HSSR Hockey Game of the Week: Minnetonka vs. Wayzata
PLYMOUTH, Minn. — Consider the billing lived up to. No. 1 Minnetonka and No. 2 Wayzata met in front of a packed crowd at Plymouth Ice Center. Both entered the day without a loss and both stayed that way.
It was quite literally a game of inches. Minnetonka's Hagen Burrows had a shot take a weird carom off the corner of the post or net in the first period. It was called no goal on the ice. There were a plethora of chances like that in this back-and-forth, well-played battle.
It was 0-0 until the third period. The Skippers' David Baer took it himself from neutral ice. His wrister beat Trojans goaltender Even Turek on his glove side. The defending state champions had a long-awaited lead.
Fans may have thought the ice tilted because Minnetonka quickly went on their first power play. But Wayzata nearly flipped the script with a shorthanded two-on-one chance. But the Skippers' Hunter Bauer was there to stop it and preserve the lead.
The Trojans were one of just two teams to beat Minnetonka last season and they refused to lose this one. Rhys Wallin scored on a backhand shove right in front of the net. It was deadlocked again, 1-1 the score.
It went to overtime and Bauer made his last save his best. With three seconds left in OT he corrals the puck while lying flat on his back. The game ends in a 1-1 tie.
"You just gotta be disappointed," said Bauer. "We've been working our butts off for so long. We go out there, have a great time, play great, just don't get enough bounces. Come away with the tie. At least we didn't lose, but we're still sour."
"Oh it was buzzin," said Turek. "There was a lot of fans there, We noticed from the warm up. It got us going. We kept feeding on that intensity that the fans were bringing."
The tie is the first blemish on the record for Minnetonka. It was the second tie this season for Wayzata. The two teams will renew the rivalry soon. They play again on February 1st.
"They're a good team," said Turek, who made 23 saves. "They're a really good team but I feel like we could have won that game. So we have another chance against them and I feel like next time we'll get 'em."