Mankato Area Hockey Association
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Litchfield leads Scarlets into postseason
02/19/08
By Shane Frederick
Mankato West senior forward Ricky Litchfield finished the boys hockey regular season as the top point scorer in Minnesota. The Scarlets will open section tournament play Thursday night.
Minnesota is sometimes called the State of Hockey, and right now, Ricky Litchfield just might be its head of state.
The Mankato West senior forward ended the regular season as Minnesota’s top high school scorer with 89 points, edging Park Rapids-Menahga’s Zach Lehrke by one point.
“It’s a great feeling,” Litchfield said. “I never thought that I’d be at the top of that list.”
With 33 goals and 56 assists over 24 games, Litchfield led the Scarlets to a 22-2 record and the No. 2 seed in the Section 1A tournament, which begins this week.
His longtime linemate, Minnesota State University recruit Corey Leivermann, finished fifth in the scoring race with 39 goals and 32 assists for 71 points in 20 games.
Litchfield has been an offensive threat for the Scarlets since he led them with 27 goals and 41 points during his freshman year. But this year, coach Ken Essay said, he’s become a reliable two-way player. And better defensive effort, he said, has actually created more offensive opportunities.
“Obviously, people are going to talk about the numbers, and him being the state scoring leader,” Essay said. “But what they might miss is how much more complete a player he’s become compared to when he was a freshman. He plays both ends of the ice. He kills penalties. He plays on the power play.”
Litchfield, who has 96 goals and 216 points over his varsity career, said his improvement was motivated by a couple of different things.
One was his friend Leivermann’s commitment to play college hockey for the Mavericks.
“The last four years, me and Corey have been right with each other,” Litchfield said. “I don’t think I’m very far behind him at all.”
Litchfield had a five-goal, two-assist effort in the Scarlets’ regular-season finale against Rochester John Marshall Thursday to move eight points ahead of Lehrke, a Mr. Hockey finalist. The next night, Lehrke, who leads the state with 48 goals, scored seven points, and Litchfield eked out the scoring title.
Litchfield said he got a late-night text message from his coach, telling him the news.
“It’s amazing what a little bit of a dream, combined with a little bit of commitment can accomplish,” Essay said.
Litchfield’s other motivation was the way West’s season ended a year ago. The Scarlets were the second seed then, too, but were upset in the semifinals by New Ulm 5-2.
West has never gone to the state tournament.
Tag(s): Association News
