Northland Sports Online
Home / Current News / Mirage Capture State Title

Mirage Capture State Title

Proctor/Hermantown players swarmed senior forward Alyssa Watkins (22) after she scored the game winning goal in double overtime. ] ALEX KORMANN • alex.kormann@startribune.com Proctor/Hermantown took on Gentry Academy in the girl's hockey Class A state championship on Saturday, April 3, 2021 in Xcel Energy Arena in St. Paul.

George Bailey – NSO

 

daugh

 

 

A comeback overtime upset was the recipe for Proctor/Hermantown’s first girls’ hockey state championship and a 21-0 season.

Senior Alyssa Watkins scored a power-play goal at 6:57 of the second overtime period for a 3-2 victory over top-seed Gentry Academy in the Class 1A final Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.

The Mirage only had two chances on the power play in the game, scoring both times.

With 11:06 left in the second overtime, second-year Proctor/Hermantown coach Emma Stauber took a timeout to discuss the team’s second power play. They focused on quick puck movement, getting the opposition out of position and putting the puck on net.

“That’s exactly what we did,” Stauber said.

About a minute later, the Mirage celebration was on.

Freshman Izy Fairchild fed the puck to sophomore Ava Anick at the point. She passed it to Watkins in the left circle. Watkins fired a shot into the top half of the net, giving her seven goals for the tournament and 24 for the season.

The Mirage erased a pair of one-goal deficits in the game, tying it with about 9 minutes left in regulation on the first power-play goal off Fairchild’s stick.

 

“Even when it felt like Gentry had the momentum in the game, they got that from the first one, we were able to find a way to tie it again,” Stauber said. “The momentum started to shift our way. We were able to find one in overtime.”

Proctor/Hermantown goaltender Abby Pajari made a season-high 32 saves. The Mirage outscored opponents 151-17 this season and never allowed more than 2 goals in a game.

Gentry Academy (19-3-0) took 1-0 and 2-1 leads on goals from sophomore Cara Sajevic, bringing her tournament total to six. The Stars finish as the 1A runner-up in their first varsity season. All three Stars’ losses this season came in overtime.

“Our kids gave everything that they had today,” Stars co-coach Paige Jahnke said.

The debut tournament raised Gentry Academy’s profile in girls’ hockey, co-coach Emily Erickson said.

“I think there was a lot of people maybe around the state that weren’t familiar about what Gentry Academy was and what we’re about here,” Erickson said.

It was the second 1A girls’ title game decided in overtime in the past four tournaments. Breck defeated Warroad 3-2 with a goal eight seconds into overtime in 2018. The last double-overtime 1A girls’ championship game was a 3-2 Breck victory over South St. Paul 2012.

 

527416_10150979531373803_1814860156_n

 

 

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply