Hawks Take #3 Eden Prairie To Overtime

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Feb 1

Kerry Rodd-NSO

In a matchup of two highly ranked high school boys hockey teams, Eden Prairie was able to find a way to win with an overtime goal, 5-4 over Hermantown on Tuesday night. Eden Prairie came in ranked #3 in Class AA, while the Hawks entered the contest with only one loss on the season and ranked #2 in Class A.

Jared Thomas gave the Hawks a lead on the power play at 2:32 of the first period with Jared Kolquist and Brian LeBlanc assisting. That would be the only goal of the period as the Hawks took a 1-0 lead.

Eden Prairie responded quickly in the second period and outscored Hermantown 3-1 in the second stanza to take a 3-2 lead. Dan Molenaar scored for EP on the power play at 1:35, Des Shavlik added a goal at 4:46 and EP was up 2-1. Hermantown bounced back on a goal by Hazen Elmgren at 8:29 with Billy Grillo and Joe Hicks adding assists. However, before the period ended EP took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Mark Rath.

Garrett Skrbich pumped in a power play tally at 5:46 of the third period, but EP reacted quickly with a goal of their own at 6:16 by Shavlik, as they retook the lead. Skrbich got the game tying goal with his team leading 28th goal of the season for Hermantown at 14:51 with Thomas assisting to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, the Hawks killed off a penalty to Skrbich, but a couple of minutes after the penalty expired it was Kyle Rau beating Hermantown goalie Connor Lucas with the game-winner.

The overtime was all Eden Prairie as they outshot the Hawks 17-1 in the extra period. Lucas made 49 saves on 54 shots, while Andrew Ford finished with 24 saves on 28 shots for Eden Prairie.

With the loss, Hermantown drops to 17-2-1 on the season. They will be at home on Thursday when they host the CEC Lumberjacks in a game that could well decide the Lake Superior Conference champion.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com