Section 4A Championship game

Arriving at the St. Thomas arena fifteen minutes before the start of the game, parking was easy; leaving the one exit after the game was slow.  Cars were parked everywhere, no spots left "unparked".  The crowd inside looked reasonable in size at the start, something expected with only two teams playing tonight in the “Cave”, but it grew over the next 30 minutes to a packed arena.  Where they came from was a mystery, who they were cheering for was not.  Clearly half the crowd was United, the other half South St. Paul.

South St. Paul senior goalie Sydney Conley played a great game often stopping the puck without surrendering her position.  She would often then follow the rebound ready to make a second save.  She had to as the St. Paul United team led by a great line of sophomore Joie Phelps, ninth grader Samantha Burke, and sophomore Lauren Boettcher pounded the net with 35 shots.  United outshot the Packers 16-1 second period and could not beat Conley in the nets.  But that is only part of the game story.  Both teams put on quite a show.

The first period opened with United’s top line of Phelps/Burke/Boettcher pressuring the Packers in the South St. Paul zone.  The Packers defense did not try to hurry to the puck out of their zone, but took time to find the holes to clear the zone.  They kept the Spartans away from the slot area and the defense blocked United’s shots from the blue line area.  Conley took care of the rest.  The game settled after that opening flurry with United’s top line carry the action into the Packer’s zone, and the Packers carrying the action into the United zone against SPU’s #2 and #3 lines often forcing United’s junior goalie Catherine Johnson to make the big save.  The first tough test for the Packers came with four minutes left in the period.  South St. Paul drew a minor penalty and surprisingly, the Packer penalty killers kept United from setting up on the power play.  South St. Paul killed the penalty.  The first period ended in a 0-0 tie.  United outshot the Packers 10-6 in the period.

St. Paul United kicked the game pace up at the start of second period and relentlessly attacked the Packer net.  The Spartans moved the puck quickly as they pinned the Packer defense keeping them from changing lines.  United controlled play and in one sequence, they had four successive shots blocked by the Packer defenders that never reached the goaltender Conley.  Each time the United forwards would retrieve the puck and re-launch the attack.

The Packers were forced to ice the puck to get a change and the Packer defense was tiring with six minutes left in the period.  By now the crowd was totally into the game and the South St. Paul defense was playing in front of the United fans.  When the Packers drew a penalty with just under two minutes left in the second period, the United fans got louder.

The tired Packer defenders couldn’t stop the United attack, but Conley could.  She spent the first minute of the the power play constantly diving, stopping and fighting to control the puck against a tough United set of forwards.  But in the last minute of the penalty, the Packers rallied and started to get some pressure the United goal.  The period ended in a 0-0 tie.  Conley stopped 16 United shots, but that count was low.  Conley stopped more than 16 often making two or three rapid fire saves that was counted as one.  In YHH estimated that United fired 40 to 50 shots at the Packer net in the second period with the Packer defense blocking a good number of the shots before they got to Conley.  When all was done in the second period, St. Paul United would have a one second power play to open the third period.

The third period opened with St. Paul United on the attack and two minutes into the period a United goal was disallowed by the ref.  It was a bad call, based on a quick whistle.  Conley made the initial save, but a United forward was there to put the puck in the net with the puck dropping in front of the net before he made the call.

St. Paul United drew a penalty two minutes later.  The Packers gained control on the power play in the United zone, but the Spartan penalty kill was not aggressive, they sat in the box and were looking for the quick breakout and the solo breakaway.  They never got it.  Instead South St. Paul worked the puck to the right faceoff to junior Abigail Felton.  Felton buried the puck in the Spartan goal and half of the arena erupted as the pep band tried to be heard playing the Packer rouser.

Leading 1-0, with 12:05 on the game clock, South St. Paul went defensive focusing on turning the puck.  With eight minutes left in the game, the Spartans drew another penalty.  United killed the penalty playing more cautiously.  Still trailing 1-0, United drew another penalty with just under two minutes left in the game.  But the Packers were called for a trip with 43 seconds left on the clock.  Skating 4-on-4, St. Paul United senior Kate Hallett found open ice in the deep slot and finally beat Conley to tie the game 1-1 and send it into overtime.

The overtime opened with players still in the penalty box and skating 4-on-4.  No team could score in the first minute, but the Packers drew a second penalty with United at full strength and still one player down.  For 18 seconds United pounded Conley in the net and missed a wide open shot.  They kept the pressure on until the Spartans drew an interference penalty.  Back to skating 4-on-4, both teams had some shots.  Then the Packers’ penalty expired and South St. Paul went on the power play.  The Packers moved the puck into United’s zone, got the puck low left and scored.  For a fraction of a section, the place was quiet.  Then it erupted.  Even the Packer band played.  Junior AJ Deering got the score.  Sophomore Sonja Pearson and Felton got the assists.