Eden Prairie forward Drew Holt (8) attempted a shot against Holy Family goaltender Bailey Huber (35) in the first period. Photo: Aaron Lavinsky ¥ aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com
Eden Prairie’s Jack Jensen kept apologizing for being in a state of shock after his team’s tough section championship game victory on Wednesday at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
The ninth-ranked Eagles overcame upset-minded Holy Family Catholic 3-1 for the Class 2A, Section 2 title. Jensen scored the game’s first goal and made a huge play to prevent the Fire from forcing overtime in the final seconds.
Eden Prairie led 2-1 and faced six Holy Family attackers for the final minute of the game. A scrum developed around the Eagles’ goal and Jensen watched the puck inch ever-closer to a tie game.
“It went under our goalie’s skate blade and it was on the goal line,” Jensen said. “I hit it out, otherwise it was going in.”
Eden Prairie (17-9-2) survived as sophomore Carter Batchelder and the sophomore scored his fifth goal of the playoffs – this one into an empty net about 185 feet away with 14.8 seconds remaining.
Holy Family (16-10-1) reached its third consecutive section final by upsetting top-seed and defending state champion Minnetonka in overtime of the semifinals.
Goalie Bailey Huber sparked the Fire early with an incredible glove save to thwart an Eden Prairie 2-on-1.
But Jensen and Drew Holt each scored later in the period. Sawyer Schugel answered for Holy Family.
“We needed to play a tight, low-scoring game for us to win,” Fire coach Noel Rahn said. “To get it to 2-1 going into the third was a good spot for us.”
Eden Prairie held on for a 3-1 victory against Holy Family Catholic in the Class 2A, Section 2 championship game played Wednesday at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
First-period goals from Mr. Hockey finalist Jack Jensen and Drew Holt were enough for the Eagles to qualify for next week’s state tournament. Teammate Carter Batchelder scored an empty-net goal for insurance with 14.8 seconds to play.
Holy Family’s Sawyer Schugel scored in the first period, but the underdog Fire got no closer.