Literally.

The 91st all-time meeting between these northeast metro schools, separated by just five miles, had another unforgettable chapter written, and not just because this edition was played outside. In a series that has featured countless dramatics and unforgettable endings, this one will go down in the history books forever.

Trailing by a goal in the final minute, the Pioneers used some early celebratory fireworks as motivation to find the tying goal with 46 seconds remaining in regulation before winning 2:06 into the extra session.

Brady Ingebritson is mobbed by teammates celebrating his game winner. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Both goals were scored by senior captain Brady Ingebritson, who celebrated his tying and winning exploits by leaping into the glass in front of a jubilant — and stunned — Pioneer student section.

“I’ll be talking about this the rest of my life,” Ingebritson said. “OT, Hockey Day, against White Bear Lake. This is just a dream come true.

“And I love the fireworks.”

Moments before the goal, Hill-Murray coach Bill Lechner called timeout to gather his troops ahead of an offensive zone faceoff and to pull his goalie for the extra attacker. 

Then, rather inexplicably, a fireworks display reminiscent of Fourth of July grand finale, began going off along the near horizon about 200 yards from the ice sheet. 

Did someone hit the button too early? Was there confusion with the horn signifying the end of the timeout? 

Regardless of what happened, it’s set in motion a series of events that will live in infamy in these parts for years. 

With smoke from the display settling in, and fireworks still going off in the distance, officials dropped the puck to resume play in the White Bear Lake defensive zone. Forced into a front-row viewing of the pyrotechnics was Bears sophomore goaltender Leo Gabriel, who corralled a first shot, but couldn’t contain a second, with Ingebritson whipping the puck through the haze and into the cage.

“The fireworks, that got my energy up,” Ingebritson said. “I got together with the guys and said, ‘look at this, they’re already celebrating the win.’

“Our energy was going. The fireworks were great, that helped us.”

It’s not often Lechner, the legendary 69-year-old head coach of the Pioneers, sees something new at a hockey rink. But this certainly qualified.

“We always talk about, ‘play between the glass,’ if we’re focused, they don’t know if they’re playing in front of 10 people or 10,000,” Lechner said. “It’s easier said than done, especially with kids. They’re not pros.”

It’s a consistent message that Lechner preaches, regardless of the setting, the opponent or the time of game, and in this case, that calm paid off.

When things got wild at the end, Hill-Murray looked calm and composed in a setting that was anything but.

“It’s easy to say when you win that you have the perfect formula,” Lechner said. “It’s a little bit early to have everything falling into place, and we still don’t have all the pieces, but we’ll get some guys back and we’ll get closer.”

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Edina survives Eden Prairie onslaught for OT win and 10th state title

St. Paul — Peter Colby finished his 2018-19 season with just nine goals but the Edina senior sure knows how to celebrate. It helps when you have a role model in that regard.

“Patrick Kane’s my favorite player and he does a heartbreaker so I kind of like that,” Colby said as his coach Curt Giles shook his head in disgust.

Colby scored his team’s Class 2A state-tournament-winning goal 2:31 into overtime to lift the Hornets to a 3-2 win over Eden Prairie on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center. As soon as the puck hit the back of the net, Colby did a 180-degree turn and raced toward the other end of the rink, dropping to his knees at the far blue line and sliding to the end boards where his teammates greeted him.

Giles, who scored 43 goals in 14 NHL seasons with the Minnesota North Stars, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues, was asked what his go-to celebration was.

“I didn’t score enough goals to celebrate,” Giles said, eliciting laughter from the media on hand. “My biggest thing was to get back on the line so, yeah, I don’t know if I ever thought about a celebration.

“You guys think this job’s easy don’t you.”

Nothing was easy about Edina’s 1oth state championship — 13th if you count Edina East’s three titles — as the Hornets struggled against the Eagles for two-plus periods before goals by Kevin Delaney and Colby 22 seconds apart transformed a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead just short of the six-minute mark of the third period.

The goals were scored on Edina’s 12th and 13th shots of the night after Eden Prairie smothered the Hornets for two periods to the tune of a 26-7 shot advantage, including surrendering just two Edina shots in the second.

“The biggest thing was the first two periods we were flat,” Giles said. “We didn’t have a lot of get up and go, we kind of sat back a little bit and let Eden Prairie take it to us. Eden Prairie’s way too good of a team to do that. It set us back in our heels and we had to depend on our goaltender to keep us in the game.”

Edina sophomore goaltender Louden Hogg was spectacular in the crease for the Hornets, making save after save to preserve the one-goal deficit long enough for his teammates to mount a comeback.

“Going into it, you know, it was a team that we played against and we have given them a much of a run because they don’t have any holes in their lineup,” Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith said. “But our kids really played with courage and heart tonight.”

Eden Prairie, which had dropped three games to Edina already this season by lopsided scores, employed an aggressive, in-your-face game plan rather than sit back and wait patiently for opportunities.

“Well we tried that and that was pretty much a disaster,” Smith said. “So our best plan was to go with how we finished the season which was aggressive all over the rink.”

Trailing 2-1 near the midway point of the third period, the Eagles got the equalizer when senior defenseman Clayton Schultz pounced on a loose puck in the Edina crease and buried his second goal of the season and second of the tournament.

“I pictured this coming as a kid, playing in front of this many people, and for it to actually happen is pretty surreal,” Schultz said.

Colby went into overtime with confidence thanks to a voice in his head which turned out to be prophetic.

“Our manager (Student Manager Jack Goetzmann) in the locker room going into the third he told me, he said, “You’re going to be the one,’” Colby said

Photo Gallery by Rick Olson for Minnesota Hockey Magazine and Tim Kolehmainen of Breakdown Sports USA. Follow Rick on Twitter at @rickolson77.  and follow Tim on Twitter at@BreakdownUSA. 

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Hornets ride momentum gained from big first period into title game

St. Paul — After a one-year absence from the state tournament, the Edina Hornets are making the most of their return with yet another championship game appearance after a 6-3 Class 2A semifinal win over St. Thomas Academy.

The Hornets blitzed the Cadets to the tune of a 17-1 first-period shot edge and a flurry of three goals in a span of 4:55 late in the period. Brett Chorske, Liam Malmquist and Jett Jungels all tallied in the opening frame to spark the Hornets. 

“The biggest thing is momentum continues on,” Giles said. “They’re a really good hockey team so we needed to get a jump on them.”

Malmquist would finish with a hat trick while Jungels would score again and Chorske added an assist.

St. Thomas Academy co-coach Greg Vannelli, who along with his brother and fellow co-coach Tom was coaching his final game behind the Cadets’ bench, was at a loss to explain his team’s slow start.

“I have no idea why we came out that way,” Vannelli said. “Haven’t had it all year to have a period like that so I can’t explain it. I’m glad it changed, I’m glad we finished strong. That was more of the team we are used to. I guess it sports where sometimes that happens.”

Luke Herzog got STA on the board 1:12 into the second to make it 3-1 but Jungels restored Edina’s three-goal cushion four minutes later. Each time the Cadets would cut the lead to two, the Hornets responded.

“When you go down 3-0 any team is going to respond hard,” Chorske said. “I thought we prepared for that well and matched that. When they scored, we’d come right back so we knew there was going to be a push but I thought we handled it well.”

Rob Christy’s goal early in the third period was answered 27 seconds later by Malmquist before Carter Henry made it a 5-3 game with 9:14 left in regulation. The Cadets pressed but Malmquist completed his hat trick into an empty net with nine seconds to play.

“They’re a very skilled team and if you just try to play skill-on-skill it’s not going to work out very well,” Vannelli said. “You’ve got to get back to some basic hockey, finishing checks and things like that and I thought we did a little better job of that into those last two periods.”

Officially, the Hornets are seeking their 10th state title in their 28th appearance, but if Edina East’s three championships in five trips ar included, it’s 13th in 33 appearances. Edina will attempt that feat against No. 3 Eden Prairie which eliminated No. 2 Blaine 4-3 earlier in the evening. The Hornets defeated the Eagles three times in the regular season by 6-1, 5-2 and 7-2 scores.

“Eden Prairie’s got a different team than when we saw them last,” Giles said. “They’ve really come together very, very well at the end of the season, through their section playoffs and then into the state tournament.

“It won’t be hard to get jacked up for Eden Prairie. These kids have been playing against Eden Prairie kids since they could skate so this will be a great game and Lee’s got his team playing extremely well.”

 Photo Gallery by Tim Kolehmainen of Breakdown Sports USA for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Tim on Twitter at @BreakdownUSA.

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Eden Prairie depth aids in recovery from early deficit to Blaine 

St. Paul — A little more than 24 hours after a triple overtime thriller against Lakeville South No. 3 Eden Prairie was rewarded with a semifinal meeting with a well-rested, hungry Blaine team with a formidable top line featuring Mr. Hockey finalist Bryce Brodzinski, Carsen Richels and Cole Hansen. When Hansen had the No. 2 Bengals up 2-0 less than 10 minutes in it had the look of a long night for the Eagles when they headed to the dressing room trailing by two.

Looks can be deceiving, however, as Eden Prairie exploded for four second-period goals — three of them on the power play — and withstood a late Blaine rally to advance to its first Class 2A championship game since the 2016 season.

“Actually I thought we played a really good period and we didn’t get rewarded at all for it,” Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith said. “So my biggest concern was just to make sure we’d have the energy and make sure they were ready to go because we were not out of this game yet and the guys, they responded together.”

Keegan Langfels ignited the comeback with a power-play goal at the 6:08 mark and the game was tied 25 seconds later on a goal by Smith’s son, Garrett, who had to get creative to score his fifth goal of the season face down at the right edge of the crease.

“I tapped it first and I knew it wasn’t going to get all the way in,” Garrett said. “I got a jab from the guy behind me so I kind of used that to my advantage and kind of used the shaft of my stick and maneuvered that in the net somehow.”

With Eden Prairie up 3-2 late in the period on a Luke Mittelstadt power-play goal, Brodzinski was called for cross-checking and it was the Eagles’ second power play unit which made the Bengals pay when Carson Jones scored his second of the year just 21 seconds later.

“We put our second power play out there, who are a bunch of tremendous hockey players, and they scored a goal,” Lee Smith said. “It was a great effort and made it 4-2 but we never really felt confident going into the third but we played a really good third period. For having to battle the way we did yesterday, we played so well tonight.”

Richels closed the gap to one at the 14:21 mark of the the third but Blaine had trouble establishing itself in the Eden Prairie zone after that. Richels added an assist and Brodzinski had primary assists on all three goals but the Bengals could not match Eden Prairie’s secondary scoring on a night when its top scorer, Jack Jensen, was held off the score sheet. 

“We also got a couple of shifts out of our fourth line in the first period and they drew a penalty late in the period which helped us because it turned into a 5-on-3.”

 Photo Gallery by Rick Olson for Minnesota Hockey Magazine and Tim Kolehmainen of Breakdown Sports USA. Follow Rick on Twitter at @rickolson77.  and follow Tim on Twitter at @BreakdownUSA. 

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Moorhead pushes high-powered Hornets to the brink

St. Paul — Very little surprises Edina coach Curt Giles, perhaps nothing does, and despite annually standing behind one of the state’s best rosters night-in-and-night-out, he’ll never underestimate an opponent. So when his No. 1 Hornets jumped out to a two-goal first period lead over unseeded Moorhead, the game played out how he imagined it would.

“We knew they weren’t going to be done,” Giles said. “They’ve got a lot of character, they really do, and we knew that. When the seeding went through and we saw that we had Moorhead we knew we had our hands full this first game.”

After the teams traded second-period goals, Moorhead’s Nolan Westra scored his 22nd goal of the season with 3:07 left in regulation and the Spuds kept on pressing for the equalizer until Edina’s Kevin Delaney scored into an empty net with 30 seconds left to secure a 4-2 win to advance the Hornets to Friday’s Class 2A semifinals.

“There’s things that broke down in a couple of areas that you don’t like but I thought overall the kids played very well,” Giles said of his team. “We knew this was a tough matchup. We saw them earlier in the season and we knew they were good. They’ve got some guys that can finish and they’re physical, their goaltender plays extremely well so we knew it was going to be a heckuva hockey game.”

Moorhead coach Jon Ammerman said his team demonstrated it belonged among the state’s elite.

“We have such a fun team to be around and a team that … maybe hasn’t gotten the credit that they deserve,” Ammerman said. “They deserve to be here and I think they proved that tonight. It was just a little too late.” 

Ammerman admitted the first period script was not how he’d have written it with Edina’s Jett Jungels scoring 53 seconds in and Mason Nevers adding a power-play goal on one of Edina’s three opportunities. But he was pleased with the fact that Moorhead limited Edina’s potent power play (31.5 percent on the season entering the tournament) to that lone goal on five chances with the man advantage.

“They’re extremely dynamic and with that many guys on the ice that are pretty puck-savvy with one extra person you have to game plan. What we saw is they try to get the puck to [Nevers] as much as they could … so what we tried to do is shut that down. Ultimately, he’s the guy that scored the goal.”

Giles said he knew the longer Edina let the Spuds hang around without capitalizing on its power plays it could spur trouble down the stretch.

“They shut the passing lanes off very, very well,” Giles said. “They collapsed the box down tight and what we’ve got to work on a little bit more is getting them to expand that box a little bit.”

But Giles added there is a momentum benefit to be gained from playing a man up even if the team doesn’t score and he’d get no argument from Ammerman on that point.

“Giving a team that skilled that many opportunities with the man advantage in a one-and-done situation isn’t going to be to your advantage,” Ammerman said. “Despite that, with a minute left in the game, we had a chance.”

 Photo Gallery by Jonny Watkins for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Jonny on Twitter at @jwatkinsphotog.

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It had been eight years since the last time a game had gone to triple overtime at the state tournament.

Despite blowing a two-goal lead, the Eden Prairie Eagles finished the job with 57 seconds to spare in the third overtime period when Jack Jensen netted the game winner sealing the 3-2 victory.

“We were all exhausted,” said Jensen. “And it was who’s going to get the bounce here? And I saw John in the corner and no one was really on me and I’m like he might pass it here. Just dish it and I got to bury this and luckily it went in far side. I didn’t know what to do at the moment and I was just in shock.”

Thank goodness the game finished too because due to MSHSL rules, if no one had scored in the third sudden-death overtime, the game would’ve been suspended and resumed at 8 AM the next day to accommodate the next session of games. 

Eagles Head coach Lee Smith threw together the line that scored the game-winning goal when the Eagles sealed it.

“Couple times this year, I’ve put together the line of Mittelstadt, Jack (Jensen) and Rudrud,” said Smith. “It was the right time to try it with a minute left. Because if we didn’t score there, it was going to be coming back tomorrow. I figured we had to use all the weapons we could right there.”

The Eagles poured on 66 shots on net and Lakeville South goaltender Henry Welsch stood on his head making 63 saves which was two off from a tournament record, set in 1996 by Apple Valley goalie Karl Goehring.

“Just taking one shot at a time,” said Welsch on his performance. “We each got our own and they ended up score.”

Lakeville head coach Janne Kivihalme was extremely proud of his team’s performance.

“I’m extremely proud of the entire team,” said Kivihalme “And how hard they competed. I think our team defended really well. There was a lot of shots that kept them outside. So our guys were coming back and defending well.”

With the win, Eden Prairie moves onto face theBlaine Bengals in the semifinal round.

Photo Gallery by Jonny Watkins for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Jonny on Twitter at @jwatkinsphotog.

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After a historic season for the Minnetonka Skippers, the team reached its ultimate goal of capturing their first state championship with a 5-2 win over the Duluth East Greyhounds in Class AA.

A fast start and a fortunate bounce helped the Skippers hold off the Greyhounds despite Duluth East outshooting Minnetonka 23-14 over the final two periods.

Long Time Coming

After finishing as runner ups in 2010, third place in 1990 and a consolation championship in 2006, the Minnetonka Skippers finally have their long awaited state championship. Skippers coach Sean Goldsworthy – who is in his first year as head coach – was a member of the 1990 team that finished third, and the start of tonight’s game gave the coach an eerie feeling.

“I played in that third (place), semi-final game in game and lost it,” Goldsworthy said. “We fell behind early, and it felt pretty similar, we were down two zip right away to Roseau. But these guys have conviction. They really believe each in each other, we came back and I really felt we were going to get back in that game and take over.”

Which is why it meant so much for the coach to win the title in his first year.

“To come home and win a title in your first year, I’m pretty realistic I don’t know if that’s going to happen every year.”

Goldsworthy also took time to thank his seniors and reminded everyone else in the room that he hopes this group can stick together and build something special for years to come.

“So maybe follow my lead, we got some good kids. I’m really happy for my seniors. They mean a lot. These kids are special and they’ve blessed me.”

Exciting Start

After both teams felt each other out, it was Duluth East who netted the game’s first goal at the 7:11 mark when junior Ricky Lyle took a beautiful centering pass from senior Austin Jouppi and Lyle found the back of the net. The Greyhounds lead wouldn’t last long, though, as they received a tripping penalty and were forced to go on the penalty kill.

Initially, goaltender Parker Kleive made a barrage of saves but Jouppi, who had an opportunity to clear the puck down the length of the ice, elected to just throw it behind his own end line giving Minnetonka more time to hold the zone. Seconds later, Bobby Brink tied things up on a rocket shot from the slot which beating Kleive .

The Skippers continued to buzz after their power play and just over 90 seconds later, senior Matt Koethe streaked in untouched, threading a shot on the short side of Kleive giving Minnetonka the 2-1 heading into the first intermission. Koethe’s goal turned it out to be the game-winner.

Minnetonka celebrates on the ice after capturing their first championship in school history. (MHM / Jonny Watkins)

Molenaar’s Hop

Skippers senior Joe Molenaar came into the tournament pacing his team with 29 goals but only having eight assists in 28 regular season games. However, Molenaar took more of a distributing role in this year’s tournament. He assisted on two of the first three goals Minnetonka scored in the championship game and had two other helpers in the games leading up to matchup with Duluth East. Yet, when you have a natural goal scorer like Molenaar, he’s eventually going to cash in. Even when the puck happens to go off his skate and into the back of the net giving the Skippers a 4-2 lead with 14 minutes to play. Molenaar said those are the kinds of bounces that team has earned all season.

“[Grant] Docter made a nice look down low and it happened to go right off my foot,” Molenaar said. “I think with this group, stuff like that seems to happens to us. We are always working, we’re the hardest work of guys I’ve ever been around. I think at the end of the day that’s reason all these bounces go are way because good things happen to teams where everyone is one the same page and rolling together.

Molenaar was also rewarded as the 2018 Herb Brooks Award for representing the values, characteristics, and traits Brooks embodied to keep his legacy alive.

Stick Tap from Duluth East

Minnetonka was the No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament going 24-2-2, meanwhile Duluth East was seeded third at 23-2-3. The parity was insanely close and, ultimately, there has to be a winner and there has to be a loser –  which is why Greyhounds coach Mike Randolph gave credit to the Skippers.

“At the end of the day, we lost to a heck of a hockey team,” Randolph said. “They’re a great team, they’re a great champion and I’m happy for Goldy. He’s done a heck of a job there and I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

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