Sports

Chippy Game Ends in Orioles Loss

St. Louis Park and Bloomington Kennedy combined for 33 penalties Saturday night in Kennedy's 2-1 overtime victory.

Penalty boxes are usually lonely, desolate places where rule-breaking players go and think about what they've done in solitude.

That was not the case Saturday.

In the course of a season opening, 2-1 overtime loss for the St. Louis Park boys hockey team at home, 33 penalties were called on the Orioles and their opponents, the Bloomington Kennedy Eagles. For a good part of the night, multiple players were in the boxes together, including after a second-period fight that sent six players to the sin bins and took nearly 30 minutes for the referees to sort out. That skirmish also led to the ejection of Kennedy senior defenseman Kevin Houts.

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"It was just really undisciplined hockey on both sides," St. Louis Park coach Tim Donahue said. "The kids were just not playing the way the officials were calling it."

Remarkably, none of the penalties led to power play goals. In fact, Kennedy's first goal — a second-period tally by junior Andrew Lamere — came shorthanded. Donahue said special teams execution needs to improve as the season moves forward.

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"We didn't make them pay," he added.

It wasn't for a lack of chances, however. The Orioles had 36 shots on Kennedy junior netminder Tony Basil, but Basil made a number of sprawling saves and the Eagles caught a few breaks. That included a breakaway in the second period by St. Louis Park senior Brookes Patterson in which he was dragged down from behind without getting a solid shot off.

Patterson slid in near the Kennedy net, and the rough play started a brawl between multiple players, leading to Houts' ejection. Confusion over who exactly was to be penalized on the play led to a long delay, and got fans from both teams riled up. With student sections from St. Louis Park and Kennedy only an aisle apart, the back-and-forth intensified.

On the ice, the referees carefully monitored the rest of the game, skating in to break up a few minor shoving matches in the final period and a half.

Donahue said he wasn't overly thrilled with the chippy nature of the game, but he defended his players.

"I don't think we were instigating," he said. "You have to stand up for yourself."

As the game settled, the Orioles still desperately needed a goal to tie the score. With nine minutes left on the clock, senior forward Conor Shandley delivered. His wrist shot, assisted by senior David Petit, gave the home team — and crowd — new life.

St. Louis Park goalie Ryan Nichols made sure things stayed that way for a while. Over the last few minutes of regulation and into the beginning of overtime, the senior made a number of key saves, including one where the puck popped high up in the air and into his glove like a baseball fly ball. On the night, Nichols made 35 saves.

Still, it was one save too few, as a mistake by a Orioles player in his own zone three minutes into overtime gave Kennedy a golden chance. Ryan Kutzler didn't miss, and in the blink of the eye, the Eagles had won and were mobbing each other in celebration near the glass where their fans were.

Nichols sat on the ice in shock for a few minutes, leading a stream of teammates to come up and console the goalie that made so many big saves all night.

"They just said, 'Good job. You kept us in it,'" Nichols said from outside the locker room after the game.

Coach Donahue said he was impressed with his goalie's efforts and said his team as a whole showed flashes. Simply put, mistakes did the Orioles in.

"We have some skill," Donahue said. "It's just a matter of fine tuning."


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