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Skippers split with Duluth Marshall and East  Tonka Takes a 1-0 Lead on a Troy Hesketh Power Play Goal
The Skippers finished the week 1-1, after completing play against two very tough opponents in the Duluth East Greyhounds and Duluth Marshall Hilltoppers. Tonka was on the road against the Greyhounds last Thursday night and lost 2-0 at the Heritage Arena. Minnetonka rebounded, at home on Saturday night, against Duluth Marshall and came away with a thrilling 3-2 OT victory.
Tonka faced it's toughest competition of the year last Thursday, when it traveled to Duluth to take on the highly ranked #4AA Greyhounds. It was clear this was going to be a defensive game from the opening face off. Duluth presented the Skippers with a few things they haven't experienced in the young season; (1) a very physical forechecking game and (2) a penalty kill unit which attacked, and challenged, the Skippers at the Duluth blue line. To the credit of the Tonka team, they didn't back down and matched Duluth's intensity throughout the entire game. Duluth put up two goals, one in each of the first and second periods, and that was all they needed to preserve the victory. Jim Kruger was outstanding in goal, turning away 20 of 22 quality Duluth shots.
Coming off a very tough road loss up in Duluth, everyone was waiting to see how the young Skippers would respond against #6A Duluth Marshall on Saturday night. If you weren't able to make this game, you missed one of most exciting games played at Pagel in years!!! Troy Hesketh started the scoring with a pass from Andrew Prochno, and blasted a shot from the blue line for Minnetonka's first goal. Tonka completely dominated play for the first two periods firing 25 shots on goal, against only 6 for Duluth. With the score tied at 1-1 after two periods, Duluth scored late in the third and was up 2-1 with only 4:00 minutes left in the game. With time winding down, Tonka stormed the Duluth net and Max Gardiner, with assists from Sam Coatta and Troy Hesketh, found the back of the net to tie the game with close to a minute left in regulation!
With the game now in overtime, the Skippers continued to dominate play. Gardiner was in front of the net again and with assists from Coatta and Thomas Schutt, was able to score the game winning goal midway through the overtime period and the Pagel Center fans erupted as the boys celebrated on the ice!! The team congratulated goalie Jim Kruger who picked up his third victory of the season, after stopping 14 of 16 Duluth shots.
This Thursday night Tonka travels to Mound to take on the #20A Whitehawks, and finishes the week with a tough non conference game against #4A St. Thomas Academy. Click On the Ads... Support Our Sponsors
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