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Totino Grace 6, Chisago Lakes 4

A controversial goal by the Eagles with 16.7 seconds remaining broke a 4-4 tie, and the Eagles added an empty-net goal with 6.7 seconds remaining to beat the Wildcat boys' hockey team 6-4 lat Thursday, February 5 at Chisago Lakes Arena. The Wildcats kept it close despite being outshot 53-11 for the game as sophomore goaltender Kyle Buchanan played the best game of his young career.

On the game's pivotal play, Eagle standout Dan DeLisle carried the puck into the zone and shook off Wildcat defender Cale Arhart. Now near the front of the net on the left-hand side, DeLisle slid backwards past Wildcat defenseman Matt Petersen, spun to his right and plowed over Wildcat goaltender Buchanan. The puck slid across the line, and the referees signaled that it was a goal. Wildcat coaches, players and fans waited for the goal to be waved off for goalie interference. The referees, however, ruled that Petersen had shoved DeLisle into Buchanan and allowed the goal to stand. A videotape replay provided to the Press showed, however, that DeLisle crashed into Buchanan without any help from Petersen or any other Wildcat. Because of the intensity among the teams on the ice, the referees ran the last 6.7 seconds off the clock after the empty-net goal without dropping the puck and would not let the teams shake hands for fear of a fight starting. "It was frustrating," said Wildcat head coach Corey McKinnon. "It was a great hockey game with the most intensity our guys have shown all year. Totino is always a tough team and it was good to see our guys play the way they played. It was unfortunate that the game ended the way it did."

The Wildcats scored the game's first goal with just under two minutes to go in the first period. Tommy Johnson carried the puck down the left side of the ice, drove around an Eagle defender and slid the puck over to Cory Lushanko, who put the puck into the net to give the Wildcats the lead. It looked like, despite being outshot 14-4 in the first period, the Wildcats would take the lead into the intermission. But the Eagles scored with 12 seconds left in the period to tie the game at 1-1.

When the Eagles scored two goals in the first five minutes of the second period to take a 3-1 lead, it looked like they were starting to wear the Wildcats down. But the Wildcats got back into it with a late goal of their own. As Johnson was heading onto the ice during a line change, Kyle Hagglund passed the puck from the Wildcat zone up the boards into the neutral zone. Johnson snuck in behind the Eagles' defense, picked up the puck and drove toward the net. He slid it under the Totino goaltender with 32 seconds left in the period to cut the Eagle lead to one. "That was a heads up play by Hagglund to start the breakaway," said McKinnon. "And Johnson had a phenomenal game. In addition to scoring the goal, he did a great job of creating scoring chances for himself and his linemates."

The Wildcats scored the game's only power play goal at the 3:45 mark of the third period. During a scrum in front of the Eagle net, Matt Petersen picked up the puck at the left side of the net, moved it to the right side and backhanded past the goalie to tie the game at 3-3. Lushanko and Andrew Habel received assists on the play.

With just over four minutes left in the third period, the Wildcats appeared to take the lead. Johnson drove toward the net, took a pass, broke in behind the defense and chipped a backhand up and over the goalie. The puck appeared to go under the crossbar, hit the net and bounded back out onto the ice. Players on both teams stopped playing as if they thought it was a goal, but the referees didn't make a signal, so play continued. When the puck was frozen a few seconds later, the referees said there was no goal because the puck had hit the crossbar. Replays provided to the Press were inconclusive.

Fifteen seconds after the Wildcats' potential go-ahead goal was waved off, the Eagles came down and scored on the Wildcats to take a 4-3 lead. But the Wildcats didn't quit. Just 24 seconds after the Eagles' goal, the puck popped free from another scrum in front of the Eagle net. Habel got his stick on the puck and scored the tying goal for the Wildcats, with an assist to Lushanko. "There were three things I liked about this game," said McKinnon. "First, we played tough in the defensive zone all day. Second, we battled back from a two-goal deficit to tie the game at 3-3. And third, we didn't hang out heads when the Eagles went up 4-3. It was good to see our guys get that goal back right away. It was a sign that they weren't just going to lay down once they got behind late."

McKinnon talked about some other positives he saw on the ice. He said, "We got a couple of scrappy goals in this one. A team doesn't live and die by pretty-looking goals. It's important to just get the puck in the net, no matter what it looks like. Also, the coaches agreed that we played near-flawless defensive zone coverage, especially in the first period."

The Wildcats received a stellar effort from sophomore goaltender Buchanan. He kept making the saves that kept his team in the game and gave them a chance to win. Buchanan didn't do it on his own, of course. In addition to the defensive zone play mentioned earlier by McKinnon, the Wildcat offense made up for a lack of quantity in shots by taking advantage of some high-quality scoring chances.

Benilde-St. Margaret's 7, Chisago Lakes 1

The Wildcats were outshot 43-15 for the game, and it showed on the scoreboard as a well-disciplined, nearly mistake-free Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knight team beat the Wildcats 7-1 last Saturday, February 7 at Chisago Lakes Arena.

Despite outshooting the ninth-ranked Class AA Red Knights 9-7 in the first period, the Class A Wildcats trailed 2-0 on two weak goals. "I talked to Coach Neary, the Benilde coach," said Wildcat head coach Corey McKinnon, "and he said they felt lucky to be up 2-0 after the first period. In fact, had we taken advantage of some excellent scoring opportunities, we could have had the lead after one."

Wildcat goaltender Kyle Buchanan seemed to gain his bearings after the first period and played more like the goalie who had a stellar game against Totino Grace. He had a streak of 20 shots without allowing a goal at one point. Unfortunately, the Red Knights outshot the Wildcats 34-8 over the last two periods, not allowing the Wildcats many chances to put the puck in the net. And three of the Red Knights goals in the second period were deflections on shots from the point. "They were playing for the deflections," said McKinnon. "It didn't matter if the pucks went off sticks, shin pads, cheerleaders or whatever. The pucks seemed to find the net and they scored four goals to our one in the second period."

Matt Stamos spoiled the Red Knights' shutout with his first career goal late in the second period, assisted by Eric Sargeant and Cale Arhart.

"We played two tough games against two very good hockey teams," said McKinnon. "We can walk out of the arena with our heads held high. We put ourselves in a position to win against Totino Grace and battled hard against Benilde, never giving up. I expect we'll play tough against Benilde at their place again next week."

The Wildcats continue league play as the season winds down. They'll host St. Louis Park tomorrow night, Friday February 13, at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes Arena. The Wildcats will get another crack at Benilde next Tuesday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center.

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