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Centennial outlasts Lakeville South

02/22/2018, 1:15pm CST
By Staff Reports

Centennial's Allison Pitlick scores the game's first goal that stood up as the game winner. Image by: Tim Kolehmainen

St. Paul, MN - The Centennial Cougars and Lakeville South Cougars opened the first of four quarterfinal games that played out at the Xcel Energy Center Thursday morning as both teams battled for the right to move on the Minnesota State Class AA Girls Hockey Tournament.  The Cougars scored a pair of power play goals and skated to a 2-0 win to advance.

Lakeville South had a steady start to the hockey game, controlling much of the play for the first 10 minutes of play.  Building a 7-3 shots on goal advantage, South took a tripping penalty to open the door for Centennial and their 42% power play.  Sophomore Allison Pitlick popped home a rebound off the blocker pad of Lakeville South goaltender senior Lexi Baker for the 1-0 lead at 12:50 of the first period.  The original shot was taken by senior Anneke Lenser.

Lakeville South (19-10-0) makes their 5th state tournament appearance since 2009 and looked comfortable in the five-on-five situations.  After yielding the power play goal, South picked it’s game up to close out the period with an 11-5 shots on goal advantage.  Centennial was ranked in the top three most of the season in the weekly AP/Let’s Play Hockey rankings and have a talented front end led by Ms. Hockey Finalist and UMD bound senior Gabbie Hughes and Lenser.

Centennial (24-3-1) returned to St. Paul and the state tournament for the third time in school history and the first time since 2008. They took control of the start of the second period and a subsequent power play that South’s Baker shut the door on.  She had to be Lakeville South’s best penalty killer and was in turning aside a number of close range chances.  

It was a wave of puck possession and chances by Centennial through much of the second period with glorious scoring chances that Baker stood tall on in net for South, none better than a trio of sprawling saves off the goaline keeping it a one goal game. Centennial outshot Lakeville South 15-4 for the period and had firm control of the game yet the scoreboard at 1-0 didn’t say so.  

A third period surge by Lakeville South was repelled by Centennial’s defensive zone play including junior goalie MacKenna Stoterau who made 27 saves to earn the shutout including 12 in the third period.  Lenser and Hughes clicked on their fourth power play opportunity to give their Centennial team some breathing room at 2-0 with  which turned out to be the final score.

Centennial advanced to the semi-final round and will face the winner of the Hill-Murray and Eagan quarterfinal game.  Lakeville South moved to the consolation semi-final bracket and takes on the loser of the Hill-Murray and Eagan game.  

Tag(s): State Of Hockey  News