MSP Magazine knocks off TCO for championship

MSP Magazine won the Elite League playoff championship on Sunday with a 4-2 victory over Twin Cities Orthopedics. Photo by Mark Hvidsten, LegacyHockeyPhotography.com

Easton Cody (Centennial) stopped 42 shots and MSP Magazine scored three unanswered goals during parts of the second and third periods and held on for a 4-2 victory over Twin Cities Orthopedics on Sunday in the championship game of the Elite League playoffs at New Hope Ice Arena.


Max Anderson (Cretin-Derham Hall) had a goal and an assist and Christian Garrity (Rosemount) had two assists for No. 6 seed MSP Magazine (12-9-9) in its upset win over No. 1 seed Twin Cities Orthopedics (16-6-2).

The game was tied 1-1 midway through the second period when MSP Magazine got goals from Ethan Sturgis (Minnetonka) and Cole Braunshausen (St. Thomas Academy) to take a 3-1 lead into the third. 

Anderson scored on an assist from Garrity 1:18 into the final period to put MSP Magazine ahead 4-1. League scoring leader Brent Solomon (Champlin Park) pulled Twin Cities Orthopedics to within 4-2 with 5:54 remaining. Solomon scored 25 goals in the regular season, eclipsing the old mark of 23 set by Robby Dee (Breck) of Team Northwest in 2004, Chase Polacek (Holy Angels) of Team Southeast in 2006 and Kyle Kukkonen (Maple Grove) of Twin Cities Orthopedics in 2020 .

Cody made 30 saves in the second and third periods when Twin Cities Orthopedics held a 32-17 advantage in shots on goal.

MSP Magazine was the lower seed in all three of its playoff matchups, as it knocked off No. 3 seed MAP South 7-4 in the quarterfinals and No. 2 seed The Base 5-3 in the semifinals. MSP Magazine has played in four of the last five league championship games, also winning the title in 2021.