It would be difficult to top the thank you that Camryn Noess dedicated to her senior teammates on Friday night.

The junior goaltender made an impressive 32 saves to lead her Shakopee Sabers to a 3-1 "Senior Night" win over South Suburban Conference rival Lakeville South in the new Shakopee Ice Arena.

She even used her face as a primary shot-blocker near the end of the game.

“It’s pretty good,” Noess said with a laugh after the win, referring to her freshly rattled mask. “It stings a little bit.”

Noess’ face-save came with Lakeville South (17-7-0, 15-2-0) threatening late in the third period, where the Cougars peppered Noess with 17 shots but only converted once.

“We take pride in taking care of our defensive zone,” Saber head coach Erin Hunt said, a nod to Shakopee’s ability to clear rebounds and opposing players from the slot. “We spend a lot of time on it in practice, and play disciplined hockey,” Hunt added.

Junior forward Jackie Falk scored two goals for the Sabers (14-6-5, 8-5-4), and senior Lauryn McNeil drew first blood in the first period for Shakopee.

Senior forward Maddy Fox scored the lone goal of the game for the Cougars, ranked No. 9 in the latest Class AA state coaches’ poll. 

At least a small portion of gratitude for McNeil’s ninth tally of the season can be attributed to her between-period ritual of eating three carrots.

Yes, carrots.

“It’s just a little boost of sugar for me before each period,” McNeil explained. “I like carrots and figured three for a three period (correlation),” McNeil continued, adding that she has no plans to halt the trend.

“I just started doing it this year actually, and we’ve been playing really well, so I just kept going with it.”

Carrots aside, Hunt says that the true key to the Sabers’ success this season has been time-honored traits of hard work and fortunate timing.

“I think all year we’ve worked hard, and we’ve worked on our systems,” Hunt said. “I’m hopeful that we’re peaking at the right time heading into playoffs.”