East 6, Warriors 2
The key: The Greyhounds scored the game's last three goals
Overall: Brd 9-7-1, DE 9-5-1
Next: Bemidji at Brainerd 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
In his third season as Brainerd's head coach, Dave Aus' objective is to play the best competition possible and hopefully take the Warriors' program to an elite level.
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The Duluth East Greyhounds, 22-time state tournament entrants, put on a clinic with their physical play, speed, skating and crisp passing on their way to a 6-2 victory Friday at Essentia Health Sports Center.
Ian Mageau paced East with two goals and an assist. Hunter Paine collected four assists and goalie Kirk Meierhoff kicked out 22 shots as East improved to 9-5-1.
"I'm not disappointed with how we played," Aus said. "Our kids played hard, our power play looked 100 times better tonight. We're getting better. We were pretty good (Thursday in a 6-3 win over Sartell) and I thought we were better tonight. We've got a big one Tuesday (at home against Bemidji). I said we want to play the best teams because we'll be better at the end of the year for doing that."
Jack Evans and Matt Fischer each had a goal and assist as the Warriors slipped to 9-7-1 overall. Brainerd lost despite outshooting the Greyhounds 24-21 and having a 5-minute power play to open the third period. Brainerd trailed 3-2 entering the third before yielding three unanswered goals to the final buzzer.
"The nice thing tonight was our kids didn't just (quit)," Aus said. "I saw guys say 'Hey, we're fine. Let's get it back.'
"We had plenty of chances. I thought their goalie played really well. I was angry Tuesday (after a 4-1 loss at Moorhead) because we didn't even show up to play. Had we played like this Tuesday, who knows. Maybe we win, maybe we don't, but at least you're satisfied with how you played."
In the midst of a 5-minute power play in the third, Mageau scored the back-breaker. When Warrior goalie Colin Kleffman came out of the net to attempt a clearing pass, Mageau intercepted it and scored short-handed into an open net.
"(Kleffman) probably should have just gone cross-ice with the puck," Aus said. "I could see it coming on the bench. I could see what he was going to do. That one really hurt. It was a little bit like when we played Centennial-the same sort of thing happened."
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Mageau made it 5-2 with a nifty toe drag preceding his shot. Garret Worth closed the scoring at 15:06.
Brendan Baker opened the scoring for East at 13:07 of the first. Less than two minutes later, Evans knotted it 1-1 with assists to Fischer and Luke Johnson. Brainerd led 11-5 in shots in the first.
In the second, the Greyhounds picked up the pace, outshooting Brainerd 12-8 and tallying twice.
East grabbed a 2-1 edge when Kleffman slid out of his net to make a save, but the rebound caromed to Ryder Donovan, who slapped it into an open cage at 3:30 of the second. Nick Lanigan made it 3-1 East when he chipped a shot over Kleffman at 8:04.
Brainerd had a 2-man advantage for 11 seconds in the second and Fischer hit a post before the edge expired. The Greyhounds took another penalty late in the period and this time Brainerd converted when Evans flicked a feed from behind the net to Fischer, who rammed it home for a 3-2 deficit.
Duluth East 1 2 3-6
Brainerd 1 1 0-2
First period: DE-Brendan Baker (Luke LaMaster, Hunter Paine) 13:07; Brd-Jack Evans (Matt Fischer, Luke Johnson) 15:50
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Second period: DE-Ryder Donovan (Hunter Paine) 3:30; DE-Nick Lanigan (Luke LaMaster) 8:04; Brd-Fischer (Evans, Riley Andres) ppg 16:36
Third period: DE-Ian Mageau shg 2:45; DE-Mageau (Paine, Garret Worth) ppg 8:12; DE-Worth (EJ Hietala, Mageau) 15:06
Shots on goal: Brd 11-8-5--24, DE 5-12-4--21
Goalies: Brd-Colin Kleffman (15 saves); DE-Kirk Meierhoff (22 saves).
