GRAND FORKS-Grand Forks Central's Lucas Kanta was excited to see Fargo Davies come to Purpur Arena on Thursday night.
It was a showdown of two of the region's best teams who had tied earlier in the year. The teams came in with Central's one loss the only blemish between the two.
"We knew they were a good team, and we were excited about that challenge," Kanta said.
It showed.
Kanta, a junior forward, had a hat trick and Central outshot Davies by more than double in a 4-2 victory.
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The Knights improved to 12-1-2, while the Eagles, who hadn't given up more than three goals in a game all season, dropped to 10-1-2.
"I thought we played really well and pursued the puck hard," Central coach Grant Paranica said.
"We didn't give up many scoring chances until the last three minutes of the game."
The final score wasn't indicative of the game flow, as Central cruised to a 3-0 lead through the first period and outshot the Eagles 12-1 in the first frame.
Kanta, who now has 10 goals on the year, scored at 3 minutes, 37 seconds of the first period and again less than seven minutes later.
"He had a terrific night," Paranica said. "He's been on fire lately. He's always got chances and now they're going in for him."
Will Eagleson added a goal at 13:53 of the first to spread the lead to three. Kanta finished the hat trick at 13:23 of the the second period.
Davies took advantage of a penalty-filled third period, scoring two 5-on-3 goals in the final two minutes. Ethan Mathson scored at 15:48 of the third, followed by Austin Schmidt at 16:16.
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"That's a team that competes for every inch of the ice for 51 minutes," Davies coach Scott Petersen said. "We got our butts kicked for 51 minutes. They competed, we watched and you can't do that in top-end EDC hockey."
Davies goalie Jared Winter made 31 saves, while Central goalie Kaleb Johnson made 15 saves. Johnson didn't make his first save until the final few seconds of the first period.
"It's a good lesson," Petersen said. "Our ego might be a little too big and confident and relaxed in practice. It might be a good eye opener to get back to what we need to do to be successful."
FIRST PERIOD: 1, GFC, (Kanta (Bjorge), 3:37. 2, GFC, Kanta (Moreland, Briske), 10:27. 3, GFC, Eagleson (Miller, Holt), 13:53.
SECOND PERIOD: 4, GFC, Kanta (Holt, Murphy), 13:23.
THIRD PERIOD: 5, FD, Mathson, 15:48. 6, FD, Schmidt (Stibbe), 16:16.
SAVES: FD, Winter 9-13-9-31. GFC, Johnson 1-6-8-15.
