Hermantown Falls To Eden Prairie 4-3

Jan 24

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Saturday was billed as Hockey Day in Minnesota across the state. As part of the celebration of hockey the Hermantown Hawks played host to an outdoor game against Eden Prairie. Despite warm temperatures that turned the ice sluggish, the game was a success. Eden Prairie took the win 4-3 over the Hawks.

Eden Prairie gained a 1-0 lead at 4:48 of the first period on a goal by Kyle Rau. However, Hermantown matched the score at 14:33 on a goal by Cody Christopherson with the assist going to Adam Krause and that’s how things ended after one period.

Krause gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead just 38 seconds into the period, but again the game was tied when Rau scored at 2:52, marking his second goal of the game. Mark Rath pumped in a power play goal at 11:11 for Eden Prairie as they took the lead at 3-2. Eden Prairie quickly followed Rath’s goal with another goal, this Rau’s the third goal of the game, just 31 seconds later and they had the lead at 4-2. Now it was the Hawks turn to show their resilience as Jeff Paczynski responded with a power play tally at 13:57 to cut the lead at 4-3, but that was all the scoring the remainder of the game.

Tyler Ampe had a big game in the nets for the Hawks by making 41 saves on 45 shots, while the Hawks managed 17 shots on the Eden Prarie net.

The game was played outside despite warm weather which caused some less than ideal ice conditions on the rink located outside and behind the Hermantown Ice Arena.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com