THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. - Roseau head coach Andy Lundbohm tossed a game puck to goalie Ethan Kvidt in the locker room Wednesday for the performance the senior delivered earlier in the evening.
Kvidt made 25 saves, including a key stop in the final minutes, to help the Rams earn a 2-1 victory against Moorhead for the Minnesota Class 2A, Section 8 boys hockey championship at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
"I definitely wanted that game puck tonight," Kvidt said. "It's everything. We take a lot of pride in playing for Roseau. Last year, it was a tough loss against Moorhead in the section finals so we definitely wanted to come out and win this one for our community and our team."
Moorhead (14-11-2) had its season end, missing a chance to earn its 12th trip to the state tournament.
The perennial powers split two meetings in the regular season. The Rams won 4-1 at Moorhead in December. The Spuds won 6-2 at Roseau in January.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We kind of had an inconsistent year," Spuds coach Dave Morinville said. "There were times when we were good and times when we struggled. But I thought we got it going here for awhile, I felt pretty good."
Moorhead had a chance to tie the score late in the third period Wednesday.
Spuds senior forward Braden Rahman took a centering pass in front of the net, but Kvidt blocked the shot fired on net.
That critical save preserved the Rams' 2-1 lead with 3 minutes, 40 seconds remaining.
"They had about four, five chances like that where I thought any of those could go in," Lundbohm said.
"It got me right in the chest," Kvidt added. "It's just all about focusing and blocking out the fan noise and just focusing on the puck."
Roseau built a 2-0 lead in the second period after senior Cole Kostrzewski scored a power-play goal at 5:12 of the period.
Kostrzewski one-timed a shot from between the circles that found the back of the net.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It was huge," Lundbohm said. "We knew that one goal wasn't going to be enough. In fact, if somebody told me we were going to get two goals I probably would have expected a loss. It's just the way Moorhead plays. They are able to score in bunches."
The Rams never played from behind and held the lead for all but 67 seconds. Roseau took a 1-0 lead at 1:07 of the first period after junior Travis Connell scored from the top of the left circle.
Morinville felt that was key moment.
"That first goal is a big goal when you get into games like these, and they got the first one early and it just kind of pinned our ears back. We couldn't get out of that funk," Morinville said. "It seemed like once they scored that goal, it seemed like we were skating up hill the whole game."
The Spuds showed life in the second period, cutting the Rams lead to 2-1.
Moorhead senior Tyler Larson took a pass between the circles and ripped the puck past Kvidt for a power-play goal.
Larson's goal came moments after the Rams had taken a 2-0 lead.
"I thought when we got that power-play goal I thought, 'This is it. We're going to come back.' " Morinville said. "We started to pick it up in the second period and we didn't capitalize."
ADVERTISEMENT
Roseau held a 30-26 edge in shots on goal, including a 13-7 edge in the first period.
Moorhead outshot the Rams 11-9 in the second period.
"Hats off to Moorhead how they played tonight, it just as easily could be them going down to the state tournament," Lundbohm said. "We were fortunate to get one more break and we made due. That's really what it came down to."
FIRST PERIOD: 1, R, Connell (Hedlund) 1:07.
SECOND PERIOD: 2, R, Kostrzewski (Knochenmus, Kvidt) 5:12 (pp). 3, M, Larson (MacLeod, Leabo) 5:58 (pp).
THIRD PERIOD: No scoring.
SAVES: R, Kvidt 7-10-8--25. M, Bitzer 12-8-8--28.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Eric Peterson at (701) 241-5513.
