A tip-in goal by St. Cloud Tech's Ryan Heaton in the sixth overtime period capped an epic high school boys hockey game Tuesday night and ended Bemidji's season in the Section 8-2A quarterfinals.
The goal came after 111 minutes and 58 seconds of play at frigid Nymore Arena.
Heaton scored his second goal of the game off a centering pass from the corner by Alex Kennedy.
The game matched the No. 4 and 5 seeds in Section 8-2A, and close doesn't even describe how tight the two teams were on this night.
The Lumberjacks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period when John Forseth scored off a faceoff. He was assisted by Jordan Heller and Jesse Nemgar,
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But Tech responded with a pair of second-period goals and still led 2-1 with the clock winding down in the third.
The Lumberjacks' Max Hazelton tied it with 2:45 remaining, and after that it was all defense and goaltending. Isaac Bitter and Steve Heller assisted on the tying goal.
Goalies Allan Patten of Tech and Axel Osborn of Bemidji kept the standoff going. Patten finished with 56 saves and Osborn had 58.
The Tigers earned a Saturday trip to Moorhead to face the top-seeded Spuds, who blasted River Lakes 14-0 in another quarterfinal Thursday.
In the opposite bracket, No. 2 Roseau and No. 3 Brainerd both won to set up a Saturday showdown on the Rams' ice.
St. Cloud Tech got its first goal from Brandon Reinholz. It came unassisted at 2:24 of the second period.
Heaton scored on an assist from Reinholz at 12:44 of the second to put the Tigers ahead 2-1.
The Lumberjacks ended the season with a 13-13 record. St. Cloud Tech takes a 17-9 mark into the section semifinals..
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SC Tech 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -- 3
Bemidji 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 -- 2
First period: 1, Bemidji, Forseth (J. Heller, Nemgar), 9:44.
Second period: 2, Tech, Reinholz, 2:24. 3, Tech, Heaton (Reinholz), 12:44.
Third period: 4, Bemidji, Hazelton (Bitter, S. Heller), 14:15.
First overtime: No scoring.
Second overtime: No scoring.
Third overtime: No scoring.
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Fourth overtime: No scoring.
Fifth overtime: No scoring.
Sixth overtime: 5, Tech, Heaton (Kennedy), 2:58.
Goalie saves: Tech (Patten) 56, Bemidji (Osborn) 58.
