Apr. 22—Sophia Buesking, Daisy Harens and Faith Humphrey have been on three section championship teams. They have all played in multiple state tournaments and helped the Dodge County girls hockey team win its first state championship in February of 2025.
The trio of Wildcats are now also among more than 50 local girls or boys hockey players who have a chance this spring to show that they are among the best in the state.
Buesking, Harens and Humphrey all played so well at last weekend's Minnesota Hockey High Performance spring festivals that they have been invited to return this weekend for the HP Final 68 Tournaments.
From this weekend's play, the top players in the state at different age groups will be selected to participate in USA Hockey national development camps this summer.
Humphrey, a goalie, and Buesking, a defender, will compete in the High Performance 17s Final 68, while Harens has been invited to the HP16s Final 68.
The Final 68 tournaments involve 68 players, divided into four teams of 17. The HP17s tournament includes the top 68 players in the state with 2009 birth dates, and the HP16s features the top players with 2010 birth dates.
Players were selected for the Final 68 tournaments after last weekend's Spring Festivals, which featured all-star teams from each of the eight Minnesota State High School League sections in Minnesota.
* Eight local players competed in the HP17s Spring Festival: Rochester Mayo's Olivia Dahl, and seven Dodge County players — Humphrey, Buesking, Josie Fulton, Maysie Koch, Bryn Spreiter, Taryn Wernecke and Grace Roethler.
Humphrey played in two games and stopped 25 of 27 shots, posting a 1.33 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. Buesking also played regular shifts in all three games for the Section 1 team, after a junior season in which she had 4 goals and 13 assists for the Wildcats.
Dahl, who had 8-13—21 this season for Mayo, had one goal in three games at last weekend's Festival. Dahl was the Spartans' second-leading scorer in 2025-26 and tied for the team lead with two short-handed goals.
Spreiter had a goal and two assists in the Festival; Koch, a University of St. Thomas commit, had a goal and an assist; and Roethler scored one goal.
* Five local players were in the HP16 Spring Festival: Harens and forward Nora Smith from Dodge County, forward Kennedy Stewart from Century/John Marshall, forward Peyton Nelson from Red Wing and defender Anna Raymond of Winona. Harens had one assist in three games, Stewart had one goal, and Raymond scored one goal.
* The Girls High Performance 14s and 15s Spring Festivals are set for this weekend in Duluth and South St. Paul, respectively. The top 102 players in the HP15 Festival will be offered a spot in the Minnesota Hockey HP Summer Festival at St. Olaf College, June 9-14. The top players at that camp will be selected for the USA Hockey National Development Camp, set for July 17-24 in Oxford, Ohio.
Five Dodge County players, one from Rochester and one from Austin will play at this weekend's HP15s Spring Festival: forward Lily Dehnavifar from Rochester; forward Sawyer Loucks from Austin; and defenders Maisy Fulton and Briley Stanich, goalie Rylee Tiefenbach, and forwards Maren Hodgman and Kaylee Mortland of Dodge County.
The top 120 players from this weekend's HP14s Spring Festival in Duluth will be invited to the Minnesota Hockey HP Development Camp at St. Olaf College, June 15-19. Local players in the HP14s Spring Festival are: Rochester's Kendall Hill, Madeline Pittelkow, Riley Raseman, Ainsley Sather, Violet Smith, and Charlotte Wiesner; Austin's Aubrey Green; and Dodge County's Maysen Fordham, Parker Fordham, Paycen Hodgman and Taytum Wernecke.
* Three local high school seniors competed for the Sections 1&3 team at last weekend's Ted Brill Great 8 Tournament, which puts a spotlight on players whose high school eligibility is up, as well as older players who will be seniors next fall.
Lourdes senior defenseman Owen Barclay had two assists across four games at the tournament held at Doug Woog Arena in South St. Paul last weekend. Lourdes senior forward Owen Hoehn — the Eagles leading scorer in 2025-26 — had a goal and an assist in the tournament, and Dodge County's Gabe Coshenet, who had a 64-point season for the Wildcats, had three assists in four games.
* In the Boys High Performance 16 Spring Festival (for the state's top players with 2010 birth dates), Winona's Andrew Killian, Red Wing's Brody Peterson, and Rochester native Ace Laack — who played this past season for the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Power AAA program — respresented southeastern Minnesota. Laack had one goal over three Festival games and was invited to the next phase of the HP16 program, this weekend's Minnesota Hockey Final 68 Festival. Select players from that tournament will be invited to the USA Hockey 16s National Development Camp in Amherst, N.Y., from June 25-July 1.
* The Boys HP14 and HP15 Spring Festivals are scheduled for this weekend in Duluth and Plymouth, respectively.
Local players in the HP15 Festival include Parker Ashton, Warren Hangge, Cameron Masters and Griffyn Young of Rochester; Nolan Steele of Dodge County and David Duarte from Austin. Steele has one year of varsity experience under his belt, and it was a tremendous rookie season for the Wildcats' young star, who had 19 goals and 29 assists, for 48 points, for the Section 1-1A champions. The top 102 players from the HP15 Spring Festival will be invited to the Minnesota Hockey HP15 Development Camp at the University of St. Thomas, June 9-14.