Eagles catch fire on home ice in section quarterfinals

Mason Moe emerged from a loud and raucous Eden Prairie locker room on Thursday night. The sounds of cheers and shouts still emanated from his teammates after the Eden Prairie boys hockey team dispatched Holy Family in the opening round of the Section 2AA playoffs with a resounding 6-2 victory.

Removed from his neck was “the chain,” the organically-conceived award given to the Eagles’ player of the game.

The sophomore forward — who scored two goals in the win — was happy to receive the recognition but was more pleased with advancing to the next round, telling his teammates they still had a long road ahead.

“I said, ‘Take it in now, and then when we leave, focus all of our energy on Saturday and take down Tonka,’” Moe said, referring to the Eagles’ next opponent, the top-ranked team in the state.

After a three-score first period for Eden Prairie, with goals from Cole Saterdalen, Rio Treharne and Billie Jacobson-Couch, Holy Family came to life in the second period with Thomas Laaksonen’s tip-in past Eagles goalie Isaiah Paulnock, drawing within two.

Paulnock was unfazed and went on to make 19 saves in the contest.

But the Fire’s goal set the stage for Moe, who lit up Rink 1 at Eden Prairie Community Center with a spectacular move in front of the Holy Family net after a pass from junior forward Alex Hall.

“It all started with Hallsey,” Moe said, referring to Hall. “He pickpocketed the guy and then sent it down low to me, and then I had a straight shot.”

Moe might be underselling his effort on the play, which included a remarkable shot launched past Holy Family goaltender Stef Carranza as Moe was falling to the ice. 

“Yeah, good effort,” Eden Prairie head coach Mike Terwilliger said, equally understated. “He was laying down on his stomach and still swept it out. Now that’s pretty talented play there.”

The goal ignited the capacity crowd in attendance and the Eden Prairie bench, which had the best view of Moe’s acrobatics.

“Yeah, the energy on the bench was phenomenal, too,” Moe said. “And the floodgates opened after that.”

Two minutes later, Eagles senior forward Dawson Miller put away a rebound off a shot from the point by junior defenseman Nick Koering, who had three assists on the night.

“It was just energy all around,” Miller said, describing his team’s mentality during the second period. “I feel like we’re all doing the little things right. And we were just playing as a team, getting pucks to the net, going hard. That was the key to our success today.”

Moe scored again before the period was complete; his blast from the high slot with just 37 seconds remaining before the intermission gave the Eagles a 6-1 advantage.

“We knew they were gonna bring it in the second period with their season on the line,” junior forward John Kleis said. “And we just came together with a team-first mindset the whole game and just played simple hockey and got it done.”

Terwilliger described the play of the line of Moe, Hall, and Kleis as “terrific” and was pleased with his forwards’ aggressiveness down low on the forecheck. It was critical to producing three goals in each of the first two periods.

“When we are focused on winning battles and moving our feet and being aggressive on the forecheck, and getting pucks and bodies to the net, usually good stuff happens,” he said.

As the second period drew to a close, Holy Family’s frustration rose to the surface.

The Fire drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when Holy Family junior Cameron Dean shot the puck at the Eden Prairie net long after the buzzer sounded to end the period.

Tempers flared after the incident before both teams cleared the ice for the second intermission.

At that point in the game, Eden Prairie players knew they would be advancing to play in the next round and encouraged one another to keep their collective composure.

“We were just focused on playing smart with our heads up and not doing anything dumb because we’ve got a bigger road ahead of us,” Kleis said.

The Eagles began the third period with a two-man advantage, thanks to two Holy Family penalties, but couldn’t capitalize.

“We really wanted to score on the five-on-three, just because we haven’t ever had any five-on-three goals,” Terwilliger said. “We didn’t love how we executed that.”

Terwilliger said the “stuff happening after the whistles” was somewhat of a concern, noting, “We were just telling the guys to keep their cool and keep playing hard, but just between the whistles, and we want everybody back for Saturday.”

Saturday’s task will be daunting for the Eagles, as they will face the No. 1 ranked team in the state, conference rival Minnetonka, for the third time this season.

The Skippers defeated Eden Prairie 4-0 on Jan. 20 and 6-0 on Jan. 15. Despite the losses, the Eagles have confidence an upset is in the offing.

“I like the way we’re going,” Kleis said. “We’re on a good path right now. And I think we’re going to stick together as a team, play team-first and see what happens.”

Minnetonka is undefeated with a record of 24-0-2, with their only ties coming to No. 2 Wayzata and No. 3 Edina. They dispatched Chaska in the opening round of the sectional playoffs with an 8-0 win.

But the Eagles’ “player of the game” in their opening round of the Section 2AA playoffs isn’t interested in statistics as the semifinals approach.

“We’re all ready to go,” Moe said. “Everyone in the locker room believes we can take them down, so that’s the plan.”