There were cheers, there were jeers and then there was Garrett Daly, raising his arms in triumph.

Undaunted by his first shot attempt of overtime, the Lakeville North junior defenseman tried once again to weave the puck through the battalion of players, both friend and foe, camped in front of the Lakeville South net.

Daly collected his blocked shot, flung it toward the Cougars’ goal, and peeled to the left just in time to see the disc wobble through through Cougar goaltender Isaiah DiLaura’s five-hole, giving Lakeville North a 3-2 overtime victory.

“I was trying to get the puck to the net and see what happens,” Daly said after the game. “I guess it worked out,” he added with a grin.

That’s one way to put it.

Lakeville South, ranked No. 14 in the latest Class AA state coaches’ poll, gripped the momentum when senior defender Sam Malinski beat Lakeville North netminder Buzz Eigner with just 4:41 to play in regulation, but the break between the third period and the extra session refocused the Panthers.

“From the first shift of overtime on, I felt like we did a good job,” Lakeville North coach Trent Eigner said.

The Panthers’ experience, with a whopping 13 seniors on the varsity roster, also played a key role in retaining their composure.

“We’ve got a dozen seniors on our team, so they’re gonna know how to react,” Eigner said. “They’ve been in a bunch of these situations before.”

Another frequent situation the No. 7-AA Panthers (8-2-1) have enjoyed is that of Cougar-slayer, having not lost to Lakeville South since Dec. 20, 2012.

Despite the Panthers’ nearly four years of dominance over their neighbors, who’s den lies just 2.3 miles south of the Lakeville North campus, each iteration of the rivalry game brings its own set of emotional highs.

“These games are fun to play in,” Eigner said. “The environment was crazy-good, and their fans were loud as hell,” Eigner added.

After a scoreless first period, Blake Brandt and Spencer Schneider scored for the Panthers in the second frame. North surrendered a goal to South’s Cory Checco with 4:38 to play until the third period, when Malinski scored his tying goal for the Cougars (8-4-1).

In approximately three weeks, the rivalry will boil again, this time on the Panthers’ home ice at Ames Arena.

Daly says that his team will avoid an emotional letdown by pretending the first game didn’t happen.

“(We will) come back with even more energy and don’t think about the first game,” Daly said. “Just know that we can take it to ‘em if we play well and keep it going.”