Eagles upended by Holy Family in section semifinals

They do things the right way for EP. … If any group deserves to go to St. Paul, it’s this group.”

Eden Prairie head coach Mike Terwilliger

Nick Koering stood behind the glass at the south end of an empty Braemar Arena in Edina on Saturday night, his gaze distant as he looked out onto the ice.

The co-captain and his teammates on top-seeded Eden Prairie had just suffered a 5-2 defeat in the Section 2AA boys hockey semifinals, upset by No. 4 seed Holy Family.

“I was just kind of taking a look, that was it,” Koering said. “High school hockey is kind of in the books, so just looking over all the games, all the hard work and everything that we put into this.”

Koering is one of 13 seniors on the Eagles’ roster who played their final game Saturday.

As co-champions of the perennially competitive Lake Conference with hopes of going much further in the postseason, the team suffered a loss that brought a finality no one was anticipating when the evening began.

“It’s a really special group, and I just love that group,” senior co-captain Johnny Kleis said after receiving a hug from his grandfather. “I thought we could do it.”

Kleis, Koering and fellow co-captains Alex Hall and Chase Klute led a class of eager sophomores when Mike Terwilliger took over as Eden Prairie’s head coach in 2022.

“They’re such passionate captains. They do things the right way for EP,” Terwilliger said after the game. “So you really feel bad for those guys, and if any group deserves to go to St. Paul, it’s this group.”

The Eagles have made it to the section semifinals in each of the past three seasons, only to be knocked off each time.

Terwilliger called Saturday’s semifinal loss “the hardest for me personally,” underscoring the three seasons he spent with the seniors and how they served as outstanding leaders.

“It’s been a privilege,” he said. “It’s a really special group of captains, and then the seniors are really close too, so I really feel for that group of guys.”

Fire’s hot goaltending

The contest was evenly matched, with the teams trading goals in the first period. Holy Family struck first on the power play at 8:46 of the first period when the Fire’s Ryder Sorenson blasted a shot off the crossbar and into the Eden Prairie net for a 1-0 lead.

The Eagles bounced back later in the period with a power-play goal of their own. Senior forward Rio Treharne found the top shelf beyond Holy Family goaltender Adam Kimbrel with 1:39 remaining in the period. 

The Eagles took a 1-1 tie into the locker room at the first intermission, but Kimbrel’s effectiveness in the net proved to be the difference for Holy Family.

“I thought their goalie was the best player on the ice,” Terwilliger said. “Their goalie was a big difference. And it was a good hockey game. They’re a good team, and we knew it was gonna be a good game. So, we figured it’d be a one-goal or two-goal deal either way, and it was.”

Eden Prairie outshot Holy Family nearly 2-to-1 through the first two periods, posting 29 shots to the Fire’s 15.

With 10:16 remaining in the second period, Holy Family scored to go up 2-1. But the Eagles remained undaunted, pressuring the Holy Family net shift after shift.

Eden Prairie caught Holy Family off balance, creating a 3-on-0 break when goaltender Bennett Wilmer connected with Hall on a clearing pass near center ice.

Hall found himself with the puck behind the Holy Family defense, racing in on a breakaway with two linemates escorting him to the net, only to be shut down by Kimbrel.

“We had a lot of bounces. The chances were there,” Kleis said. “It was just the little things in these big games.”

Eden Prairie’s power-play unit of Kleis, Hall, Klute, Koering, and Treharne found an opening and struck with 51.9 seconds remaining in the period. Treharne scored his second goal of the game with six seconds left in the Eagles’ power play.

The goal tied the game at 2 and was certain to give Eden Prairie a healthy dose of momentum to take into the break.

But Holy Family responded immediately, answering with Bryce Wiitala’s quick backhand shot past Wilmer just 13 seconds later.

The quick score turned the tide, giving Holy Family the upper hand at the second intermission.

“It ended up being the game-winner,” Terwilliger said. “We talk about this too. If you score a big goal, the next shift is really important. So you go into the break 2-2 instead of down 3-2. That feels a little different.”

But there were 17 minutes of opportunity waiting in the final period.

“We certainly weren’t concerned,” Terwilliger added. “Obviously, there’s a lot of hockey left and we were getting chances if we’re patient.”

Holy Family played a disciplined final period, not giving away as many chances as they had in the first 34 minutes of the game and holding up the Eagles’ rushes in the neutral zone.

Still trailing 3-2 with 2:30 remaining in regulation, Eden Prairie called a timeout. The Eagles emerged from the stoppage with Wilmer pulled from the net and a 6-on-5 skating advantage.

But with 51 seconds remaining, Holy Family intercepted a pass in the Eagles’ zone and easily found the open net to take a two-goal advantage.

The Fire scored again on the unattended goal with 14 seconds left in regulation to put an end to the Eagles’ promising season.

Resilience throughout the season

“Everybody on this team put their heart and soul on the line,” Koering said. “And you can’t look at our season as a whole on this game. We battled so hard.”

The Eagles ran off seven straight victories to start the season, including wins over Wayzata and Shakopee, who will face Holy Family in the section finals. 

A midseason skid began to materialize on Dec. 20 with a loss at Grand Rapids. That defeat was the first in a seven-game winless streak that extended into the second week of January.

“That slump for about three weeks or wherever it was, a lot of teams would have folded, but they didn’t,” Terwilliger said. “They kept close and kept doing the right things, and were good to each other, and then we came out of it.” 

The Eagles ended the slide with a tie against Wayzata on their way to a 12-game unbeaten streak, which included the shared conference title with Edina and their arrival at the doorstep of the section finals.

Eden Prairie finishes the season with a record of 17-7-3.

“We were on a low for a while. And every single one of these guys on this team battled back,” Koering said. “We played hard and came back to make this the season that it was. And, I just think looking at it as a whole, it was an incredible season.”

A number of the departing seniors will move on to play in junior hockey and at the college level. But the sudden finality of the season’s end came much sooner than anyone had hoped or expected.

“Thirteen seniors, and they’re my best friends since I was little,” Kleis said, looking back. “Going to the rink every day with those guys and all the laughs and memories, for sure. That’s what I’m going to remember.”