Feb. 19—ST. PAUL — It was over, at least it felt like it was over.
As the fifth-seeded Bemidji High School girls hockey team's state Class AA quarterfinal at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul moved into the twilight portion of the third period, No. 4 Edina held a 5-3 lead.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Hornets were less than three minutes away from opening their 12th consecutive state appearance with a win and clinching a state title rematch from a year ago against Hill-Murray in the semifinals.
Then Naomi Johnson scored with 2:15 left. And just eight seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Bailey Rupp drew a penalty, sending the Lumberjacks to the power play trailing by a goal with 127 seconds remaining.
"We just had to catch our breath," BHS head coach Mike Johnson said.
Rupp, who collided knee-to-knee with Edina star forward Lorelai Nelson, was shaken up after the play. However, while officials convened to discuss whether or not the infraction should be a major penalty, Rupp regrouped.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"No matter what, I was going out there," she said.
Rupp had Bemidji's best chance to tie the game. On a shot from the right side of the high slot, she ripped the puck off the post with 68 seconds left in regulation.
It was the closest the Jacks got to forcing overtime. Charlotte Theirl scored an empty-net goal with nine seconds left in regulation to seal a 6-4 win, sending the Hornets to the semifinal.
"Shockingly, I wasn't that nervous after that post, knowing that our girls wanted this and they're going to battle," Edina head coach Sami Cowger said. "They did that little extra to make sure that puck gets out at the end, doing all the little things and taking away shooting lanes. ... I'm really proud of the way they finished and played a whole 51 minutes."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementUnsurprisingly, Rupp put the loss on her shoulders, despite scoring the tying goal in the second period and scoring 44 other goals this season.
"I changed with like 30 seconds left, and I'm so mad about it," Rupp said. "I should've stayed. I should've been better. I'm kind of mad about this one because we had a lot of scoring chances. I should've done more. I should've worked harder to get there. We were so close. This one stings."
However, in a long list of people who would disagree with Rupp's personal assessment, Cowger is near the top of it, saying that coming up with a plan to slow down players like her and junior defenseman Millie Knott is the biggest challenge the Hornets were tasked with.
"You'd be dumb not to have a game plan for them," Cowger said. "They are very highly-skilled players who can score from anywhere on the ice. You have to respect players like that and do everything you can to shut them down. If you can do that, hopefully you can come away with a win, but then they have a good goaltender, too. They have players beyond those two, so even if you shut them down, it might not be enough.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I'm proud of the way my girls bought in to know who's on the ice at all times and trying to take away their time and space."
Luckily for Cowger, she had Nelson in her back pocket as well. The senior Ms. Hockey finalist and Penn State commit scored three of Edina's six goals. She got a puck to trickle through BHS goaltender Lily Lauer's equipment six minutes and 44 seconds into the first period for her first of the game.
BHS got the goal back three minutes later from Emma Greiner, her third this season. But the ice tilted in Edina's favor in the second period.
Aided by a BHS penalty for too many players on the ice, the Hornets recorded the first 10 shots on goal in the middle frame.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"She was unbelievable, especially in the first half of that second period," Johnson said of Lauer, who finished with 31 saves. "It took us almost half a period to get a shot. Lily is all world, and that's kind of the strangest thing about this. We, with her in the net, gave up five goals, and that's very unusual. (Edina's) a high-powered team, and we had some breakdowns, but it is what it is. She's a fantastic goaltender and she'll continue to show that in the future."
Nearly 11 minutes into the period, Nelson made the Jacks pay for allowing Edina's offensive pressure with her second goal. But once again, Bemidji tied the game on a power-play goal from Rupp.
Nelson, however, completed the hat trick with less than two minutes left before the intermission.
"She's very skilled and has scored a lot of goals for us, but what I love the most about her hat trick were those two goals came from her getting to the net," Cowger said of Nelson. "It's something people don't expect from such a skilled player like Lorelai. But they were huge, and they helped the momentum and helped our team gain a bunch of energy and a lot of confidence going down the stretch."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementEdina and Bemidji traded goals to open the third period.
Audrey Davis made it 4-2 in favor of the Hornets with a goal on the heels of a BHS power play. Taylor Bjerke got a fortunate bounce off a skate to get the goal back five and a half minutes into the third.
Cate McCoy, who assisted on all three of Nelson's goals, got one of her own eight minutes into the period before the Jacks made it a one-goal game again off Johnson's stick.
"For the way the game played out, we played Bemidji hockey," Johnson said. "That's all we can do. We battled back, and battled back, and battled back. We were true Lumberjacks today. We came up on the short end in a big venue, so it's tough on all of us, especially the girls right now, but we're very proud of our team and how we play the game. We showed what we're made of today, even if we came out on the losing end."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBemidji (20-6-1) will play No. 8 Lakeville North at 1 p.m. on Friday in the consolation semifinals at TRIA Rink in St. Paul. Edina (21-4-3) draws top-seeded Hill-Murray in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Friday at GCA.
Hanging over the right side of the glass behind the BHS bench was a No. 8 Bemidji jersey and an old crewneck jacket.
The Jersey belonged to George Pelawa, the 1986 Mr. Hockey winner and 16th overall pick by the Calgary Flames in the NHL draft the same year. George died in a car accident three months after he was drafted.
"We just thought it'd be fitting that, when people think of Bemidji hockey, George Pelawa is one of the first names that comes to mind," Johnson said, who played on the same high school team as Pelawa. "I have some personal connections there and we have a relative on the team, so it's a pretty big deal, going way back."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe jacket, however, belonged to George's father, Frank, who died on Wednesday, Feb. 11, the same day the Lumberjacks won the 8AA championship. His great niece is Ella Mae Swanberg, a freshman defender for Bemidji.
"Frank was an unbelievable gentleman and passionate about sports," Johnson continued as tears started welling up. "We miss him dearly already after just a handful of days here. It's very meaningful to have that representation on the bench."
The displays of the jersey and jacket were part of Bemidji making the most of its first trip to state since 2007. For a program that's had struggles with its participation numbers, this season could fast-track more enthusiasm for girls hockey on a local and regional level.
"It's tough right now, and there's some real tough emotions," Johnson said. "You reflect after any loss, and those kinds of thoughts don't enter your mind in the initial timeframe. But, you know, we have another game tomorrow and the next day, then we'll get home the next day. We'll reflect over the next week and start to realize the impact this trip will have on the town, girls hockey and, quite frankly, Bemidji hockey.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"It's a big deal for us from up north to get down here for the state tournament. We're super proud of having accomplished that, and we're excited for what that means going forward."
Rupp, Knott and senior forward Megan Berg each said they took moments to soak in the atmosphere.
"The coolest part was just doing it with half our town here," Rupp said. "The support we had was amazing. We went up top before the game and there was just Bemidji people all around. It's pretty special to have the support here and from all the people back home. It hurts that we weren't able to do it for them. We let them down, but it really meant a lot to us to have all of that and just skating around the rink and seeing all of that, it's really special."
Berg, talking about girls players in the youth ranks, added: "We showed them we can do it. Yeah, we fell short, but it was so fun. Taking that time during warmups, looking up and seeing everybody and all the faces from school and family members, it was just so cool."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementEdina 6, Bemidji 4
BHS 1 1 2 — 4
EHS 1 2 3 — 6
First period — EHS GOAL: Nelson (McCoy, Gardner) 6:44; BHS GOAL: Greiner (Malkowski, Berg) 9:40.
Second period — EHS GOAL: Nelson (McCoy) 10:44; BHS GOAL: Rupp (Johnson, Knott) PPG, 12:50; EHS GOAL: Nelson (McCoy) 15:17.
Third period — EHS GOAL: Davis (Lorelai) 1:24; BHS GOAL: Bjerke (Wangberg, Berg) 5:32; EHS GOAL: McCoy (Schenkelberg, Prellwitz) 8:00; BHS GOAL: Johnson (Knott, Rupp) 14:45; EHS GOAL: Theirl (unassisted) ENG, 16:51.
Saves — Lauer (BHS) 31; Peacock (EHS) 24.
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