Lakeville South's Ryan Williams salutes the Cougars' student section after scoring a second period goal. Photo by Loren Nelson, LegacyHockeyPhotography.com
The puck got behind Lakeville South goaltender Cody Ticen, but he scooped it out of the crease to thwart a prime Rosemount scoring chance. Photo by Loren Nelson, LegacyHockeyPhotography.com
Two days after suffering one of the most devastating losses in their young lives, grinning Lakeville South players were whooping and hollering and creating quite the ruckus in the visitor’s locker room at Rosemount Ice Arena.
From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. Such is the life of high school hockey players grinding out the regular season against many of the state’s most talented teams.
Lakeville South’s 5-2 upset victory over previously unbeaten Rosemount on Saturday night came on the heels of the Cougars’ 4-1 loss to arch rival Lakeville North, that always emotion-charged matchup amped even more because of both teams’ then-unbeaten status.
Lakeville South's Cade Ahrenholz, left, gets a congratulatory hug from Jack Novak after Ahrenholz scored in the first period against Rosemount. Photo by Loren Nelson, LegacyHockeyPhotography.com
Cade Ahrenholz quieted the near-capacity crowd in the early minutes, Zach Oelrich scored the eventual winner in the third and Cody Ticen was steady throughout, making 31 saves as Lakeville South knocked Rosemount from the ranks of the state’s unbeatens with a 5-2 triumph on Saturday night at the Rosemount Ice Center.
Ahrenholz, a junior captain, scored on a wide-angle shot 1:32 into the first as Lakeville South (4-1-0, 3-1-0) showed no signs of a hangover from Thursday’s emotion-draining 4-1 loss to Lakeville North.
Rosemount (6-1-0, 3-1-0) entered Saturday’s South Suburban Conference matchup ranked No. 4 in the Class 2A state coaches’ poll.
Rosemount scoring leader Luke Levandowski tied it at 1-1 midway through the second, energizing the Irish student section among the crowd of about 900. But the Cougars regained the lead less than four minutes later on a goal by Ryan Williams. Oelrich put Lakeville South ahead 3-1 early in the third and three goals were scored in the final 3:33, including an empty netter by Reis Calderon with 7 seconds remaining.
Lakeville South’s Jack Malinski and Rosemount’s Zach Bade scored the other late goals.
Rosemount goaltender Will Tollefson finished with 15 saves.
The MN Hockey Hub poll is for entertainment purposes only.