Anoka started early and finished strong to brush aside Blaine 14-5 and clinch its second straight Section 7 championship Wednesday night in Brooklyn Park.
 
It took less than two minutes for the top-seeded Tornadoes to strike and seize the lead for good when Ryan Madden netted a mid-range shot to kick things off. Anoka, ranked No. 12  in the coaches’ poll, scored three more times over the first five minutes, as the Tornadoes (13-1) danced their way through the section tournament with relative ease by averaging nearly 16 goals per game.
 
“We were just really, really clicking,” Anoka coach Brad Sundem said. “Blaine is a very good team, but our team has been peaking the last five or six games, and I think it is showing now. Hopefully, we can keep riding this.”
 
Seniors Luke Billehus and Chandler Foerster each finished with a hat trick to lead the Tornadoes’ offense, while Madden, Zach Weigman and Preston Olson each added two.
 
Anoka had outscored its opponents -- Duluth and Centennial -- 33-8 through the first two rounds and kept that offensive production flowing in the final, where they dispatched Blaine (13-5) for the second time this season, and second straight year in the section final.
 
“We found our groove late in the season,” Foerster said. “We are really feeding off of our fast break and transition. It’s all beginning to work together.

In the second half, Anoka took a four-goal lead and pushed it to nine as the Tornadoes' offense kept the pressure on.
 
Blaine was led in scoring by Ethan Schiebe and Connor Nadeau, who each finished with two scores.
 
Anoka will head back to the state tournament for the second consecutive June, though, this time the Tornadoes will expect more than their fifth-place finish a year ago.
 
“Last year, we didn’t have our best showing, and it feels like we’ve a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” Sundem said. “Our guys have earned it, now we just have to play.”

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