East Grand Forks Senior High's Leah Jensen finished the regular season just one shy of the 50-goal milestone.
That was about the only thing the senior forward didn't accomplish Thursday at the East Grand Forks Civic Center.
Jensen scored at even strength, on the power play, shorthanded and into an empty net as the No. 9 Green Wave upset No. 4 Crookston 6-4 in the final regular season game of the season.
"We talked in the locker room when we were going into the third period tied 3-3, that we needed someone to make a play," said Senior High coach Jim Scanlan, whose team improved to 15-9-1. "Then in the third, Leah made that play shorthanded and CoCo (Piche) made what turned out to be another big play."
Jensen, a UND women's hockey recruit, now has 49 goals and 16 assists.
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"We moved the puck well and put pressure on them," Jensen said. "We had a lot of jump and excitement. It was senior night, so that might have given us a little extra."
Skating shorthanded with the game tied at 3 early in the third period, Jensen chipped a puck off the boards in the Senior High zone, sped away from defenders and scored on a breakaway for the one-goal edge.
The Green Wave would then go ahead 5-3 when Piche, a freshman forward, scored her second goal of the night. Piche took a puck from behind the net and quickly stuffed it past Crookston goalie Erin Barnes-Olson with 2:04 remaining.
Piche's goal was crucial as the Pirates, who beat Senior High 4-1 earlier in the season, didn't relent. After pulling its goalie with 1:07 left, Crookston scored five seconds later when Shannon Kaiser scored her second goal of the game.
Kaiser, who is also a UND women's hockey recruit, scored her team-leading 38th goal of the season.
Kaiser's tally, though, would be the last shot to get past Green Wave goalie Madi Galstad, who ended with 22 stops.
With four seconds left in the game, Jensen stole the puck and fired a long-range shot that scored on an empty net as the buzzer sounded.
The Pirates dropped to 20-5.
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"That was a very exciting high school hockey game," Scanlan said. "I thought it was two good teams going at it. I thought our seniors played a key role in different ways, whether it was a strong defensive shift or a solid penalty kill. It was senior night, and I think that's fitting."
The Section 8A tournament begins next Thursday. The top two seeds -- which are expected to go to Warroad and Crookston -- get byes. Senior High will either be a No. 3 or No. 4 seed and will host a first-round game.
