HERMANTOWN — The turning point for Hermantown’s matchup against Warroad on Saturday was not when the Warriors scored two goals in less than a minute, but rather a second-period shorthanded goal.
With time waning on a power play with about 11 minutes to play in the second period, Warroad’s Carson Pilgrim saw something you don’t normally see from Hermantown.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
“One of the defensemen mishandled the pass, I saw an opportunity to go for it so I took it,” Pilgrim said. “I don’t know if it was intentionally supposed to be a pass, I was supposed to shoot it. But Murray Marvin was going to the net, he found a backdoor tap in and put it in.”
In yet another meeting of perennially top five Class A teams in Minnesota, it was second-ranked Warroad that went home with a 4-1 win over No. 1 Hermantown.
“Our first shift was great and it went downhill from there,” Hermantown coach Pat Andrews. “I thought Warroad came off the bus ready to go and then they popped two, right, and put us back on our heels. I think we had some big eyes, it was a big moment and that some of these guys have never played in and it showed. Once we dug ourselves a hole, we couldn’t claw out of it.”
With just under 10 minutes to play, Draydin Johnson got a breakaway chance and flipped it past Hermantown goalie Dane Callaway. Forty-seven seconds later, Ryan Shaugabay buried one off a pass from Wyatt Hennum to put the Warriors up two.
“I thought we played the most complete game we’ve played all year — especially defensively,” Warroad coach Jay Hardwick said. “I thought we did a good job of eliminating their changes. In the first period I thought we were as good as we could be and then we went and made one mistake.”
Warroad had all the momentum but a turnover allowed River Freeman to find Henry Peterson for a late goal to cut into the lead and give…
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