy Townsend, a Minnesota commit, leads Eden Prairie against Holy Family in a Section 2AA quarterfinal on Thursday. Photo by Loren Nelson, LegacyHockeyPhotography.com
Uninitiated fans itching for that first taste of high school hockey playoff hysteria would be wise to pick their spots. Carefully.
Many, many first-round and quarterfinal playoff games have all the excitement and intrigue of, say, a trip to the tax preparer. Unless blowout victories, complete with running-time clocks, happen to be your huckleberry.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t some games that have the potential to be gems of the highest quality. We’ve identified five this week that have all the ingredients of, dare we cliche, instant classics.