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Mittelstadt’s OT winner vaults shorthanded Eden Prairie back to state

MINNEAPOLIS – Playing without three key players who were suspended for the Section 6AA Final did not deter the Eden Prairie Eagles for capturing a 2-1 overtime win over the Minnetonka Skippers in the Section 6AA final from Mariucci Arena on Wednesday night.  The win marks the first time a team has won back-to-back Section 6AA titles in 15 years and the Eagles were challenged to make it happen with a bench that would be missing two seniors and a junior.  It challenged the Eagles who were facing a Skipper team with plenty of depth.

Sophomore phenom and University of Minnesota recruit Casey Mittlestadt scored both his team’s goals to lift them to the state tournament, yet it was a game that experienced several peaks and valleys for each team and a number of momentum swings.

The Skippers effort mirrored their game in the section semifinal, a 3-2 win over Wayzata on Saturday.  It was another slow start out the gate in the first period for the Skippers yet the club was held in the game early by senior goaltender Jacob Berger who was able to hold serve until a terrific effort by The Eagles Mittlestadt.  The game’s first goal came off a rush up the right side of the ice by Mittlestadt who was his elusive self and cut back to the midde and beat Skipper goalie Jacob Berger to the five hole for the 1-0 lead at 8:24 for the first period.

After absorbing a crushing blow off the end boards, Minnetonka senior Gavin Payne was able to get the puck to Maxwell Cavanaugh who found Dominic Picciano with a pass from the end boards that led to a tap in goal and a 1-1 tie in the second period.  The Eagles could only muster 3 shots on goal for the second period and were limited in quality scoring chances.

One had the feeling as the game wore on, the confidence of the Skippers  was increasing while the Eagles were being taxed witout their top players in the lineup.  Certainly, it was not an excuse, but the reality of a team dealing with a major blow to their depth.

The Skippers picked up where they left off generating a number of scoring chances.  Goalie Shaun Durocher, who was on the Minnetonka roster as a JV player last year, made back-to-back saves including and impressive left pad save from the butterfly thwarting a potential Skipper go ahead goal.

Eden Prairie found its game in the third period, which yeidled puck possession and eventual scoring chances.  The game grew in intensity as the third period wore on with Mittlestadt and Michael Graham,  a pair of Division I recruits hooking up only to have Berger flair the right pillow and turn aside a glorious opportinity witin the final 20 seconds.  Quickly, as play went on, the Skippers countered with a two-on-one chance as the click was winding to zero.  Durocher fired his catch glove at a puck swatting the puck aside.

The Eagles took over in the overtime session and cahsed in on a feed to Mittlestadt from behind the net by Nolan Sullivan.  “I think it is a huge rink,” Mittlestadt said when asked about both teams having their moments in the game.  “Everybody was tired, both sides were tired.  Momentum swung a lot and we tried to get that one chance and bury it.  Berger is a great goalie so you have to find that one chance.”

Smith was quick to credit the Skippers who delivered on their game plan and were a bounce away from a trip to the state tournament.  “I’d like to give Minnetonka credit for what a great game that was,” Smith said.  “That was one unreal hockey game as the other one was and it’s too bad a team has to go home losing after playing that hard but we have been in that position before.  They came at us and juggled some things from Saturday that made things even tougher for us.  What Brian (Urick) did was really good.”

Acknowleging that the three players that were not in the lineup Marc Sullivan, Riley Argetsinger, and Louie Roehl all missing for being involved in a fighting dust up in the closing seconds of their semi-final win over Benilde-St. Margaret’s Smith said his team had to address that they were not there but had to move forward as well.

“I am really proud of our kids for rallying.  We really missed those three guys a lot just because of some line changes and they (Minnetonka) have good depth and the adjustments that he made coming into this game, putting a guy that can score on each line made it difficult for us and somehow we found a way to persevere.”

Video of the Eagles and Red Knights dance quickly blossomed on the social network scene and was picked up by a number of high end news organizations.  There was a lot of attention paid to the turn of events and subsequent suspensions.  Smith had a plan with how to deal with it and it allowed his club to put their best foot forward.

“We had a meeting when we got back that night and we talked about this is blowing up on the social media and I am going to give you until Sunday night to watch it and then after that, you have to stay away from it,” Smith explained.  “Then, you’ve got to focus on playing a hockey game.  You are not bad kids, you are not a bad team.  It’s an unfortunate situation but we’ve got to rally and find a way to get it done.”

Rally they did in a tough situation.  Adding to the dimension of that was how difficult it is to win the Section 6AA in back-to-back years.  According to Smith, Edina was the last team in the Section 6AA to win back-to-back titels.  It was a goal the Eagles looked to accomplish coming into the season yet with the loss of 13 seniors including Division I recruits Luc Snuggerud and Steven Spinner, the Eagles had plenty of holes to fill.  Smith credited his coaching staff and the players for their accomplishing their goal and was quick to hand out praise among his team.

“It all started with great leadership,” Smith said outside his energetic locker room.   “Andy (Aguilar), Brady (Schoo), and Michael (Graham) are all three great captains.  We knew we had a lot of work to do and the first thing was to find our goalie.  Our goalie coach Matt Bertram worked those guys so hard and we found Shaun Derocher.  He stood in there and gave us a chance.  From there, the rest of the guys fell into place.  We had some JV guys that moved up and were great players down there.  They had to wait their turn and they stepped up and played well.  The sophomores that stepped in were all stars and great players off the bantam team. The combination of the remaining guys and the new players was a good recipe.  There are no guantees in Section 6AA.”

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Rarely do teams meet three times in a high school hockey season and four meetings is all but unheard of.  The Benilde-St. Margaret’s (BSM) Red Knights and Eden Prairie Eagles met for the fourth and final time this year in the Section 6AA Finals and Eden Prairie earned a hard fought 3-2 double overtime win over the Red Knights propelling the Eagles to the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament and  a 3-1 season record against BSM.

The teams have a similar make-up, each having a number of talented seniors and a pair Division I college hockey players that are current teammates and will continue to be while playing college hockey at the same school.  Eden Prairie’s Luc Snuggerud and Steven Spinner, both Mr. Hockey semifinalists, will be playing their college hockey at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.  BSM’s Johnny Austin and Spencer Naas will be both attending UConn and play their college hockey for the Huskies.  Naas is a Mr. Hockey semifinalist as well.

Not surprising, the top players were peppered on the score sheet and helped figure in the final outcome.  Spinner and Snuggerud hooked up early in the first period for the 1-0 Eagle lead.  Snuggerud sprung Spinner  on a short breakaway and made a quick handed move to freeze Red Knight goalie Jalen Long and deposit the puck through the five-hole for the 1-0 lead at 2:55.  The goal was Spinner’s 20th of the season.

The game saw a number of momentum changes and the first period closed with the shots on goal deadlocked as seven apiece yet the Eagles had the 1-0 lead.  The Red Knights responded with a pair of second period goals, the first coming at 2:57 of the second period.

Naas supported the puck up the right wing wall on an Eagle clearing attempt and handled it toward the Eden Prairie net.  He scooted behind the Eagle defense and out-waited goalie Jake Gerdes to deposit the puck in the open net to even the score at a goal apiece.  The goal was the 31st of the season for Naas.  Ben Newhouse assisted on the goal that sparked the Red Knight second period.

The Red Knights (15-9-3) took the 2-1 lead at 14:03 off a stifling forecheck by Nate Meyer.  He forced a turnover and found a trolling Will Duda who blasted his second goal of the season  from theta low slot area past Gerdes for the 2-1 lead heading into the third period.  The assist was the second of the game for Meyer.

The Eagles Colton Schmidt, back in the line up for the section playoffs, missed games from January 11th through February 19th that totaled 11 games.  Schmidt’s presence has been felt during the post season and he tied the game at 2:49 of the third period on the power play on a set up from Spinner.  Schmidt has (2g-3a-5pts) in his last three games back in the lineup, all playoff games.

The first eight minute overtime session yielded little in offensive chances and  just a 2-0 shots on goal advantage for the Eagles.  Early in the second overtime, The Eagles (17-8-3) were whistled for a penalty, putting the game in the hands of the potent Red Knight power play.  A blocked shot by the Eagles forced a turnover and Jack Keely raced up the ice and fired the puck over Long for the game winner marker early in the second overtime.

The Eagles victory was their third of the season against the Red Knights and the second that needed overtime.  It is the seventh time the Eagles have earned a trip to the state tournament with the last coming in 2011 which was Kyle Rau’s senior season that yielded the dramatic overtime goal.  Eden Prairie is in search of their third state title.

The Red Knights delivered a memorable performance during the Section 6AA Final and none was more touching than the embrace at center ice between Spinner and Naas, great friends with a high respect of not only each other but the game.

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