ST. PAUL — No. 1 Warroad's perfect season lived on as they earned a 4-3 double overtime Class A semifinal victory over No. 4 Orono on Friday, March 10 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Senior defender Erick Comstock sealed the deal for Warroad with a back-door goal just 16 seconds into double overtime off a pass from teammate Jayson Shaugabay.
"I saw Jason looking like he usually does with his great vision, and I was like, yep, I think he can find me, and I just went straight to the net," said Comstock on his game-winning goal.
It wasn't a surprise to head coach Jay Hardwick that the senior defender was the one who won the game for the Warriors.
"Erick kept saying that on the bench, and in the third period and overtime, he kept saying 'want to win,' and I said, 'Absolutely' — that's what it is, whoever wants it the most. You know, it's kind of fitting that he was the one kind of preaching it to everybody," Hardwick said after the game.
"We had to find a way, we had to dig deep and find it in our hearts to somehow win a hockey game."
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Warroad scores just 14 secs into 2OT to beat Orono pic.twitter.com/E2Dw1a3JXd
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) March 10, 2023
The Warriors have not lost a single game yet in 2022-23 and will look to complete their perfect season in the Class A championship game against Mahtomedi at noon on Saturday.
Warroad's first goal was a bit of a flukey one that got them on the scoreboard just 1:01 into the game, thanks to the bouncy boards at the Xcel Energy Center. Junior Peyton Sunderland took a shot that went high and hard off the end boards and it bounced back, hit Orono Brock Peyton, and went into the back of the net. That was Sunderland's first goal of the season.
The Warriors scored again at the end of the first period. Standout junior forward Carson Pilgrim scored right in front of the crease off a great pass from his uncle, Jayson Shaugabay.
Less than a minute into the second frame, Shaugabay scored a goal of his own as he skated past Spartan defenders and shot low blocker side on Orono netminder Brock Peyton. The play was reviewed for offsides but was eventually determined to be a good goal.
Orono put itself on the scoreboard late in the second period. Defender Joey Mugaas skated the puck towards the net and both Connor Lang and Joey Greenagel whacked at it until it eventually went past Warroad goaltender Hampton Slukynsky. The play was reviewed, but was not overturned.
In the middle of the final period, Warroad senior Gaabi Boucha took a five-minute major penalty for boarding and the Spartans tacked on their second goal of the game during the ensuing power play. Orono then made things interesting as it tied things up at 3-3 late in the third period as Brooks Fegers found the back of the net on a snipe from the right circle.
"There's kind of a motivational factor that no one really believes in you," said Spartan senior Caden Bickett. "I guess some guys took that personally, so that was definitely a factor."
No one could break the 3-3 tie from there on until Comstock's goal 16 seconds into double overtime.
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"I'm really proud of our guys," said Orono head coach Sean Fish. "They battled their butts off. They played so hard tonight and they worked to give us a chance to actually win a hockey game and beat a team that has been perfect all year."
The Spartans looked like they had lots of momentum in the first overtime, but after a full-ice resurfacing before the second overtime, the momentum changed quite a bit.
"I think that intermission definitely helped Warroad. I think their top guys were definitely gassed and our guys were rolling and feeling pretty good, but at the same time the ice is probably pretty crappy at that point," Fish said.
WARROAD 4, ORONO 3
Warroad: 2-1-0-0-1—4
Orono: 0-1-2-0-0—3
First period scoring — 1. WAR, Peyton Sunderland (Taven James, Garrett Hennum) 1:01; 2. WAR, Carson Pilgrim (Jayson Shaugabay, Ryan Lund) 13:30
Penalties — None
Second period scoring — 3. WAR, Jayson Shaugabay (Murray Marvin-Cordes) 0:41; 1. ORO, Joey Greenagel (Connor Lang, Joey Mugaas) 13:50
Penalties — ORO, Easton Sankey (interference) 3:44; WAR, Erick Comstock (hooking) 7:12; ORO, Rylan Schultz (interference) 10:06
Third period scoring — 2. ORO, Avery Anderson (Greenagel, Mugaas) 7:16 (pp); 3. ORO, Brooks Fegers (John Engebretson, Anderson) 9:13
Penalties — WAR, Gaabi Boucha (boarding; major penalty) 3:03; WAR, Landon Thompson (roughing) 3:03; ORO, Brooks Fegers (roughing) 3:03
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OT scoring — None
Penalties — None
2OT scoring — 4. WAR, Comstock (Shaugabay) 0:16
Penalties — None
SOG: WAR, 8-9-3-5-1—26; ORO, 6-6-13-4-0—29
Goalie Saves: WAR, Hampton Slukynsky 6-5-11-4—26; ORO, Brock Peyton 6-8-3-5-0—22
Penalties-minutes: WAR, 3-9; ORO, 3-6
Power-play goals-opportunities: WAR, 0-2: ORO, 1-2
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