Just like the old Schoolhouse Rock song from the 70s, it's The Good Eleven for the Eden Prairie Eagles as senior captain Jack Jensen helped clinch Eden Prairie's 11th trip to the state tournament by scoring the game's opening goal and assisting on the other to lead them to a 3-1 win over the Holy Family Catholic Fire in the Section 2AA Championship Game Wednesday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci on the University of Minnesota campus.
The Eagles dominated the early going, out shooting the Fire 4-0. The first Holy Family Catholic shot came with 10:14 left in the first period. Eden Prairie came close to breaking the scoreless tie but Fire goalie Bailey Huber made an outstanding save. They would eventually take the lead on Jensen's goal after he found an opening on Huber's left side. Jensen would pick up an assist on the second goal as he fed Drew Holt in the center slot and he drove it past Huber for a two goal lead. But Holy Family Catholic, based in Victoria would prevent a shut out from occurring on this chilly Wednesday night. With Eden Prairie's John Mittlestadt serving a two minute hooking penalty, the Fire went on the power play and it paid dividends when Michael Spinner made a pass to Sawyer Schugel on the right doorstep and he sent it to the net to cut the Eagle margin to 2-1.
Could Holy Family Catholic help celebrate the state tournament's 75th anniversary with their first trip to St. Paul? The answer would be no. Neither team would score in the second period and it looked that way for most of the third as Fire head coach Noel Rahn pulled Huber for a sixth attacker and Eden Prairie would find the net on Carter Batchelder sent the puck from his own blue line like the team bus heading down Highway 212 and it would enter the net with :14.8 to go.
Eden Prairie improved their record to 17-9-1 and will play in the state Class AA quarterfinals on Thursday, March 7 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Holy Family Catholic ended their season with a record of 16-10-2.
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