One thing YHH noticed at the state the state tourney this past week was the pride some teams took in wearing school uniforms that were ripped, torn, or definitely game used.  Most of the players on these teams took pride in the scuffed up uniforms, wearing them like the un-mended tears and black scuff marks were badges of honor.  It reminded YHH of the same pride owners of rat rod’s (customized hot rods) take in their cars, a pride that exaggerates and emphasizes the old hot rod style while ignoring traditional period-correct restoration in favor of high performance.

Luverne’s hockey team was one of those rat rod teams (Duluth East was another).  They kept their old style appearance and built a hockey team based on performance and in Saturday’s Class A consolation championship played at Mariucci, almost beat the high performance Corvette at the drag race finish line.  The Cardinals lost 4-3 in double overtime.  But shed no tears, this Luverne team will be back.

Both Totino-Grace and Luverne lost their openers in the Class A state tourney last Wednesday.  Both won their consolation semifinals, Luverne beat Chisago Lakes Area 5-2 and Totino-Grace beat Orono 4-1.  Both teams met in the consolation championship at the maroon and gold drenched Mariucci Arena for a 10:00 game start.

Period One: Who Wants It?

Both teams opened the game as if their seasons had ended on Wednesday.  The Eagles had pressure in the opening minute; the Cardinals had shots on goal; and most of the play was missed passes in the neutral zone.  Four minutes into the period, the Cards had four shots on net, Grace had none, most of the shots coming on an Eagle's penalty.

The teams settled in the middle of the period, each teams's forwards starting to get some advantage on the defense on rushes.  With five minutes left, Luverne scored off a rush.  The Cards' Gunnar Olson fed Logan Norman in the slot who was taken down by an Eagle defenseman as Norman was shooting.  The puck rolled off Grace's goalie Dominic Wippler pad back into the slot only to see the rebounding puck right bounce of the sliding Eagle defender to his weak side left to Connor Hoffman.  Hoffman batted the puck into the net to put Luverne up 1-0.

The first period ended with Luverne leading 1-0.  Luverne's line of senior Jordan Dingmann, senior Jackson Frankenhoff, and junior Jake Aukes had some great shifts for the Cards in the first (and second periods). 

Period Two: Grace Dominates

The was no warm-up by the teams in the opening minutes of the second period.  The Eagles came to play.  They set up in the Luverne net and consistently got good shots on goal beating Luverne's defense down low.  In the opening minutes of the period, they had great scoring chances.  One where the Card's senior goalie Kendall Meyer made a diving poke check to knock the puck off of Grace's Ben Henderson stick before Henderson could bury the puck in an open net, led to the tying goal.

The Eagles turned the rebound into a two on zero rush on Meyer.  Meyer made the first stop, but Grace's junior Joey Brey put the rebound in the net to tie the game 1-1.  Juniors Kyle Brodt and Blake Vagle got the assists.

The Eagles kept the pressure on Meyer.  Another Grace rush developed out the right side two minutes later and resulted with the Eagles' senior Brandon Hilliard trying to push a puck covered by Meyer on his back into the net.  A few minutes later, Grace's senior Alex Johnson's point blank shot shot was blocked away by Meyer.

Then came the mystery goal that was disallowed by the refs.  Grace shot the puck from the left faceoff area low right with goalie Meyer screened by junior Andrew Schneider.  The puck caught the inside right post low and spun around the net and out.  No goal was ruled.  YHH does not know why.  But we have the pictures.

Grace came back after that call to score thirty seconds later.  Grace's senior Kai Barber broke across the top of the Luverne crease and Meyer attempted a diving poke check.  Barber evaded the poke check and scored on a back hander to put Grace up 2-1.  Grace continued to pressure Luverne in the Cards's zone for the rest of the period.  The second period ended with the Eagles leading 2-1.  Luverne looked beat going into the third period.

Period Three Luverne roars back

Both teams struggled in the opening minutes of the third period.  Totino-Grace played more cautiously.  Both teams now wanted to win.  Five minutes into the period, the Cardinals developed a two on one rush.  Junior Andrew Verhey beat the defense along the left boards and got time to shoot.  He beat Wippler high right to tie the game 2-2.  Jaxon Nelson got the assist.

The two teams battled over the next five minutes before the Eagles found the net to take back the lead 3-2.  This time Grace got the break when a weird bounce resulted in the Eagles' senior Nick Tandeski scoring.  Brennan Swan and Schneider got the assists.  A minute later, Luverne scored to knot the game and send it into overtime.  Gunnar Olson got the score.  Hoffman and Norman got the assists.

Overtime One: No fatigue, Whippler steps up

The first overtime was played with a three minute rest period between period.  Both teams were fired up and out to score the winner.  Totino Grace got the early pressure.  They couldn't score.  The Cardinal defense was cutting off the low attack that had been successful in the second period and forcing the Eagles wide on the offense.

Luverne's offense started to roll as the eight minute period started to wind down.  The Cards puck movement became quicker and started to get the Eagles defense to spin.  Whippler stepped up and made some big saves to keep the Eagles in the game.  The period ended, still tied.  Luverne had their best chances to end the game late in the first overtime.

Overtime Two: Both want to win, fatigue sets in

Both teams tried to fire up and score the winner in the first minutes of the second overtime, but both teams were tired and started cautious.  There were a few good chances to end the game because Grace ended the game four minutes into the final period of play.

The winning play came off a Luverne attack that had Grace's defense scattered.  A missed shot attempt resulted in an Eagle rush and score.  Brey got the winning goal, Swan and Brodt got the assists.

It was a good game to watch.  The "rat rodders" versus the "Corvettes" is an apt description.  Luverne players come from a town less then 5,000 and draws other players from smaller towns around it.  They develop players that learn the game the hard way by finding ways to play in a sparse hockey environment and developing.  Totino-Grace is a private school that draws from the a Twin City metro base of 5 million.

At YHH, we think it is great that the Totino-Grace provides kids an opportunity for a quality education while learning to play hockey; but we have to admire kids who have to create their own opportunities to learn the sport and excell.  The result is alot like the rat rod, unpolished and not glitsy on the outside but a great performer at a quarter mile.