Grand Rapids stuns White Bear Lake with last second goal in Class AA state quarterfinals
On Thursday, the fifth seeded Grand Rapids boys hockey team made their first state tournament appearance since 2017. They would do it in stunning fashion knocking off fourth seeded White Bear Lake 2-1 in the final seconds of the Class AA quarterfinals at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Grand Rapids’ Will Shermoen scored first just over four minutes into the first period. The Thunderhawks would lead 1-0 after the first, topping White Bear Lake in shots on goal 12-8.
The second period ended scoreless, with Grand Rapids still leading 1-0. The Bears outshot the Thunderhawks 8-5, who still led the overall shots on goal count 17-16. Grand Rapids killed a 2:00 minute interference penalty, of which seven seconds rolled over into the third period.
In the third period, with 1:34 left in the game White Bear Lake’s Jack Stanius tied the game 1-1 scoring on a 4-on-4. Grand Rapids was serving a 2:00 minute holding penalty, while White Bear Lake was serving a 5:00 minute major for boarding. Then, with 00.2 seconds left Nathan Garski would score the game-winner for Grand Rapids to beat the Bears 2-1.
“The puck got thrown out of the zone and looked over at the clock, saw six and a half seconds and we got a quick transition. Like coach talks about quick transitions, and yeah great pass by Will [Shermoen] and the rest is history,” Garski said, a sophomore forward.
“We beat a gutsy White Bear Lake team. They didn’t stop the entire time, and they proved it at the end when they got their late goal. On our side, it feels great because we played to the last whistle, to last 1.5 seconds,” Grand Rapids head coach Grant Clafton said.
The Thunderhawks netminder Carter Casey finished with 25 saves to White Bear Lake’s Leo Gabriel’s 21 saves.
Grand Rapids advances to the semifinals Friday at 8 p.m. against No. 1 Edina. The other semifinal is No. 2 Chanhassen versus Cretin-Derham Hall Friday at 6 p.m. at the Xcel Energy Center. For the full Class AA bracket, Click Here.
The attendance for all four games Thursday was 39,973, with 20,208 attending the evening sessions breaking a record of 18,878 set in 2012.
The tournament is being televised on WDIO. For additional ways to watch or stream the games, Click Here.
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