Nearly a decade after the Delano Tigers first surged onto the stage at the Minnesota State High School Boys Hockey Tournament, the current iteration of the West Metro program is back in a big way. And if their opening-round performance is any indication, this version of the Tigers might finally be the one to turn a decade of promise into a deep tournament run.

Delano has established itself as a perennial contender in Class A Boys High School Hockey. Their entry into the 2026 State Hockey Tournament is their fifth appearance, all of which have occurred in the past ten seasons. That said, Delano tends to be a step below the division’s top teams, failing to win a quarterfinal game in each of their first four appearances.

However, that is not the case for this year’s team. The second-seeded Tigers downed a pesky Mankato West team 6-2 on Wednesday night.

@_narz.media_ Lance Halonen rips and puts the Tigers on the board in the state tourney. #hockey #minnesota #delano ♬ original sound – _narz.media_

One of the state’s best forward lines paces the team. Seniors Brady Kangas (31 goals, 48 assists) and Daniel Halonen (41 goals, 33 assists), along with sophomore Lance Halonen (23 goals, 26 assists) produce at such a devastatingly proficient rate that it doesn’t seem to matter that only one other player on the team has more than five goals on the season (senior forward Brody Geislinger has 14).

Kangas and the Halonens, who are brothers, are also bolstered by a strong top four defensive corps, which features senior Connor Oja (4 goals, 23 assists) and junior Dylan Nelson (5 goals, 21 assists) on the top pair and sophomore Jackson Wollack (5 goals, 17 assists) and junior Bennet Halonen (4 goals, 12 assists) on the second pair. Bennett is Daniel and Lance’s cousin.

This might be the best Delano team since the 2016-17 season, when they made their first state tournament appearance, earning the top seed in Class A with a 24-3-1 record. That team featured two future NHL players in Ben Meyers and Brian Halonen, who is the older brother of Daniel and Lance. 

That team had a handful of other players who went on to play Division I college hockey (John Keranen, Andrew Kruse, and Garrett Pinoniemi) and also had another Halonen cousin (Gabe), along with a forward named Ross Oja (there are four other Halonens, plus two Ojas, that have competed on Delano’s other state tournament teams). 

The 2017 version was shocked in the first round by an upstart Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake team that took Hermantown all the way to overtime in the state championship game. However, the 2026 Tigers hit the ground running in their victory on Wednesday, and the top line was at the center of it all. Lance Halonen had six points (2 goals, 4 assists), Daniel Halonen had four points (2 goals and 2 assists), and Kangas chipped in a goal and two assists.

Regardless of their different tournament experiences, it’s still easy to recognize some similarities between the 2017 and 2026 Delano teams. The 2017 team had five players move on to Division I hockey and two future NHL players. Does the 2026 team have something similar in store?

Brian Halonen moved on from his starring role at Delano to become a four-year standout at Michigan Tech. After graduating from Michigan Tech, he signed a minor-league contract with the New Jersey Devils, where he’s since played 13 NHL games and 202 AHL games. Daniel Halonen will be following in his older brother’s footsteps. He has committed to Michigan Tech for the 2027-28 season.

As a prospect, Daniel profiles similarly to his older brother, who is a 6-foot, 207-pound power forward who uses his strength, skating, and hockey sense to bulldoze into scoring areas and plays a positionally sound game that makes him a top player for Utica in the AHL, and a reliable call-up option for New Jersey in the NHL.

Daniel is 5-foot-11 and has plenty of room to add to his frame. He’s a strong skater who gets powerful push and acceleration off a strong stride, and sees or creates passing lanes and open ice, which he then exploits. While he doesn’t have the same raw explosiveness that his brother showed at that age, he’ll have plenty of time to develop at Michigan Tech, which is a perennial contender in the underrated CCHA conference.

Lance Halonen might be the best forward prospect on the team, and the 5-foot-11 sophomore is on an absolute bender with a 16-game (and counting) point streak in which he’s produced 39 of his 49 points on the season. 

He has an upright skating style and a long stride that he uses to traverse the ice in a calculated, measured way, and he reads off his linemates extremely well and understands how to work in tandem with them to create plays. Lance also has a heavy shot that will almost certainly get heavier in the coming years. It would not be surprising to see his name on draft lists in a couple of years. Look for him to follow his brother to Michigan Tech as well.

Jackson Wollack, the 6-foot-2 sophomore defenseman, has a definite chance to land on those draft lists when the time comes. He looks like the player with the highest ceiling and is one worth watching throughout the tournament and in the coming seasons. He moves effortlessly around the ice and can navigate into space with a quick push in any direction. 

Jackson’s lateral movement is especially impressive. He doesn’t have to play a leading role in this deep defensive corps. Still, he has quality puck touches, and he uses his skating and size to snuff out plays before they can develop. He has already played two varsity seasons and is definitely on the radar of many NCAA schools.  

Brady Kangas is an excellent distributor and puck transporter, and it will be interesting to see how he develops beyond high school. His 5-foot-8 frame will be a limiting factor for some evaluators, but he looks like a player who can have an impact in the NAHL as soon as next season. If he succeeds there, perhaps he gets a look at higher junior leagues and/or college programs.

The same goes for Dylan Nelson, who is an excellent skater and a standout at this level. He’ll have another year of high school to develop and will likely be one of the top high school defenseman in the state next season.

No matter what the future holds, there’s no doubting the firepower that Delano has this season. Their practically unstoppable top line and mobile top four defensemen make them a legitimate title contender in Class A. Their next game will be on Friday against third-seeded Warroad, another top-heavy team with legit star power.

It will be yet another can’t-miss matchup in a tournament that promises to produce plenty of them.