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The fifth-seeded Wildcats scored an early goal against the fourth-seeded Totino-Grace Eagles, but the Eagles took the lead back in the first period and never relinquished it. Totino beat the Wildcats 4-2 at Parade Ice Garden in Minneapolis Thursday, February 22 in their Section 5A playoff game. The loss ended the Wildcats' season.

The Wildcats, who were outshot 45-25 for the game, opened the scoring at the 3:48 mark of the first period. Just after an Eagle power play had expired, DJ Haus blocked an Eagle clearing attempt at the blue line and ripped a shot through the Eagle defense to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. The Eagles tied it up just two minutes later on a shot through traffic from the high slot. Totino Grace took the lead with a goal at the 9:05 mark of the first period.

The Eagles extended their lead to 3-1 at the 7:14 mark of the second period. The Wildcats nearly pulled within a goal with four minutes remaining in the period. Terry Bergren finished serving a penalty and burst out of the box. He took a pass in stride and broke alone toward the Eagle net. He skated across the crease and flipped a backhand toward the net. The Eagle goalie made a great save, keeping the score at 3-1.

The Wildcats suffered a devastating injury when senior center Scott Liebsch was knocked out of the game in the second period on a knee-to-knee hit.

It looked like the Wildcats had pulled to within 3-2 early in the third period. Luke Angrimson unleashed a vicious slapshot that went over the goalie's left shoulder. The puck appeared to go into the net just under the crossbar and back out. The referees did not signal a goal and play continued. Angrimson himself said after the game that he didn't think it was a goal. "When Luke came down and ripped his shot," said Wildcat head coach Corey McKinnon, "I was thinking 'we're only down 3-2.' But it was called 'no goal,' and play went on. It would have been a big deal to pull within one goal at that time."

Just a minute after Angrimson's shot, the Eagles scored a goal at the 4:29 mark, appearing to put the game out of reach. But the Wildcats cut the lead to two just 26 seconds later. Junior Nick Bratrud took a pass from senior Zach Cunningham and ripped a high shot and cut the Eagle lead to 4-2. But that's all the Wildcats were able to muster as they fell to the Eagles, a conference foe, for the third time this season.

"It's always tough when the season ends," said Wildcat head coach Corey McKinnon. "But it's especially hard to say goodbye to this group of seniors. The other coaches and I are going to miss this group a lot. These guys are unique group in how relate to each other and the rest of the team. They didn't focus on personal accomplishments. They just wanted the team to succeed."

McKinnon continued, "I think the things I'll miss most with this group are the bus rides to away games. I've never before seen a senior class that sits in the front of the bus. They'd take up the first three or four seats on each side and have fun laughing and playing jokes on each other. This senior night was more emotional than in years past. When you're a coach, you miss each group of seniors that move on. But you can tell how much this group will miss each other. They've been playing together for so many years. They're all good kids. It will be fun to see where life takes them and how they'll make the world a better place. Life is much bigger than a scoreboard."

"I thought Totino played a better game than either time we played them during the regular season. We had to raise our game, and we did. The kids played hard and left it all on the ice. My letdown is that the seniors are done. They worked hard and I wanted more for them. But even though we didn't win on the scoreboard, by another measure it was a successful game. The players gave full effort, played well together, and avoided stupid plays and stupid penalties. I hope we draw confidence from this effort for next year. Both of our goals were scored by underclassmen, DJ and Nick. And both were scored on beautiful shots. We do good things with the puck. We just need to learn to put it in the net."

SCORING SUMMARY

Chisago Lakes 1 0 1-2

Totino Grace 2 1 1-4

First Period

CL 1 Haus (unassisted) 3:48; TG 1 N. McDonald (Iten, Landsem) 5:45; TG 2 Egan (Borer. DeLisle) 9:05

Second Period

TG 3 Egan (DeLisle) 7:14

Third Period

TG 4 Nagel (Schlagel, Landsem) 4:29; CL 2 Bratrud (Cunningham, Jones) 4:55

Saves: CL Fitzer 41, TG Ries 23

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