White Bear Lake was an east metro power from 2013 to 2015. The Bears went undefeated in Suburban East Conference play, capturing three consecutive league titles, and they advanced to three straight state tournaments, where they won a title in 2015.
Since then, other programs have closed the gap as White Bear Lake posted back-to-back second-place finishes in the conference standings (behind Woodbury two years ago and Park of Cottage Grove last season) and failed to make the state tournament, with Tartan and Mahtomedi taking the last two titles.
Now there's another program ready to stake its claim as the beast of the east.
Stillwater has emerged this spring as a contender in what’s become arguably one of the state's deepest sections, and the Ponies could serve notice in the Suburban East Conference and Section 4 with a victory at White Bear Lake on May 7 in our Top Game of the Week.
The Ponies have lost their last four matchups against the Bears, but all have been tightly contested, with Stillwater losing each by no more than three goals. The teams haven't met in the postseason since 2013, but this could be the year that ends.
Last spring, the Bears defeated the Ponies 7-6 with the help of then-freshman Erick Bloom’s three-point outing.
Bloom (9-15-24) is back and enters the week second in the state with 15 assists — setting up fellow runners Kyle Preslaski (9-4-13) and Jace Goudreau (6-2-8) and stoking a potent offense. That scoring was on display as White Bear Lake (4-0, 1-0) recorded a 14-13 overtime victory over Lakeville South on April 27.
Stillwater has proven stalwart defensively, allowing only four goals per game in three wins this season. Luke Vandenbergh, starting his first season in net, has helped the Ponies (3-0, 2-0) tighten their defense and will look to remain stout against the Bears.