On the final day of the season, the state’s top offensive player handed a compliment to a goaltender who just helped end his year.

“Schilling’s a great goalie,” Eden Prairie’s Casey Mittelstadt said after Wayzata’s Alex Schilling made 30 saves to knock off the top-seeded Eagles to win the Trojans’ first-ever state championship in front of more than 19,000 fans in St. Paul. “He’s probably the best goalie in the state that I’ve seen,” 

Trojans coach Pat O’Leary said praise of that caliber from Mittelstadt is a testament to Schilling’s performance this season.

“A comment like that from Casey Mittelstadt, who’s the most dynamic player in the state - we all know that - to say that (Schilling) is the best goalie in the state, that’s a compliment to him,” O’Leary said. “He deserves all that.”

Schilling and the Trojans didn’t just have to battle the high-flying Eagle offense throughout the game, they had to do it a man short for a cumulative 12 minutes, with a pair of five-minute boarding majors called against senior Luke Paterson and junior Hank Sorensen.

Sorensen’s penalty came in the second period after the Eagles had just taken a 3-1 lead and seemed poised to break the game open.

The Trojans instead found their own fire, with senior Billy Duma scoring a shorthanded goal and senior Matt Nelson scoring shortly after Sorensen’s penalty ended to tie the game 3-3 late in the second. 

O’Leary said that Sorensen’s bruising play may have been partly responsible for the Trojans ensuing level of play, but said that the entire team is full of physical players.

“Our team in general, all tournament played physical, if you want to call it that,” O’Leary said.

Sorensen’s take on his team scoring twice while he sat in the penalty box?

“Great show,” Sorensen replied, receiving chuckles from his coach, teammates and reporters. “It’s like I paid for a ticket and watched it myself.”

Junior defenseman Logan Lindstrand scored his second game-winner of the tournament in the third period, launching a wrist shot through traffic that beat Eden Prairie goaltender Shaun Durocher’s blocker.

Trojan sophomore forward Colin Schmidt added an empty-net goal with 1.3 seconds remaining to ice the win for the No. 3 seeded Trojans.

Mittelstadt, senior forward Michael Graham and junior forward Jarod Blackowiak scored for the Eagles.

In the post-game media session, Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith lauded both Mittelstadt’s commitment to the Eagles and co-captain Graham, a Notre Dame commit, for staying his full four seasons at the high school level.

“Michael Graham stays in high school hockey, plays four years for us” Smith said, his voice cracking with emotion. “He had opportunities to do anything. He stayed. He’s a winner.”

Grand Rapids 3, Stillwater 2

The Thunderhawks scored three times in the third period to erase a 2-0 deficit and claim third place by beating Stillwater 3-2 in Class 2A action on Saturday afternoon.

Brody Swanson and junior Noah Cates each scored a goal in the first period as the No. 2 seed Ponies (28-2-1) raced to a 2-0 lead.

After a scoreless second period, Brendan Mark, Drake Anderson and Mitchell Mattson all scored in a span of 10:35 to earn the victory for No. 3 seed Grand Rapids (23-7-1).

Stillwater goaltender Josh Benson made 30 saves for the Ponies, while his counterpart Gabe Holum made 28 stops for the Thunderhawks.

Summary: mshsl.org

Bemidji 4, Farmington 1

Summary: mshsl.org

Matt Fitzgerald, G, Bemidji
Nick Leitner, D, Bemidji
Alex Pollock, F, Bemidji
Alex Adams, F, Grand Rapids
Micah Miller, F, Grand Rapids
Jackson Cates, F, Stillwater
Casey Mittelstadt, F, Eden Prairie
Michael Graham, F, Eden Prairie
Nicky Leivermann, D, Eden Prairie
Alex Schilling, G, Wayzata
Grant Anderson, D, Wayzata
Hank Sorensen, D, Wayzata
 

Photos by Nick Wosika