Heading into the final game of the Squirt 3v3, the two best teams in the tournament were also the highest scoring, by far.  On paper this game looked to be high scoring as well. The only problem is, no one told that to Anton Castro from White Bear and Jack Wieneke from Maple Grove. From the get go, both goalies seemed to have complete control of their crease and only let in the hardest working goals. Midway through the game, the score was 5-5.  Not exactly the fireworks display most expected.

Maple Grove got up early.  With a 5-1 lead, the Crimson had all of the momentum and control of the play.  Outshooting the Bears by a 3-1 margin. Slowly but surely, White Bear’s goalie Anton Castro started to become a bigger and bigger factor.

The Bears would get the score to 5-2, then 5-3 and Castro started to answer every Maple Grove attack with a big save.  Soon it would be tied at 6 heading into the second half and the momentum began to shift.  Up 8-6, Maple Grove’s Kyle Kukkonen, the tourney scoring leader, hit the right post to cut the lead to 8-7. White Bear on the counter attack answered when Lleyton Roed hit Chaz Lucius standing on the back door stoop to give the Orange a 9-6 lead.

The teams would trade goals, until late in the game.  Down 12-9 with six minutes left, Bitty Brother Justin Janicke drew a penalty.  On the Penalty Shot it was Castro again with a huge leg save to preserve the three goal lead.  Minutes later, Ryan Sweeney scored on a laser of a shot past Wieneke to give the Bears a four goal lead with four minutes to go.  One onlooker said, “it’s taken Maple Grove 50 minutes to get nine on Castro, I doubt he’s going to give up four…” And he was right.  White Bear went on to win 16-10, and earn the title of Team to Beat for Squirt A this season.
Anton Castro was our tournament MVP. Winning every start, stopping 67 shots in the Finals…but more important stopping the shots when it mattered most keeping his team alive early. His save total didn’t include the eight pipes the Crimson managed to ring  as well. There was a lot of metal ringing on both sides of the rink Sunday.

In other action Sunday: Eagan beat Edina Hornets 15-14, Edina tied it at 14 with less than a minute left with a pulled goalie, before Edina could get their goalie back in the net, Eagan fired a Hail Mary and scored to win it 15-14 and the Edina Saints knocked off Eden Prairie 17-14.

Scoring Leaders:

Kyle Kukkonen – 27/21 for 48 PTS

Chaz Lucius – 30/12 for 42 PTS

Cruz Lucius – 31-6 for 37 PTS

Jonny Meiers – 30-7 for 37 PTS

Drew Holt – 28/9 for 37 PTS

Justin Janicke – 26/11 for 37 PTS