BOYS HOCKEY: Senior High downs Hermantown 5-4 in OT for second straight state title

This one will be held dear for its unlikeliness.

“I don’t think many people expected us to be back here and no one expected us to win it all,” Senior High coach Tyler Palmiscno said. “We lost our top four defenders and a bunch of key cogs from last year’s team. This team overachieved, and the satisfaction is greater.”

The Green Wave successfully defended their crown Saturday afternoon when Tanner Tweten scored in overtime to give East Grand Forks a 5-4 win over Hermantown in front of 9,357 fans in the Minnesota Class A championship at Xcel Energy Center.

“I didn’t think it could get any better than last year … and it just did,” said Senior High forward Dixon Bowen, who had a goal and three assists against Hermantown.

This state title will also be remembered for the wild roller coaster of emotions.

The Green Wave held a 4-2 lead late in the third period before Hermantown scored extra-attacker goals by Wyatt Aamodt (33 seconds left) and Eric Gotz (16 seconds left) to send the game to overtime.

Palmiscno tried to regroup his team before the extra session.

“I just told them that if I offered them this morning at 8 a.m. that we’d have a chance to go to overtime, would they take it?” Palmiscno said. “Of course, they would. You have a chance.

“I thought we played a damn good third period for 16 minutes. Give Hermantown credit; they made good plays.”

But East Grand Forks made the last one.

About halfway through the overtime, Bowen and Grant Loven went hard into the corner to battle for a loose puck. Loven retrieved it on the back wall and quickly centered it out front for Tweten, who sniped his second goal of the game at 3:34 of the overtime.

“I was trailing the play and knew it was coming,” Tweten said. “Grant threw it out front, and I was able to score.”

The reaction?

“Wow,” Tweten said. “I was dogpiled.”

The No. 3 seed Green Wave ended the year 26-4-0. East Grand Forks became the first Section 8 team to repeat at the state tournament since Roseau did it in 1958 and 1959. The Wave also became the first back-to-back champs as a public school for the first time since Minnesota split into two classes in 1992.

“They know how to win big games,” Palmiscno said. “To have that characteristic in an individual is rare. Maybe you have it in one or two guys. But a whole group of guys is very unique.”

No. 1 seed Hermantown lost in the state title game for the sixth-straight year.

“I’m pretty drained,” Hermantown coach Bruce Plante said. “That’s a really good team over there. We can’t fault any of our kids. They played hard. I’m really proud of them.”

Hermantown’s undoing might have come in the first period. The Green Wave were outshot 12-6 in the first period but managed to lead 2-0.

Senior High’s Austin Monda scored his first of two goals at 13:10 of the first period to give the Wave a 2-0 advantage.

“We came out of the first period with nothing,” Plante said. “It was uphill the whole game. It came back to bite us when we didn’t get anything to go in the first.”

It was a satisfying conclusion for the Green Wave, who battled injuries most of the season. The most difficult injury to handle came to defender Trevor Selk, who missed 10 games late in the year including the state quarterfinals.

Selk was medically cleared by doctors to play before the state semifinals. The junior was named to the state all-tournament team along with teammates Bowen, Loven, Tweten and goalie Josh Weber, who made 27 saves in the championship game.

“It’s an honor to play with these guys,” said Monda, who scored a key goal on a breakaway in the third period to give Senior High a 4-2 lead. “We grew up together, so it’s unbelievable to come back and do it again.”

Palmiscno said the team’s adversity fueled the championship run. Senior High needed to rally from a two-goal deficit in the third period against Thief River Falls in the section championship just to qualify for the state event.

“As the defending champions, we knew all year we had to show up every game with our best or it’d be a long night,” he said. “That made us better in the long run. We had to play at times without Weber, Selk and Dixon. We had to learn how to play better and when they came back, we took off.”

Bowen, who scored his 28th goal of the season in the second period, was awarded the Herb Brooks Award for Class A after the game. The Herb Brooks Award goes to the player in the tournament who most exemplifies the values, characteristics and traits of Herb Brooks.

Bowen, who set the school’s season scoring record this year, is also a finalist for the Minnesota Mr. Hockey honor.

“I wouldn’t trade him for any of those guys on that list,” Palmiscno said of the UND men’s hockey commit. “I’m glad he’s on our team.”