East Grand Forks Senior High and Warroad started a few minutes early Friday night at the Civic Center.
If you arrived a few minutes late, you missed a lot of the fireworks.
By midway through the first period, the Green Wave had already scored three times in one minute and given up a two-goal lead.
No. 2 Warroad received a hat trick from Anthony Foster and an empty-net goal from Jayson Shaugabay to win an offensive showdown over No. 3 East Grand Forks 6-4 in the first of what could be three meetings between the teams this year.
"Our top line did tonight what they've done all year," Warroad coach Jay Hardwick said. "East Grand Forks came extremely hard and made it difficult on us. In the second period, we were bottled up a little bit. We were fortunate to get out of there 4-4 but the third period was our best all night. We actually played in their end for a while and limited their chances."
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Foster, a junior, ended with four points, while senior Grant Slukynsky, a Northern Michigan recruit, finished with a goal and three assists and Shaugabay, a freshman, had a goal and four assists.
"We started out pretty shaky," said Foster, who had the first hat trick of his high school career to bump his season goal total to 10. "We just kept working. Grateful for all our guys in there. I was just in the right spot at the right time. I have great teammates with great vision. I got in open space and they found me."
The first period was a wild one. Slukynsky opened the scoring at 2:20 of the first but East Grand Forks scored three times in 60 seconds on goals by Carson Schlenk, Landon Parker and Cole Avery.
Avery's goal gave the Green Wave a 3-1 lead just 6:34 into the first. Yet Warroad scored two goals within 19 seconds of each other a few minutes later to tie the game. Gage Wilmer and Foster scored at 8:18 and 8:37, respectively.
The scoring slowed eventually in the second period, as the teams went to the second intermission tied at 4-4. Foster scored his second of the game nine seconds into the period on the power play, while Logan Spencer scored for the Wave on a delayed penalty less than 90 seconds later.
"I thought the first two periods we found a level of play we hadn't had all year," East Grand Forks coach Tyler Palmiscno said. "That's a good sign, and I'm happy with that. In the third, I think we realized we couldn't sustain that level for 51 minutes. Maybe we were out of shape or maybe we weren't used to sustaining that level of intensity."
Foster netted the game-winning goal at 7:32 of the third when he sat back door on the power play and Slukynsky found him for the goal. With 1:40 left, Shaugabay used a backhand flip to saucer in an empty-net goal from the red line for the final tally.
Slukynsky now has 26 points this season, while Shaugabay has 21 and Foster has 19. No other Warroad play has double figures in points.
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The Warriors, who were outshot 37-23, improved to 8-0-0, while the Wave dropped to 6-1-2.
"(Slukynsky) has been a thorn for a few years for us," Palmiscno said. "(The top line) is pretty dynamic. We're going to have to find a way to keep them under six to have success against them."
Warroad 6,
EGF Senior High 4
First period -- 1. W, Grant Slukynsky (Jayson Shaugabay, Anthony Foster) 2:20; 2. EGF, Carson Schlenk (Trey Ausmus, Brody Schultz) 5:34; 3. EGF, Landon Parker (Ajay Kofstad, Austin Cooley) 6:06; 4. EGF, Cole Avery (Caleb Schmiedeberg, Schultz) 6:34; 5. W, Gage Wilmer (Luke Johnson) 8:18; 6. W, Foster (Shaugabay, Slukynsky) 8:37
Second period -- 7. W, Foster (Shaugabay, Slukynsky) :09; 8. EGF, Logan Spencer (Ausmus) 1:37
Third period -- 9. W, Foster (Slukynsky, Shaugabay) 7:32; 10. W, Shaugabay (Blake Norris) 15:20
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Goalie saves -- W: Zach Foster 12-14-7 -- 33; EGF: Austin Cooley 5-2-10 -- 17
