Mounds View returns to Bethel for holiday tournaments

There are plenty of high school holiday tournaments to choose from every year but when a Mounds View High School team finds one to its liking, it tends to be very loyal. The Mustangs’ basketball and hockey teams return to familiar haunts for their holiday-break endeavors next week.

Mounds View’s boys basketball team is once again headed to Bethel University for a holiday tournament. The Mustangs have missed that event only once in the past 12 years. 

This is the seventh year that Bethel has put on two separate four-team tournaments. Up until 2009, the event was a three-day, eight-team tournament. 

Joining Mounds View at Bethel is Eagan, St. Francis and St. Louis Park. Eagan and St. Louis Park play in the first semifinal on Dec. 28 at 4:15 p.m. and Mounds View and St. Francis play right after that game.

The next day, the third-place game starts at 6 p.m. and is followed by the championship tilt at approximately 7:45 p.m. Mounds View has won the past two championships.

Mounds View’s lone hiatus from the Bethel tournament in recent years came in 2013, when the Mustangs played in a four-team event in Windom, the hometown of current Mustangs head coach Dave Leiser. 

The Mounds View girls basketball team is playing at Hill-Murray for the fourth consecutive year and has missed that tournament only three times in the past 10 seasons. The Mustangs enter game one looking to snap a five-game losing streak in the tournament. 

Mounds View plays the first game of the tournament on Dec. 28 at 3 p.m. against Mahtomedi. Also taking part are Henry Sibley, Wayzata, Forest Lake, Holy Angels, Park-Cottage Grove and the host Pioneers.

The tournament continues with four games on Dec. 29 and four more on Dec. 30. Game times for the second and third days of the tournament are 2 p.m., 3:45 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.

The boys hockey team is gearing up for its seventh consecutive appearance in the Schwan Cup, which is played mainly at the Super Rink in Blaine. For the fourth season in a row, the Mustangs are a part of the Silver Division, which this year includes Cretin-Derham Hall, Breck, Buffalo, Mahtomedi, Anoka, Bloomington Jefferson and St. Michael-Albertville.

Mounds View opens the tournament on Dec. 29 at 5 p.m. against Anoka. Game times for the first two days of the tournament are noon, 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Day three, on Dec. 31, has the seventh-place game at 2:30 p.m., the fifth-place final at 5 p.m. and the third-place game at 7:30 p.m. all at the Super Rink and the championship game at 3:30 p.m. at Ridder Arena.

The Mustangs last won a holiday tournament in 2012 when they went 3-0 in the Bronze Division of the Schwan Cup. By beating Forest Lake, Champlin Park and Orono, Mounds View was promoted to the Silver Division the following season.

The last time Mounds View did not appear in a Schwan Cup was 2009, when it spent the holiday break at a tournament in Hibbing.

For many years, the Mounds View girls hockey team played in a tournament hosted by Centennial High School but switched in current head coach Aaron Moberg’s second season behind the bench. After spending a few seasons as an assistant coach under uncle Dave Palmquist at South St. Paul, Moberg jumped at the chance to take the Mustangs to the Kaposia Classic tournament at Doug Woog/Wakota Arena.

This is the 21st year of the Kaposia Classic and the fourth year Mounds View has played in it. In their previous three trips, the Mustangs are 5-4 and have finished fourth (2013), second (2014) and fifth (2015).

Mounds View kicks off its tournament with a 3 p.m. tilt against Elk River/Zimmerman on Dec. 29. Game times are 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m. for all three days of the tournament, which runs through Dec. 31. Also in this season’s draw are Hill-Murray, Bloomington Jefferson, two-time defending champion Blake, Roseville, Hibbing/Chisholm and the host Packers.

Brian Meyers can be reached at bmeyers@lillienews.com or 651-748-7819. Follow him on Twitter @BMeyersNews.