Boys hockey: Wolverines strike back to down Storm in OT

SAUK RAPIDS — The Wolverines had a date with Sauk Rapids-Rice on Valentines Day and it turned out to be a match made for fans of high scoring hockey.
The Wolverines fell behind early but clawed back ahead and finally secured a 7-6 win in overtime.
As head coach Scott Woods explains, the night started out with a twist as the Wolverines starting goalie, Gunner Olson was out with a groin injury. This tossed senior Garrett Baron back into the game who was initially clobbered with four goals getting past him in the first period. The Wolverines just had one goal from Evan Lunde.
"We challenged the guys to give him some goal support and we scored all four goals in the second to go ahead 5-4," Woods said. "With the game tied late in the third we got a power play and Evan Lunde/Connor Davis sent a great pass to Cole Woods who scored to go ahead with what seemed like the game winner. Twenty two seconds later Sauk Rapids scored again to tie it. The overtime goal came quickly as MJ Lunde slammed in a rebound."
The team was excited for Garrett to stay with it and make some big saves late. It was also nice to get some balanced scoring, Woods said. Evan Lunde had a big 5 point night, Cole Woods with a 4 point night, MJ Lunde and Jack Koranda 3 points each, Aron Sutherland and Connor Davis put up 2 points, and Dalton Moyer had 1 point.
Goals came off Evan Lunde in the first; Jack Koranda, Evan Lunde, Cole Woods and Connor Davis in the second; Cole Woods in the third; and MJ Lunde in overtime.
Baron saw 34 shots on goal and made 28 saves. The Wolverines had 44 shots at the Storm goalie Hayden Brown who saved 37 of them.
The Wolverines end regular season with an overall record of 14-11.
Cole Woods ends the regular season with 24 goals, while Connor Davis has 21.
Aron Sutherland leads with 24 assists and Cole Woods at 21. Cole Woods is a leader again at 45 points this season, followed by 39 from Connor Davis and 32 from Aron Sutherland.
Garret Baron earned his second win this season, while Gunner Olson has 12.
The playoffs will start this coming Tuesday. Wolverines will be a 3 or 4 seed after the coaches vote.
"We have some down time but look forward to the opportunity to play at home with the hopes of advancing to the MAC for the semi-final atmosphere," Woods said.

The first opponent of playoffs will likely be Morris-Benson or Prairie Center.