HERMANTOWN — It may be July to the rest of the world, but at Hermantown Arena it’s always hockey season.
Still it wasn’t the Hawks taking the ice Friday morning. Instead, it was Duluth East taking the ice as a cap to their summer training session, against Benilde-St. Margaret’s. The Red Knights got the better of the action Friday in a 6-1 win as part of the SummerFest hockey tournament, but it’s been a good month training at the Essentia Duluth Heritage Center for the Greyhounds, according to rising senior Nolan Nygaard.
“We’ve been working together every morning — and now and then in evenings — at the Heritage,” he said. “We’re just trying to build chemistry and work fluidly with each other, which we’re still working on, clearly.”
Duluth East’s Niko Mitchell slides the puck over to Tyler Klosowski during the Greyhounds’ SummerFest game against Benilde-St. Margaret’s Friday at Hermantown Arena.
Jamey Malcomb / Duluth Media Group
It’s no guarantee that summer work will truly translate because there’s no requirement for players to attend. Still, the summer workouts have been “well-attended by everybody,” coach Steve Pitoscia said.
Nygaard had a program-record 744 saves last season as East’s primary goaltender last season, but the Greyhounds stumbled to just four wins and his 32 saves per game ranked seventh among Class AA goalies in 2024-25. Nygaard was a bright spot, but he said the expectation is for the East to make a marked improvement across the board.
“We want to have a better season than last year, because, obviously, there’s a lot to get better at,” Nygaard said. “I’m just super excited after watching our guys practice and get better every day this summer.”
East has some “dynamic sophomores coming in” this season and last year’s handful of seniors were a great example for the younger players, according to Pitoscia.
“There was a lot of growth last year,” he said. “We only had four or five seniors and one of the great lessons learned was how important it was to keep the room together — to keep a positive culture in that room and support each other.”
Duluth East’s Brody Goldsworthy tries to keep the puck away from a Benilde-St. Margaret’s player during a summer game Friday at Hermantown Arena.
Jamey Malcomb / Duluth Media Group
It didn’t go the Greyhounds’ way Friday morning, but there were a whole weekend of games planned for the annual SummerFest hockey tournament at Aspirus St. Luke’s Sports and Event Center in Proctor and Hermantown Arena. The Greyhounds’ varsity squad still had games against Cambridge-Isanti and Monticello Saturday and Sunday, respectively, but all three games gave them something they’ve craved for much of the summer — outside competition.
“It was so exciting to see our full team out there together,” Nygaard said. “Instead of just competing against each other, we’re out there competing against other teams.”
Duluth East’s Fin Kuzmuk watches the action from the the bench during the Greyhounds’ SummerFest tournament game against Benilde-St. Margaret’s Friday at Hermantown Arena.
Jamey Malcomb / Duluth Media Group
The “summer’s been great,” Pitoscia said, for the Greyhounds. They’ve worked hard this season, but they’ve kept it fun and the weekend of scrimmages are a good way to break up otherwise endless workouts.
“They’ve started to develop some chemistry, but it’s nice to get a chance to play some games,” he said. “It’s a lot of practice in the summer, so it’s nice to go out there and do something a little different.”
Jamey Malcomb has a been high school sports reporter for the Duluth News Tribune since October 2021. He spent the previous six years covering news and sports for the Lake County News-Chronicle in Two Harbors and the Cloquet Pine Journal. He graduated from the George Washington University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in history and literature and also holds a master’s degree in secondary English education from George Mason University.