Holy Angels beats Eden Prairie 4-1 in debut
Thirteen saves is not a lot for a goaltender, particularly in a state hockey tournament game, but even though Holy Angels goaltender Justin Eddy didn’t have overall quantity, he came up with the quality saves when it mattered to guide the Stars to a 4-1 victory over Eden Prairie in Thursday’s opening Class AA quarterfinal.
The victory puts Holy Angels (25-1) into tonight’s 7:05 semifinal against Roseau, in its first-ever trip to the state tournament.
Eddy was not used to being the standout on a team that scored a lot of goals to outdistance foes this season. But his exceptional saves early in the third period proved to be the difference.
“They got us running around a little, especially in the third period,” said Greg Trebil, the former Bloomington Jefferson Bantam coach who has put this Holy Angels team together well. “Our goaltender came up big when we neede him right then.”
Eddy shrugged it off, mainly because 13 saves didn’t seem to be as significant as the 24 made by Jon Volp in Eden Prairie’s net.
“That’s what I have to do for my team,” Eddy said. “The reality is that’s my contribution to the team. In most games, I don’t face too many shots, but then there might be a couple places where there’s a bunch of them. I’ve got to stop them.”
The Stars star center Billy Hengen was silenced by Eden Prairie’s quick forwards, but their second line came through got a pair of goals in the second period by Casey Garven and Justin Hauge to take a 2-1 lead. They put the game away when Hengen’s wingers came through in the third period, with Josh Singer scoring midway through the third period, before Adam Kaiser scored into an empty net at the finish.
But back when it was 2-1, and Holy Angels had applied most of the pressure, the Eagles opened the third period with a rush. Sophomore Garrett Smaagaard bolted to the net after winning a left-corner faceoff and shot high off the left crossbar, with the puck glancing behind Eddy, but out — not in. “That was a nice shot,” said Eddy.
Then Mike Erickson, another sophomore, had a point-blank chance with a goal-mouth pass, but Eddy stopped it. “I practice those a lot,” said Eddy, matter-of-factly.
The Eagles pressured for three or four more chances, and Eddy made a couple more exceptional saves. Then the Stars regained their form and escaped from their zone to turn the pressure back the other way.
Eden Prairie took a 1-0 lead when Brian Rassmussen scored a shorthanded goal with 48 seconds left in the first period. Dave Siler had chased down a loose puck on the penalty kill and fed to the slot, where Rassmussen’s quick shot to the upper right glanced down and in off the crossbar.
“That was a nice shot,” said Eddy. “I usually try to come out and challenge, but I followed his body instead of his stick.”
Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith was frustrated. “We’ve got great depth, going with three lines while they mostly used two,” he said. “I thought we could wear them down, but we were really uptight early. We finally played with energy in the third period, but their goalie made some big saves. Then their sniper [Singer] made a great play for their third goal.”
CC’s Austin scores twice to sink UMD 3-1
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.
Senior winger Jonny Austin, who came to Colorado College four years ago from International Falls when several other colleges considered him too slight to be an effective Division I player, scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie Friday night, then clinched a 3-1 Tiger victory over UMD with an empty-net goal in the closing seconds.
The victory, which wasn’t secured until Austin slid a 75-footer into the empty net with 2.8 seconds remaining, gives CC the first of a best-of-three WCHA playoff series before a paid crowd of 7,002 at the World Arena.
“It was the same as last weekend, they battled us right to the end,” said Austin, who has 11 goals for the season. “You’ve got to hand it to them. When it was 0-0 after two periods, we were getting frustrated because we had a lot of chances, but not many great opportunities. But we’ve had a lot of close games in the last few weeks, and we know that’s the way it’s going to be in the playoffs.”
The last-place Bulldogs, who lost 4-3 and 3-2 here a week ago to end the regular season 4-20-4, battled the second-place Tigers (20-8 in the WCHA) on even terms until 11:38 of the third period, when UMD goalie Brant Nicklin made a pair of big saves, the second on Austin, in the slot. Austin played the puck off Nicklin’s pads and lifted a backhander over the fallen goalie, who made 37 saves in an outstanding performance.”
At 1-0, the Bulldogs got a bit of a bad break when Craig Pierce, who had his stick pulled from his hand by Cam Kryway moments earlier, leveled Kryway in the slot and was called for interference at 14:07. The CC power play, stifled all night by the Bulldogs, came through at 15:51, when Paul Manning moved in from right point for a low shot, wide to the right, that Justin Morrison tipped past Nicklin.
Still, but gritty Bulldogs came back, with Shawn Pogreba stickhandling out from the right corner and firing a shot from the circle that glanced in past goaltender Jeff Sanger with 2:35 left.
“I knew we were getting late in the game, and we hadn’t gotten many shots on net, so I just threw it in front,” said Pogreba. “It hit a skate or something, I don’t even know. But it went in.”
That renewed hope for the Bulldogs, who were outshot 40-23, but had cut the deficit to 2-1. But after pulling Nicklin they couldn’t penetrate to get the equalizer, and when the puck was blocked out to center ice, Austin made sure of his shot into the empty net.
The Bulldogs came out totally focused, and played a crisp first period, backchecking to prevent any 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 CC rushes, and spreading the game out offensively by passing or reversing the puck to use the full 100-foot Olympic width of the World Arena.
After the first couple of UMD chances were turned away by CC goalie Sanger, the Tigers got on the power play and forced Nicklin to come up with some big saves. The Tigers had a clear shot advantage early, but the Bulldogs weathered the opening attack and forced the Tigers to shoot from longer range as the scoreless first period progressed.
If there was a striking contrast to most of their games this season, it was that the ‘Dogs countered quickly, turning every transition into an offensive rush. When Cam Kryway’s penalty gave UMD its turn on the power play, the Jeff Scissons line got a few chances, and Mark Gunderson and Judd Medak came out next and got some excellent chances, setting a tempo that gave UMD the edge territorially to the end of the opening period.
The second period also was scoreless, and both teams had a turn at dominating play. UMD, bolstered by an overlapping power play from the first period, got a good chance when Derek Derow and Ryan Homstol collaborated for a chance, then defenseman Craig Pierce moved in from left point and fired one off the right post.
At the other end, Nicklin came up with a spectacular save on Brian Swanson, point blank, but the Bulldogs outshot CC 9-2 in the first half of the period.
When Pierce was penalized, however, CC’s power play got some chances, with Moorhead’s Mark Cullen getting the best one, but shooting a close-range rebound from the right side, only to hit the crossbar instead of the open net.
UMD’s had two more excellent chances in the middle period, but Homstol shot wide left after a set-up, and Colin Anderson feathered a 2-on-1 pass to Curtis Bois, who missed the net. At the same time, the Tigers fired 11 of the last 12 shots on goal in the middle period, but Nicklin came up with all the answers, and the Bulldogs reduced the challenge of upsetting the powerful Tigers to a 20-minute game in the third period.
Fergus Falls fails to solve Benilde’s Riddles
Here’s a state hockey tournament “Riddle:” If Benilde-St. Margaret’s wins the Class A championship, who is most likely to score?
Right. The answer to the riddle is Riddle. As in Troy Riddle, but sometimes Jake Riddle.
If there can be such a thing as a “routine” state hockey tournament semifinal victory, Benilde-St. Margaret’s enjoyed one Friday afternoon, sailing past outmanned Fergus Falls 6-0 with two goals each period and a 33-14 cushion in shots. That puts the Red Knights (24-2) into today’s 2 p.m. final against East Grand Forks.
Brothers Troy and Jake Riddle and Joe Schuman led the attack for the Red Knights in the semifinals, with Troy Riddle, the leading scorer in the state, getting two goals after getting all three in the 3-2 victory over Hermantown, to run his two-game total to five and his season total to 52. Schuman also scored twice, while Jake Riddle scored a power-play goal to get the whole thing started. Jake Riddle and Schuman had two assists each, and Troy Riddle had one assist.
After the game, the Riddle brothers were standing together for an interesting comparison. Jake, the sophomore winger, is 6-1 and 180 pounds; Troy, the senior center, is 5-10 and 170.
“We don’t play the same,” said Troy, who occasionally can be found lurking in center ice. “He plays with a lot of heart, takes the body and gets the puck free.
“I felt really comfortable today. Everybody talked about how important our first game was, because we were playing Hermantown, and some thought we were the two best teams, but also just to get our feet going and not be uptight. Today it was different. Jake and I both came into this game feeling ready to go, and we wanted to make sure we played well enough so there’d be no excuses.
“Fergus Falls was definitely a challenge, because they’ve got some talent,” added Troy, “but we think if we can play our game, it’ll be tough for anybody to beat us.”
Benilde came out flying and jumped ahead when Schuman had a chance at the crease and Jake Riddle retrieved the puck beyond the goal line on the right of the net, pulled it back and put it in, 19 seconds into the game’s first power play. Goalie Kevin Ackley got even by robbing Jake Riddle on a break-in later, and Benilde goalie Jake Schuman, a ninth-grader who alternates in the nets, stopped Josh Anderson’s shot and dived to thwart Aaron Olson’s rebound.
It was still a contest at that point, but Troy Riddle rushed up the left side at 13:56, and when the defenseman turned one way to confront him, Riddle cut the other way and scored with a 25-foot wrist shot.
Adam Ahern made it 3-0 at 9:41 of the second period by lifting in a rebound, and Joe Schuman scored on a power play 11 seconds after it started. Schuman’s second goal made it 5-0 at 4:37 of the third, and Troy Riddle scored the final goal, 24 seconds into another power play.
“We figured the key was getting after their defense,” said Fergus Falls coach Brad Bergstrom. “Their defense are so good at the transition game, they’re the ones who get the puck up to those forwards. Trouble was, we couldn’t get to ’em. And then we took three penalties, and they scored three power-play goals, all in about 15 seconds.”
Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Ken Pauly acknowledged that the team focused on the tournament’s first game, so as not to get caught up looking ahead at the final. “Absolutely, the first game is critical,” Pauly said. “If you lose, you go to Mariucci Arena and nobody hears about you. Our kids like the spotlight, and the only way to stay in it is to keep winning.”
And now, of course, Benilde can look ahead to the championship game.
East Grand Forks White-washes Blake 2-0
Junior Tommy White followed the goaltenders code — which says you’ve got to be lucky to be good — to perfection Friday afternoon and guided East Grand Forks to a 2-0 shutout over Blake in the first Class A boys hockey tournament semifinal at Target Center.
Several of Blake’s best chances sailed over the net, but White made stops on the 21 that were on. The game turned, however, on three different shots that he partially saved, only to have the puck squirt through his pads and glance off a pipe.
“This was the best game of my life, and the biggest game, the most important,” said White, who had yielded four goals in the third period of the opening 5-4 victory over Silver Bay. “You can’t expect the goalie to have a great game every game, but after the last game, my coach told me he knew I could come back.”
Jonathan Hussey scored just 14 seconds into the first period, redirecting Sam Brown’s flip from the right point. White’s hot hand made that lone goal stand up for more than 44 minutes, then Patrick Knutson finally scored on a third try at an empty net goal with four seconds left.
For East Grand Forks, an unglamorous 16-10-1 record is meaningless now, because the Green Wave has washed onto uncharted shores, by reaching today’s 2 p.m. championship game.
“This is the first time an East Grand Forks team has ever won its first game at the tournament,” said coach Jim Scanlan. “Last year, I thought we had a good enough team to have a chance to win it all.”
But they didn’t. In fact, after losing its first game in 1971, ’80, ’82 and last year, the Green Wave has never come back to win so much as the consolation trophy. Today, however, they are guaranteed either a championship or runner-up trophy, thanks to White’s work against Blake.
While he made only 21 saves, most of them were big-time stops on breakaways or 2-on-1 rushes. “They had more shots [27-21], but we had better chances,” said Blake coach Jeff Lindquist.
White was philosophical, and studious, about his performance.
“I remember the when I ‘butterflied’ and the puck went through my legs and off the post,” White said. “When that happens, it means you aren’t concentrating on watching the puck hard enough. Every time I make that mistake, you’ve got to correct it instantly. I told myself to make sure I focused to correct it.”
He told himself, but he wasn’t listening. “That’s right, it happened three times didn’t it? Every time it happened, I looked back in the net for the puck and was glad to see it wasn’t there.”
Jon Reigstad, Jordan Wilhelm and Steve Nelson had the breakaway opportunities that wound up getting past White but hitting posts. White’s best saves included a second-period rush by Blake’s Matt Frauenshuh, whose clean shot at the upper right was blocked when White threw up his gloved hand to get a piece of the puck, causing it to pop up and over the net.
Reigstad had another solo that hit the right pipe, and the Bears charged in for two tries with the rebound. If it sounds like Blake had a continuing stream of break-ins, it was true. And White noticed.
“It was unreal,” the lanky junior goaltender said. “I’d make a save and finally get some stress off me, then I’d see all our guys moving up the ice, and we’d make a turnover, then they’d have a breakaway. They never stopped coming.
“But I like breakaways. We have shootouts, and I like ’em.”
At the end, when Lindquist pulled Eric Dayton from the nets for a sixth skater, East Grand Forks narrowly missed a long shot at the empty net. Knutson followed up and stole the puck behind the goal on the left, and in his haste, he lunged out front and backhanded. It hit the left pipe. He backhanded it again, and AGAIN it hit the left pipe. Finally, his third try went in at 14:56.
“It’s not funny,” said Knutson, smiling. “I’ve got to take open-net practice. I missed one yesterday, too.”
Klema’s 4 goals lead Roseau into finals
It was a great run for Holy Angels, making it to its first Class AA boys state hockey tournament, and beating Eden Prairie in an impressive debut. But Friday night, the Stars ran — Thud! — into Roseau, and the Rams, fueled by four goals from Mike Klema, romped to a 6-2 victory in the first semifinal.
“We played our best game today,” said Klema, the older of two brothers who play forward slots on the Roseau team. “I don’t know why; we just came together. We’re kind of on a mission. All the way up, in Peewees and Bantams, we’ve always been good, but we’d lose and never make it to the championship game. Now we have.”
The Rams (26-1) will face the winner of Friday’s late second semifinal between Elk River and Hastings in tonight’s 8 p.m. championship game.
“Our kids learned last year that they had to keep playing with intensity if they want to go to the next level,” said Roseau coach Bruce Olson. “We wanted to go in and forecheck ’em, but we weren’t getting there, so we changed to a more patient, one-man forecheck.
“It worked well. And we were able to play our fourth line a few shifts tonight. That should help us in the final game. Usually we get tired the third game in three days, but this should help. In fact, those TV timeouts hurt, because we wanted to keep it rolling.”
Holy Angels and Roseau had brought identical 25-1 records into the semifinals, but there were some differences. Roseau beat such AA powers as Moorhead, Hibbing, St. Paul Johnson, Grand Rapids, St. Cloud Apollo and Class A rival Warroad twice, while losing only to Greenway of Coleraine, 6-3. Holy Angels had beaten St. Paul Johnson and Apple Valley, but also Prior Lake, New Prague, Shakopee and Hutchinson, and Rochester Century.
The question was whether the Stars could play with the big, swift Rams, who clearly were the best team Holy Angels has faced this season.
On the opening shift of the game, Mike Klema was cruising up the left side in the neutral zone when Holy Angels defenseman Conner Phippen stumbled, lost the puck, and fell down. It was a complete accident, but Klema pounced on the puck and ripped a shot past goaltender Justin Eddy after just 33 seconds had elapsed.
If that put the Stars in shock, it would be understandable. If it didn’t, at 1:15, the puck took a crazy bounce off the Target Center boards and Phillip Larson reacted to pick it off, curl to the left circle, and snap a shot past the startled Eddy, short-side. Barely a minute in, and Roseau led 2-0.
“If they didn’t get those first two, it might have been different,” said Adam Kaiser, who set up Billy Hengen for the Stars second goal. “We scrimmaged a lot of good teams, but no question, they’re the best team we’ve played in an actual game.”
Kaiser deked through the defense for a great chance that was snuffed by Roseau goalie Jake Brandt, then Mike Klema came up with his second goal, at 11:30 of the opening period. That one, also, found Klema playing opportunist. A shot by Jesse Modahl was blocked, and as the rebound slid out from the goal, goaltender Eddy raced Klema for it. Klema let him win, pulling up, and when Eddy poked the puck, it went right to Klema, who stepped to his left and plinked it into the open goal.
“I was skating up for the puck and he tried to poke it past me,” said Klema.
Holy Angels came out much more forcefully in the second period, but Matt Erickson made it 4-0 at 1:00 of the second period, when he tried to pass across the slot then retrieved his blocked pass and scored with a backhand.
The Stars countered, finally, when Ryan LaMere scored with a blast from a wide angle to the left at 1:18, but Roseau wouldn’t let them get closer. Mike Klema completed his hat trick when he drilled a shot off Jesse Modahl’s 2-on-1 pass across the slot at 10:56 of the middle period.
Billy Hengen, Holy Angels’ offensive catalyst all season, scored with Kaiser’s feed to the crease later in the second period. But the only goal in the third period came when Modahl fed Mike Klema for his fourth goal.
“I got four against Cloquet last year,” said Klema, who now has 27 goals for the season.
But he wouldn’t say who has the harder shot, his brother or him. Coach Olson answered the question. “Both brothers shoot hard,” Olson said, “but I think David likes to hear his hit the glass. It makes a heckuva noise off the glass in the cold rink in Roseau.”
With only one game to go for their sixth championship in their 27th trip to the tournament, the Rams got one simple bit of advice from Olson: “Muck it up, dump it in, go get it…and put it in.”
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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