Quantcast
skip navigation

Moorhead comes from behind twice to take down Minnetonka

By Heather Rule, SportsEngine, 01/13/17, 7:00AM CST

Share

The Spuds scored five goals in the second period and four in the third to defeat the Skippers 9-5.




Moorhead junior Carter Randklev netted four goals Friday night in Minnetonka to help the Spuds beat the Skippers 9-5. Photo by Korey McDermott, SportsEngine


Moorhead junior forward Carter Randklev already had a hat trick with about 10 minutes left in the game and he wasn’t done. From his own zone, he fired a shot down the length of the ice and nestled it into an empty net with 1:37 left to complete his four-goal evening. 

“Late in practice, I kind of practice on those ones,” Randklev said. “It just kind of came in the game situation.” 

His four goals were part of the Spuds’ 9-5 victory over host Minnetonka (8-4) on Friday night at Pagel Activity Center.

The score didn’t necessarily indicate the type of game it was, said Moorhead's coach Jon Ammerman, “but it was a fun game to be a part of.” 

“It was kind of a tale of two games,” Ammerman said. “In the second half, maybe we slipped a few past them they weren’t expecting.”

The scoring came in bunches, including a five-goal second period for the Spuds with four that went unanswered. 

“We slowly started pulling away,” Randklev said. “The momentum changed a lot, and we had a lot more energy.” 

The scoring started for Moorhead, ranked No. 19 in Class 2A in the state coaches' poll, about five minutes into the second on a shot from Randklev that just went in off the goaltender’s glove. It appeared the momentum of tying the game would be short-lived, however, when Skippers’ senior co-captain's Jack Bowman and TJ Rogers scored within two minutes to give the Skippers a 3-1 edge. 

Then the Spuds (10-3-1, 2-1) took over on the scoresheet. The team tried to get into it in the second, Ammerman said. 

“Hockey’s an emotional game,” he said. “Toward the middle part of the period, we started to play with some emotion.”

Moorhead scored a pair of goals in 34 seconds to tie the game at 3-3, the first coming from a lead pass from their own zone and the second from jamming the puck home with the goaltender sprawled on his back.

In the final minute of the second, the Spuds struck again, scoring another pair of goals 27 seconds apart for a 5-3 advantage headed into the second intermission. 

It was Randklev’s second goal – coming with 50 seconds left in the period to go up 4-3 – the he pointed to as his favorite. He went into the zone with speed, lost the defender and dragged the puck with him before picking a corner in the net for the goal.

“I just kind of toe-dragged it as much as I could and got lucky on a good shot,” Randklev said.

The No. 11-2A Skippers’ Anders Johnson got his team right back in it to make it a 5-4 game just 43 seconds into the third period, but it was as close as they got before Moorhead scored four in the third period.

In goal, junior Lance Leonard – who got an assist on Randklev’s empty-netter – made 28 saves. For the Skippers, sophomore Charlie Glockner made 8 saves in the first two periods, and senior Matt Muller made 7 saves in the third period.

With the offensive outburst from both sides, it’s almost hard to believe the game was 1-0 Skippers with a total of 11 shots on goal after the first period. 

“We kind of started off slow,” Randklev said. “We just figured that we needed to do something to come back and get a good second period going.”


Minnetonka's TJ Rogers nets one of his two goals on the night, but they proved not to be enough as his team was beaten 9-5 by Moorhead. Photo by Korey McDermott, SportsEngine

First Report

Moorhead (10-3-1, 2-1) prevailed in a high-scoring affair to extend its streak to four games with a 9-5 victory over host Minnetonka (8-4) Friday night at Pagel Activity Center. Junior forward Carter Randklev scored four goals.

The scoring started for the Spuds about five minutes into the second on a shot from Randklev that just went in off the goaltender’s glove to tie the game up at 1-1.

It appeared the momentum would be short-lived, however, when Jack Bowman scored a power-play goal for the Skippers just over a minute later and TJ Rogers followed quickly with his second goal of the game to give Minnetonka a two-goal advantage. But it was then that the Spuds took over on the scoresheet.

The Spuds put up five goals in the second period, including four unanswered after going behind 3-1. The Spuds, ranked No. 19 in Class 2A by the state coaches' poll, started the comeback by scoring a pair of goals in 34 seconds to tie the game at 3 apiece.

In the final minute of the second, Moorhead struck again. The Spuds scored another pair of goals 27 seconds apart, with 50.5 and 23 ticks remaining in the period for a 5-3 advantage headed into the second intermission. They certainly made the most of their chances, scoring those five goals on just 13 shots. 

In goal, junior Lance Leonard made 28 saves for Moorhead. For the No. 11-2A Skippers, sophomore Charlie Glockner made 8 saves in the first two periods, and senior Matt Muller made 7 saves in the third period.



A Skipper and a Spud come together at center ice during play Jan. 13. Photo by Korey McDermott, SportsEngine

Photo Gallery


A young Minnetonka fan in dismay as Morehead celebrates another goal. Photo by Korey McDermott, SportsEngine

Most Popular

Spotlight Game Coverage