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Lakeville North unveils secret weapon in win over Burnsville

By Loren Nelson, Sport Ngin, 01/17/14, 11:30PM CST

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Grinder Ian Klotz scores gritty overtime goal as No. 5 Panthers upend No. 2 Blaze

Lakeville North celebrates after beating Burnsville in overtime. Photo by Katherine Matthews

Lakeville North celebrates after beating Burnsville in overtime. Photo by Katherine Matthews

Give the Poehling brothers the puck, some open ice and a second or two, and they can tic-tac-toe the opposition into submission.

Call it, Death by Poehling.

Lakeville North’s fleet-skating, slick-passing trio of brothers (Jack and Nick are juniors; Ryan is a freshman) combined for eight points in Saturday night’s thrilling 5-4 overtime victory over No. 2-ranked Burnsville at the Burnsville Ice Center.

The No. 5 Panthers (14-3-1), in the midst of one of the finest seasons in the program’s history, proved they are hardly a three-man show, however.

Jack Poehling scored three goals, two of them in gorgeous fashion on the power play, but it was “energy guy” and grinder Ian Klotz who scored the winning goal in a not-so-pretty way. The hustling Klotz stole the puck from a Burnsville defender behind the net, quickly brought it out front, then pounded away at it as if it were a piñata before finally sending it past Burnsville goaltender Dyllan Lubbesmeyer.

“I just told boys, ‘In overtime, you don’t care how it goes in, you really don’t,’ ” Lakeville North coach Trent Eigner said. “That’s the type of goal Klotzy should score. He’s on a line that provides us with a lot of energy. That line is all based on energy and hard work and, to be honest with you, being a little ugly. 

“To score one that way, for him, is a big thing. It’s exactly the the type of goal you can imagine seeing from that line.”

Klotz said his line is most concerned with shutting down the other team. Scoring goals is a nice bonus. Scoring goals in overtime against one of the state’s top-ranked teams is even better.

Biggest goal Klotz has scored in a while? “Mmmhmm,” he said with a nod. 

Biggest goal Klotz as scored, ever? “Yup,” he said.

Klotz had three goals entering the night. Jack Poehling had team-best 15.

Ugly? Certainly Jack Poehling wouldn’t describe Klotz’s goal that way. 

“He’s a grinder, and he just grinded it in,” Poehlind said. “That’s the beauty of it.”

Burnsville (11-5-0) led 3-0 early in the second, but the Panthers scored the next three goals to tie it midway through the third.

Burnsville defenseman Jack Ahcan’s snap shot into the upper corner with 7:54 left appeared to have won it for the Blaze, but Jack Poehling forced the overtime with a close-range goal with 52 seconds left in the third.

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