Last weekend, it was an early Sunday morning game and one could tell by looking out on the ice.  Through the first seven minutes of the opening period, both teams were sleepwalking (or sleepskating).  Neither team accomplished much on the ice until Eden Prairie picked up the tempo and started to move the puck in the Hawks’ zone.

But he Eagles couldn’t beat the Hawk defense around the net.  They couldn’t score, and with five minutes to go in the period, the Hawks started to pressure the Eagles in the Eden Prairie zone.

The Hawk pressure led to an Eden Prairie tripping penalty with 3:03 left on the clock.  It set up a Hermantown power play.  The Hawks controlled the puck in the Eagles’ zone and moved the puck around the perimeter.  As the penalty was ending, a Hermantown forward took a shot from the blue line that was stopped by Eden Prairie’s goalie Thomas Moschet.

The puck rebounded into the right face off area to another Hawk who fired it at the net.  This time the puck rebounded before it got the goalie Moschet.  It rebounded into the slot to the Hawks’ Jesse Jacques.  Jacques attacked the net driving the puck ahead of him.  The puck found a crack and trickled into the net to put Hermantown up 1-0.  The Hawks’ Logan Judnick got the assist.  The goal came at 1:02, one second after the Eagle penalty had ended.  It wasn’t a power play goal, but it was.

Jacques and Judnick combined to score again before the period ended.  The Eagles were called for tripping with 30 seconds left in the first period.  With time running out in the first period, the Hawks mounted a last attack on the Eagles net.  This time the puck slid through Moschet to the right crease to Jacques.  Jacques beat Moschet’s poke check attempt and put the puck in the net to put the Hawks up 2-0 at the end of the first period.  The goal was scored with 3 seconds left in the period; Judnick got the assist.

The pace that had picked up at the end of the first period slowed in the first five minutes of the second period.  Neither team was forcing the play, instead opting to dump and chase the puck.

The Eagles brought early pressure on the Hawks keeping them in the Hermantown zone, but gradually the Hawks were developing rushes, breaking down the Eagle defense in neutral ice.

At five minute mark, Eden Prairie forward, Henry Burke ended up with the puck on the low right side of the net and fed Casey Mittelstadt in the slot.  Mittelstadt one-timed the puck past goalie Cade McEwen to cut the Hawks led to 2-1.  Burke got the assist.

Thirty seconds later, a hard shot on McEwen ended up trickling through McEwen’s pads into the right crease area.  Eden Prairie’s Nolan Sullivan beat McEwen’s poke check to slide the moving puck into the net for an unassisted goal.  Sullivan’s goal tied the game 2-2.  Mittelstadt and Sullivan were both YHH top 50 picks for the 2011-2012 season.

Less than a minute later, Hermantown drew an interference penalty and it led to an Eagle power play goal.  Thirty seconds into the power play, Sullivan came up with a loose puck in the slot moving to his forehand side and blasted a quick shot on the Hawks’ net.  He beat McEwen to put Eden Prairie up 3-2.  The Eagles Andrew Erwin got the assist.

Hermantown players were tired at the end of the second period as they headed for their locker room trailing 3-2.

Eden Prairie was still revved up when they returned to the ice at the start of the third period.  It took the Eagles two minutes to score their fourth goal and take a 4-2 lead.  Casey Mitteltstadt got the goal scoring his second goal of the game.

The Eagles looked to be on their way to an easy third period and a victory.  The Hawks played tired until an Eagle penalty at the 12 minute mark.  The Hawks scored off a rush from the top of the left face off circle.  Hermantown’s Ryan Sandelin scored on a hard shot that beat the Eagles goalie Thomas Moschet through the 5-hole to cut the Eagles lead to 4-3.

The Eagles were now on the defensive.  Two more penalties, one at the 9 minute mark and one at the 8 minute mark, put the Hawks on a 5-on-3 power play.  The Eagles killed the penalties, but it changed the game momentum.  The Eagles were now on the defensive.

At the 4 minute mark, the Hawks’ James Warmington scored an unassisted goal from the right slot to tie the game 4-4.  With regulation time running out, the key play of the game was made; the Hawks were given a penalty with 36 seconds on the clock.

Though Eden Prairie brought pressure on the Hawks’ net, they couldn’t score and regulation time ended with the game tied 4-4.  But the Hawks penalty carried over into the overtime.  It took the Eagles thirty seconds of overtime to win the game.  On the attack via a 3-on-2 rush in the Hawks’ zone, an Eagle wing hit Mittelstadt in the slot.  He fired a quick high hard shot past McEwen into the upper right corner to win the game 5-4.  The Eagles’ Hunter Johannes and Andrew Erwin got the assists.

The game started slow and turned into a barn burner.  The Eagles looked ready to put the game away several times especially in the third period only to draw penalties to take them out of their game.  The Hawk forwards could fly and it resulted in both teams playing excellent hockey at various times, but eventually the Hawk forwards tired slightly and slowed.

The rivalry between the two teams will continue this weekend.  The Hawks return to the cities to play Edina Saturday morning and the Eagles Saturday night.  The Eagles will be playing Shattuck’s bantam 99 Tier I team Saturday morning.  The Shattuck bantams retained their #1 ranking among 99 Tier I teams in the county this week despite being upset by Team Wisconsin last week.

YHH will be at the Shattuck game.  It is fun to watch these two teams’ players continue to play together as they get older.  This rivalry could result in another state tourney confrontation next March only this time it could be in the championship game.  That would be something to see.