The Minnetonka boys’ hockey bench relies on kinetic energy from the top down. 

Head coach Sean Goldsworthy is continuously moving. Up onto the bench. Back down to the ground. He ventures to the forwards’ side of the bench to remind them that they cannot take any bad penalties late in the game. He changes course and converses with the Skippers’ defensive specialist on the other end.

“We have a pretty active bench with our coaches,” Goldsworthy said after his Skippers held off a late charge by Maple Grove to defeat the Crimson 5-2 on Friday night in St. Louis Park as part of the Tradition in the Park holiday tournament. 

“Steve (Aronson) does a good job with our forwards, and he’s on the next shift, and Jack Hillen is so good with our defensemen on (giving) feedback,” Goldsworthy continued. “What I’m doing is keeping those guys dialed in for the next shift.”

The Skippers, ranked No. 1 in Class AA, was a team certainly dialed in for the first two periods of Friday’s bout with the No. 3-AA Crimson, scoring three times in just over five minutes late in the second period to push their lead to 4-0 after two frames. 

Grant Docter scored the first goal of the game for the Skippers (11-0), while Griffin Streeter scored in the second in addition to Teddy Lagerback’s two goals. 

Justin Janicke scored twice for Maple Grove in the third, pulling the Crimson (7-1-1) within two goals at 4-2, but Goldsworthy said that the Skipper gameplay wasn't altered in the face of a shrunken lead. 

“We’re committed to doing what we do,” Goldsworthy said. “That’s what got us there, so we’re not going to change anything systematically. We’re going to skate. We’re going to play two-hundred feet.”

Goldsworthy added that Maple Grove is a team the Skippers’ staff expects to make a run to the Xcel Energy Center in March. 

“They’re a heck of a team,” Goldsworthy said. “They’re as good a team as we’ve faced this year. We really think that they’re a state tournament (caliber) team.”

Lagerback’s two goals in the second provided extra boosts for the Skippers, as he used his strength and positioning to whack a (relatively) loose puck past Maple Grove’s Jack Wienke to make the score 4-0 Minnetonka. 

“I just try to outwork everyone out there,” Lagerback said after the game. “I think that’s the biggest part of my game.”

Lagerback scored 19 goals during Minnetonka’s run to last season’s Class AA state championship, and after Friday night his season totals sit at nine goals and 14 total points. Lagerback is verbally committed to Arizona State as a junior.

“All the hard work in the summer pays off,” Lagerback said of his transition from a pleasant sophomore surprise to a player expected to be a difference-maker. “You just keep getting stronger and better mentally.”

“He’s got a really heavy stick, he’s really good around the net,” Goldsworthy said of Lagerback. 

“Teddy’s relentless. He has a really big hunger to score goals, and he’s strong on the puck. When Teddy plays with a pretty good pace, I think he can play with just about anybody.”