Defense. 

According to Wayzata coach Pat O’Leary, it is one of his team’s greatest strengths, and he knew it would come into play Thursday when the No. 4-ranked Trojans hosted feisty No. 10 Burnsville at the Plymouth Ice Center.

Leading by three goals with 3 minutes remaining, Wayzata had to pull out all of the stops as the Blaze used a power-play push to score two goals in less than two minutes and nearly  force overtime in the Trojans' 4-3 victory.

In a final push to tie the score, Burnsville pulled goalie Nic Anderson and brought on the pressure, powering shot after shot at Wayzata goalie Aaron Dingmann.

Dingmann had notched 16 saves through the first and second period for Wayzata (12-2-0), but with the game on the line and the Blaze (7-7-1) on a roll, the Trojans did whatever they could to help clear the puck as the clock ticked down.

“You tell your kids to play 51 minutes and sometimes they do things that are uncharacteristic, defensively,” O’Leary said. “[Burnsville] had a couple really nice goals. Obviously, they have some good talent over there. You just can’t let those guys free.”

 “When you play the competition that we play, you gotta play the whole game.”

Wayzata and Burnsville seemed to be evenly matched in the early going. Both teams had posted six shots on goals as the second period got underway but the Trojans were able to get on the board first, ending the second period with a commanding 3-0 lead.

“We knew this was a big game coming into it,” junior forward Jack Sorenson said. “The last couple of games, we’ve been in a rut. We knew we had to come out sharp and getting out to that early lead really helped our momentum.”
 
Sorenson notched a goal and an assist and echoed Coach O’Leary’s emphasis on the team’s defense.

“Scoring goals is always big but our team, we believe defense is first,” he said. “We know that if we put up four goals that it’s going to be tough to beat us, based on our defensive play and our goaltending.”

The Trojans will be forced to test their defense once again on Saturday when they host top-ranked Hill-Murray at home, a challenge Sorenson said he is excited about taking on with his team.

“Nothing better than playing the No. 1 team in your home barn,” Sorenson said. “Should be a packed house, should be a good time.”