Last night, the two of the top District 8 teams, YHH ranked #4 Eagan and #6 ranked Sibley, played in a game that meant a lot to the Wildcats.  Eagan had lost to 4-2 just before Thanksgiving to the Warriors.  It was the Wildcats only loss of the season and their only D8 loss.  A second loss would make it more difficult for the Wildcats to catch the Warriors in D8 as the season rolled on.

Eagan had a great Thanksgiving weekend, winning the Mounds View Super Rink Spectacular Tourney beating a tough Chaska A team 5-1, edging an improving Rogers team 2-1, and beating a surprising Mounds View in the championship 6-2.  Two days later the Wildcats beat Lakeville North in another key D8 match-up 2-1.  They were on a roll.

For Sibley, a D8 win over the Wildcats would distance the Warriors from the rest of D8 and maintain their perfect D8 record.  Sibley played tough in Eden Prairie’s First Test of the Best Tourney over Thanksgiving, losing to Rochester AA 5-4, beating Blaine AA 6-5, and tying Prior Lake AA 1-1 in pool play.  The Warriors have been missing some players over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Last night’s game became a defensive battle, with both teams having trouble beating the other’s goal tender.  Sibley won 1-0 on a late first period goal that held up through fierce pressure from Eagan late in the second and third periods, but in the end, the game result was determined by an honest timekeeper.

A feeling out period

Both teams played their fifth game in the last six days last night and both teams spent the first period trying to get back into a game flow.  That showed when Eagan drew a tripping penalty in the first minute of the game.  Sibley established control of the puck in the Wildcat zone and held the puck for most of the 2 minute power play in the zone.  But it was a listless power play and an equally listless penalty kill that resulted little puck movement, in few shots, and no score.  The Warriors were able to tie the Wildcats up low in the zone and come up with easy shots from the blue line that they were slow to take allowing the Wildcats to recover and block any shot.

The Warriors’ Luke Williams generated the one bright spot in the opening period of play.  He took a nice pass from the right side and beat the Eagan defense along the left boards.  Williams broke into the left face off circle and beat the Wildcats’ goalie Ty Hawes on a hard shot to the right corner.  Sibley led 1-0.  It was the game winner.  Grayson Milosch and Danny Magnuson got the assists.

Game On

The second period opened with both teams picking up the pace.  The passes were sharper, the puck moved faster, the teams transitioned quicker from defense to attack.  At the 8 minute mark, the pace went even higher and it turned into a great hockey game.  Each team worked the puck, both goalies made some big stops.

As the second period wound down, the bigger, stronger, Wildcat team began to dominate play.  Their puck possession lasted longer, their attacks on the Sibley goal were more sustained, and goalie Robbie Wolfe was starting to make multiple stops on the Wildcat attack.

For the last two minutes of the second period, Eagan dominated the Warriors, controlling the puck in the Sibley zone, but could not score.  The second period ended with Sibley up 1-0.

The Honest Timekeeper

Sibley players must have felt they had lost the initiative at the end of the second period.  They came out determined to take control of the game.  They didn’t take control, but they balanced out an equally determined Wildcat attack.  Both teams were now in their rhythm, moving the puck well.  The game pace was high and the two teams battled evenly.  At this point in the game, both goal tenders stood out, making difficult stops.

But just as Eagan took control of the game at the end of the second period, the Wildcats took control of the game at the end of the third period.  In one sequence, a Wildcat attack from the left sent a hard rebound to the “sweet spot” in the slot in front of the Sibley goal forcing Sibley’s goalie Wolfe to make a great move to the top of the slot and take a hard shot from point blank range.  Wolfe then had to hold on as the bouncing puck was battered by both teams until the whistle was blown.

With 10 seconds left to go in the game and Eagan still trailing 1-0, the puck was tied up in the Sibley zone and a face off called outside the Warriors blue line left.  The Wildcats had already pulled their goalie.  They loaded up their offense, won the faceoff drove the puck into the Sibley zone and created another melee with the clock winding down to 3.3 seconds.  Then the clock stopped and the game continued.  Seconds later, the Wildcats pushed the puck through Wolfe to score what would have been then tying goalie.  But the Sibley bench quickly pointed out that the clock had stopped.

The ref checked the timekeeper who honestly said that he had mistakenly stopped the clock early and that time should have run out before the goal was scored.  The ref went with the timekeeper’s judgment, ran the 3.3 seconds off the clock, and ruled the game over.  Sibley won 1-0.

It was a great game to warm up the fans on both sides on a night that saw wind chill temperatures running in the -20 degrees; but some of the Wildcat fans were more likely heated in the neck and face than warmed.  Sibley’s next D8 game is at Wakota Arena, December 11 against Woodbury.  The Warriors also have games with Andover AA and Minnetonka AA in the coming week.  Eagan’s tough week continues with a D8 game against Farmington at Farmington on Saturday.