Photo Gallery: Eagan vs. Hastings
"We haven't had much success in this tournament, and we've struggled in the past couple of years," Hastings coach Adam Welch said. "But we're off to a good start, and we were able to battle through all three games in this tournament."
Friday's title contest at Doug Woog Arena was an uphill battle for the Raiders, as they were outshot 42-18 and saw two leads erased.
"We just tried to take it one shift at a time," said Hastings goaltender Tyler McCarville, who finished with 39 saves. "We were missing a lot of key players, but we just tried to take things one shift at a time."
Eagan seemed to have the upper hand early in the contest, but it was the Raiders who jumped to a quick two-goal lead thanks to power-play markers by Nolan Conzemius and Jack Klimek in the game's opening seven minutes.
"We spent a lot of time in our defensive zone, but when we had chances we took advantage of the opportunities," Welch said. "To beat a good team like Eagan, those kinds of things have to happen.
"Those goals gave our team a bit of a jump and a jolt, and it also gave our team some leeway to make some mistakes”
One mistake came on a goal by Eagan's Eli Dolney late in the first period, and the second came on a short-handed tally by Nick Sherek that tied the contest just 3 minutes, 6 seconds into the second.
But Hastings kept fighting, and the Raiders were rewarded when Isaac Flynn scored on the power play at the 6:07 mark of the second period.
"Giving up the lead can kill the mojo you've got going, so it's tough to battle back," McCarville admitted. "But once you bounce back, it's solid from that time out because you know you can do it."
Eagan tied the game at 13:16 of the second period thanks to a goal by Jonny Meiers, but the Raiders were happy to escape the period tied 3-3 as Eagan held a 14-2 shots-on-goal advantage.
"Big shout-out to Tyler McCarville — he stood on his head," Kendall said.
But McCarville had plenty of help.
"Everyone was blocking shots," McCarville said. "And our guys kept clearing the ice in front of me and chipping pucks out when they had the chance."
Welch agreed.
"We had to commit to blocking a lot of shots. But we also committed to keeping the front of the net clear, and I thought we did a good job of that,” he said. "Our guys were dedicated to making the 'simple' play. For example, we didn't try to make fancy plays coming out of our zone; if we had to chip the puck to get it out, we chipped it out."
That strong defensive effort by Hastings did not escape the eye of Eagan coach Mike Taylor.
"They played really tight in their own zone," Taylor said of the Raiders. "They blocked shots, and their kids played really, really hard. And they have a very, very good goalie in McCarville."
Hastings netted the game-winner when Jax Schauer took advantage of an odd-man rush to create a scoring opportunity. Schauer's shot was stopped by Eagan goalie Derek Manzella, but Kendall netted the rebound at 5:29 of the third period.
"Schauer broke out, and I saw he was beating his man," Kendall said. "I knew that if he got to the net, the puck would go in or bounce to me. It was an insane feeling to get that goal, but the credit goes to Schauer."
As a result, the Raiders claimed their fourth straight victory and improved to 8-2 on the season, thanks to a defense that has allowed just five goals in its eight victories.
"That's the way it has been all year long," Welch said. "We've been battling some injuries, but our kids keep stepping up.
"We've not made any excuses all year. We don't hang our heads or pout; we're on to the next shift, the next play."
Meanwhile, Eagan, which saw a five-game win streak snapped, fell to 7-3.
"I don't want to take anything away from Hastings, but we helped them out at times," Taylor said. "One, we had too many shots blocked and didn't make adjustments. And we didn't take care of any details in our own defensive end. We were thinking all offense."