On Saturday night, the Suburban East held off the Lake Conference for a pair of wins, making it an all-east metro final at the Big Pumpkin Invitational. 

White Bear Lake dominated en route to a 6-3 win over Minnetonka to begin the Black Bracket semifinal round, scoring five times in the first period and holding off the Skippers down the stretch. Conrad Fondrk scored twice in the opening frame, adding to the scores by Graham Greeder, Camden Autrey, and Denim Whelan. 

A goal from Minnetonka’s Bryce Wiitala stopped the bleeding momentarily, making the score 5-1 before Maverick Timmons of the Bears put the contest back into running-time. Minnetonka rallied in the third with a pair of goals, one each by Winston Wheaton and Mikey Berchild, but the Bears defense shut down the comeback attempt, and the forwards controlled the neutral zone to run out the clock. 

Meeting the Bears in Sunday’s finale will be Stillwater, which snuck past Edina 3-2 in overtime thanks to an outstanding performance in goal by Gavin Salazar and Landon Huber. Salazar got the call to start the game, holding the Hornets to just two goals in slightly under 21 minutes of play. Mason West and Parker Trottier were the scorers for the Hornets in the first. While Edina piled up scoring chances, Stillwater accursed offsides calls. No less than four Stillwater possessions were interrupted by players too enthusiastic about entering the offensive zone. 

Stifled puck-time aside, Carson Kingbay sliced the 2-0 Edina lead in half midway through the second period and set the stage for Luke Adams to tie the game with just under four minutes to play in regulation. Adams slammed home a shot from the slot over Hornet goaltender Luke Tselepis’s right shoulder to send the game into overtime. 

Luke Geisbauer ended it midway through the extra session, touching off a celebration that reached its apex along the same pane of arena glass that White Bear Lake’s had less than two hours before.