At the heart of Hockey Day Minnesota’s pomp and circumstance, a father watched his son turn in the gutsiest performance of the day.

Lakeville North junior goaltender Buzz Eigner made 27 saves as the Panthers (16-5-1) hung on to defeat Duluth East 3-2 in the Saturday afternoon finale at Duluth’s Bayfront Festival Park.

“It gets emotional when you start talking about your kids,” Panthers’ head coach Trent Eigner admitted after the win. “I usually deal with him in the context of being a player and I’m his coach,” Eigner said.

As a player, Buzz won the starting goaltender spot after a rotation to begin the season, and has subsequently posted a 11-3-1 record with a goals-against-average of 1.88 and a .901 save percentage.

“It feels good,” Buzz said of taking over the starting position. “I’m just proud I can fill the spot,” Buzz continued. “When I got in, I just wanted to do my job.”

Buzz’s job throughout the game on Saturday was to block out the off-ice distractions, notably the understandably larger and more vocal Duluth East crowd.

“(I) keep my head out of it,” Buzz said. “Focus on the puck, not my surroundings.”

Trent Eigner said that Buzz’s stalwart mentality helped the Panthers, ranked No. 8 in the latest Class 2A coaches’ poll, hang on in the early minutes of the game.

“(Duluth East) really came out hard,” Trent Eigner said. “And Buzz just kind of settled us down there and made a few key saves.”

Buzz’s given name is Brandon, but a childhood enthusiasm for Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear has followed Buzz through elementary school and beyond.

“(When he was) one, two, three years old, he wouldn’t let go of that toy, ever,” Trent Eigner reminisced with a laugh.

Junior forward Ryan Poehling scored a shorthanded goal late in the first period and assisted on the Panthers’ two other goals, scored by senior forward Max Johnson and junior forward Henry Enebak.

“To get (Poehling’s) goal, it just sent a message to our team that we’re not going to quit,” Trent Eigner said. 

The No. 14-2A Greyhounds (14-8-0) refused to quit either, with senior forward and captain Ryan Peterson scoring his second goal of the game early in the third period to pull the Hounds within one at 3-2.

Hounds’ junior goaltender Kirk Meierhoff made 28 saves in the loss.

Duluth East head coach Mike Randolph said that his team has shown great resiliency throughout the season, and will go about their business despite the disappointing loss.

“This team bounces back pretty well,” Randolph said, citing an early-season stretch where the Hounds won just two of nine games from Dec. 10 to Jan. 9.

The Hounds’ then went on an eight-game unbeaten streak, which ended on Saturday.

“Win or lose, it was a pleasure to be a part of (Hockey Day), and we’ll go back to work on Monday,” Randolph concluded.