Crimson in Cruise Control

MAPLE GROVE, Minn - There were those who questioned the Maple Grove Crimson following their 2-2 tie with Andover last Saturday. Citing the previous postseason games, the Crimson were dropped from the third spot to number four behind Eagan. Let's Play Hockey was the only spot that kept the Crimson at number three. Thursday night, Maple Grove brought their lunchpail and outworked conference rival Blaine in a 4-2 win.

Blaine took the lead early in the first when Dylan Lambert walked in and beat Kyle Koop. Up to that point, Bengals goaltender Nick Malvin had held the Crimson off the scoreboard and had given the visitors a spark. It appeared that the Bengals would add to that momentum when Jordan Freberg was called for holding, putting Blaine on the powerplay. Tony Paulson took advantage once again for Maple Grove short handed.

The senior, who multiple times had break-a-way opportunities found himself skating up ice with the puck once again. This time however, he lost control of the puck and skated behind Malvin and the Bengal net. Instead of burning more time off the penalty, Paulson turned and put a shot on the back of Malvin's legs. The puck trickled into the net, tying the game at one and giving the Crimson all momentum. After putting 60 shots on net against Andover, Maple Grove continued to pepper the net with pucks. They outshot the Bengals 15-5 in the first period and took a 2-1 lead with nine seconds left in the period on a redirect of a Freberg shot from the point. Shane Wolden picked up the goal and the Crimson never looked back.

Maple Grove played solid defensively in the second and third and added to their lead with goals from Drew Aspinwall and sophomore Sam Valerius who has scored a goal in five of his past six games.

Koop faced only 19 shots stopping 17, his counterpart Malvin faced 38 shots, making 34 saves.