Duluth East topples No. 1 Eden Prairie in Amsoil debut
Duluth East junior Dom Toninato (19) watched his overtime deflection reach the goal an instant before diving Eden Prairie goalie Andrew Ford.
By John Gilbert
It’s not how long you have the puck, it’s where it goes after you no longer have it. That could be the new motto for Duluth East center Dom Toninato. It didn’t matter that the No. 3 Greyhounds were badly outshot, and mostly outplayed by No. 1 ranked Eden Prairie on a Saturday afternoon in January at Amsoil Arena. What mattered most was that Toninato scored two goals that took less than a blink of an eye — the second in sudden-death overtime — to give East a 4-3 triumph.
While claiming their biggest victory of the season, in the first high school game played at the new arena, the Greyhounds had to hold their poise as the flow of play and the shot-chart compiled evidence against them. Eden Prairie outshot East 12-3 in the first period, and 32-14 for the game. But JoJo Jeanetta was at his best in goal to hold the ‘Hounds within reach through regulation, and Toninato, who found just the right touch for East’s first goal, scored again on a deflection that took its tantalizingly slow time before crossing the goal line at 0:52 of overtime. If it was possible to add up the elapsed time the puck was in contact with Toninato’s stickblade for both goals it would define the word millisecond.
“It was just what we expected, coming up here,” said Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith. “We knew East would be tough and we expected a great game.”
But he couldn’t have expected the way the result was fabricated. East was trailing 1-0 and had been outshot 9-1 at 12:56 of the first period when Toninato cruised past the crease left-to-right just in time to deflect in a crisp power-play centering pass from Jake Randolph, near the right corner. Time of possession? Whatever it takes for a one-touch ricochet. That came on East’s first power play of the game, for a 1-1 equalizer. A lot happened before East needed to call on its slick power play again. East was outshot in the second period, 10-6, but gained a 2-1 lead when Zac Schendel scored with a rebound from wide to the left of the cage late in the period,
Eden Prairie attacked relentlessly, but East goaltender JoJo Jeanetta was solid.
Eden Prairie’s Kyle Rau did his best to ruin Jeanetta’s big day in the third period. The skilled and quick centerman, who is committed to Minnesota, scored goals at 1:22 and 14:09 of the third, the first to gain a 2-2 tie. Hunter Bergerson’s goal from left point regained the lead for East two minutes later, but Rau struck again with three minutes left to tie it 3-3. That was hard-earned against Jeanetta, but hardly a suitable reward for the Eagles, who had outshot East 32-13 through three periods.
An Eden Prairie penalty with 25 seconds left in the third period carried over into overtime. Again, the power play clicked. Toninato went to the front of the net, and again the quick-passing Greyhounds worked the puck around until Meirs Moore cut loose with a shot from the left point. Toninato, facing the left boards, saw the shot coming on a trajectory headed just behind him. He reached back, getting his stick on the shot and redirecting it toward the goal — but slowly.
Fortunately for East, Eden Prairie goalie Andrew Ford was screened on the original shot, and didn’t spot the slowly sliding puck until it was slithering through the crease. He made a desperation dive across the crease for it, but was an instant too late. The puck barely crossed the goal line, and Toninato’s instantaneous touch had redirected the puck for a goal.
“They’re the best team we’ve seen, without a doubt,” said Toninato, the junior center on East’s most productive top line. “They did a good job of clearing rebounds and keeping us from getting many chances. But our power play is working at something like 40 percent. On the overtime goal, I was facing to the side and I had to reach back for the puck.”
But all he had to do was touch it, which took about the same amount of time as his first-goal deflection. But the state ratings don’t require any minimum time length for the puck to be on a goal-scorer’s stick.
“This should bump us right up there,” said Toninato, whose dad, Jim Toninato, came down from International Falls to play for UMD back in the Brett Hull glory years of the mid-1980s. Maybe good hands are hereditary.
East had only lost twice to that point, a 2-1 opening game overtime loss at Wayzata, and a 4-3 loss against Edina in the Schwan’s Cup holiday tournament. In that Edina game, East was outshot 10-3 in the first period and trailed 1-0 — sound familiar?– but rallied from a 3-1 deficit to gain a late 3-3 tie before Edina won it. Against Eden Prairie, being outshot 12-3 was another in a continuing series of lessons about the necessity to start games at full-throttle.
East’s success includes a tough 2-1 victory over Grand Rapids earlier last week, as the Thunderhawks are proving that there is another strong Class AA team Up North. You could toss Eden Paririe, Edina, Hill-Murray, East, and Wayzata into a hat and pick one as the state’s No. 1 team. And late-blooming Moorhead, Apple Valley and Grand Rapids are not far behind. Meanwhile, Hermantown keeps on rolling in Class A, and remains the state’s only unbeaten team in either class, while being ranked No. 2 behind St. Thomas Academy. As usual, when Heremantown coach Bruce Plante rebuilds, he really just reloads.
Comments
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
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.
For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
Click here for sports