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There are always lots of special moments and scenes when state championships are decided. And there are quieter moments that can be just as special and even more meaningful.

It would be easy to forgive New Life Academy boys basketball coach Robbie Whitney if he felt just a little bit intimidated when he looked at the coaching staff from Spring Grove before Friday’s Class 1A state semifinals at Target Center.

If there was a postgame theme to the Class 3A boys basketball semifinals, it centered around teammates and families.

Border West is a cooperative team that draws students from three schools near the South Dakota border: Wheaton, Herman-Norcross and Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley. The only appearances at state for any of those schools was Wheaton in 1919, 1920 and 1921.

Maybe the 13th consecutive trip to state was the magic number for Mountain Iron-Buhl. Because they climbed the last mountain on Saturday, defeating BOLD 52-21 at Williams Arena to finally, finally, finally have gold medals on blue ribbons placed around their championship necks.

Harley Roering suffered a torn ACL more than a month ago and didn't play until Friday's state semifinals. “She’s one of the toughest kids I've ever coached," said her coach. "Did you see that today? It was pretty cool.”

This school year has already been historic at Mountain Iron-Buhl, with the Rangers winning their first football state championship by taking the Nine-Man title last December at U.S. Bank Stadium. Two miles away, at the University of Minnesota, the MIB girls basketball team is hoping to bring home another state championship, which would be their first in that sport.

Coaches are busy people. Especially head coaches. And those who are head coaches in multiple sports are extremely busy. Dan Westby of Marshall High School takes it to another level.

The NFHS announced that Luke Klassen has been named the Spirit of Sport winner for Section 5, which consists of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

When the team that’s seeded third in the boys state hockey tournament looks at the bracket, the path seems pretty clear: Beat an unseeded opponent in the quarterfinals, get past the No. 2 seed in the semifinals and knock off the top seed for the championship.

The photo of two people shaking hands, an 88-yard-old man and a teenage boy, encompasses both the history of high school hockey in Minnesota and the reverence for the game’s stars.

There are no home games at the boys state hockey tournament, but the team from Cretin-Derham Hall treated Thursday’s Class 2A state quarterfinal as just that.