What did Chaska goaltenders Jack Stark and Justin Bach discuss in the waning minutes of the Hawks’ 4-3 win over Edina?

Did they talk strategy? The Hornets’ shooting tendencies? When would the Hornets pull their goaltender and send out an extra attacker?

The answer is none of the above. 

“If you saw me at the end of the two timeouts (near) the end of the third period, I just went over to him and said ‘Jack, tell me something that isn’t related to hockey,’” Bach said after the game. “I asked about his girlfriend, I asked about his family,” Bach continued. “I was just trying to stay away from it.”

Bach, a senior, has rotated evenly with the sophomore Stark this season and got the starting call against the Hornets, ranked No. 2 in Class AA. 

“We know Justin’s a gamer,” Chaska coach Dave Snuggerud said. “He’s had this game circled on his calendar for a long time.”

Bach made 16 saves in the win, the second time he’s bested a Hornet squad that has entered a game with zero losses on the season. 

“(Justin) was telling stories from when they were Peewees, he was telling stories from when they were Bantams, he remembers these games against these Edina teams,” Snuggerud said. 

Bach and many of the same Chaska Hawks that lined up against Edina on Saturday snapped the 75-game winning streak of the Edina Peewee AA program, with Bach earning the win between the pipes in December of 2013. 

“We kind of live for the competition, we live for the big game,” Bach said. “We weren’t where we needed to be at the start of the season, and coming into this weekend, we all had (the game) circled.”

Edina (9-1-1) raced to a 3-0 lead in the first period, with Jett Jungels scoring twice and a goal from Grant Morton sandwiched between the Jungels tallies. Blaine Warnert scored the lone goal of the period for the Hawks. 

Rhett Pitlick scored his first of two goals on a shorthanded score in the second period, and then tied the game at the 9:35 mark of the third on a booming slap shot that beat Edina goaltender Louden Hogg cleanly. 

“We had a good talk before the third period, just knowing that we could come back,” Pitlick said. “We just buried our chances.”

Pitlick and Mike Koster played give-and-go for the Chaska game-winner, with Pitlick sliding a reversed pass to Koster before Koster converted a wrist shot with 2:34 left in the third. 

The game-winning goal came with a man-advantage, as the Hawks (7-5) worked out the kinks from their power play after going scoreless and managing just one shot on goal during a five-minute advantage in Friday’s win over Prior Lake. 

“They’re all skilled players, and they all want their goals, but the difference was sharing the puck a little bit more (today),” Snuggerud said.

“I love that our skill guys try to make some plays. At times it’s too fancy, but that’s alright,” Snuggerud continued. “We like to see our players be dynamic.”