Star Tribune on the Schwan Cup

carpenter guy · Post by **carpenter guy** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:37 am

Centennial, feeling right at home, wins in OT Before going to a shootout, the No. 4 Cougars nipped Bloomington Jefferson; Holy Angels held off Duluth East East. Roman Augustoviz, Star Tribune Last update: December 27, 2005 at 10:15 PM Printer friendly E-mail this story Prep Sports Boys' hockey: Eden Prairie 5, Elk River 3 With 1 minute, 6 seconds left in overtime, Centennial left wing Jordan VanGilder got a loose puck along the right boards in the Bloomington Jefferson end. Unhindered, he made a beeline for the net. "I made the goalie freeze," said VanGilder, "and then put it right past him." VanGilder's second goal of the game gave the Cougars a 3-2 comeback victory over Jefferson in the Gold Division quarterfinals of the Schwan Cup boys' hockey tournament. The Jaguars (7-2), rated No. 3 in this week's Star Tribune metro ratings, led 2-0 going into the third period on goals by Josh Levine and Scott Schofield. But the Xcel Energy Center is Centennial's rink, or so the players believe. "This is Centennial Sports Arena South. ... Our kids love this rink," Cougars coach Erik Aus said. "We're 9-0-1. Last year we got beat in a shootout by Moorhead [in the Schwan Cup], but technically that's a tie." No. 4 Centennial (6-2), repeatedly thwarted on good chances by Jefferson goalie Austin Lee -- who had 34 saves -- got its first goal when Josh Bergren scored at 5:01 of the third period from the left circle. Jefferson held the 2-1 lead until the last minute of regulation time. The Cougars pulled goalie Jack Hanna for another skater and got another chance at 16:12. Jordan Singer's shot from the low slot deflected left to VanGilder. He swatted the puck out of the air into the net, only a foot or so away. This was the first time these two Class 2A powers have ever played. "Austin Lee played a heck of a game," Aus said. "He's a big goalie, but he committed on the last goal." And VanGilder put his game-high eighth shot away, avoiding a shootout. In other Gold Division quarterfinals: Holy Angels 4, Duluth East 3: The No. 1-rated Stars (5-0) raced to a 3-0 lead in the first 11 minutes and seemed in control of this game until the final two minutes. Ninth-grader Danny Mattson's unassisted goal at 2:10 of the third period gave Holy Angels a 4-2 lead and proved to be the game-winner. That's because junior center Josh Turnbull completed his hat trick with 1:43 left in the third period to pull Duluth East (4-5) within 4-3. But the Greyhounds, who were outshot 33-14, could not duplicate Centennial's late comeback in the first quarterfinal. "This was good for us -- not to play real well and still win," said coach Greg Trebil, whose Stars have been winning by big margins. "... We played poorly a lot of the final period." Not at the start, though. Ryan Hurley gave Holy Angels a 1-0 lead 37 seconds into the game. Taylor Matson made it 2-0 at 4:27 and Jay Barriball intercepted a breakout pass and scored at 10:45 for a 3-0 lead. "What I told Barriball as he was coming off the ice after the first one was, 'It's too early to get a goal,' "Trebil said. "We just relaxed. ... That's the one thing I didn't want us to do. But it's just our fifth game and we're learning lessons." And teaching a few, too. Sweet 16 on hold The first Sweet 16 boys' hockey tournament, mixing Class 2A and 1A state powers in one huge 16-team field, was supposed to be played this week. It didn't happen. "Teams did not want to play four games in four days," said Barclay Kruse, media director of the far-flung Schwan Cup. Three boys' and five girls' varsity hockey tournaments are being played this week at venues across the metro area as cup events. Schwan Cup officials distributed a press release a year ago which quoted several prominent boys' coaches, hailing the coming of the Sweet 16 in 2005. "Some coaches wanted to do it," Kruse said, "but the issue was they couldn't squeeze four games into their schedules." Also discussed was a format with first-round games being played the week before at various sites. The general sentiment among coaches was those early games seemed too much like play-in games, Kruse said. "We're not giving up on [the Sweet 16]," Kruse said. "We'd still like to see it happen. We need more time for coaches to digest it and buy into it."