Totino-Grace Hockey Torches Tartan 6-1

Totino-Grace High School had little trouble dispatching the Tartan Titans on Thursday night, with two goals from Andrew McDonald and an attack that was, at times, relentless.

The Eagles are currently ranked fourth among Minnesota's Class A high schools, behind St. Thomas Academy, Blake and Hermantown.

Eagles head coach Mark Loahr found little to criticize after his team's 6-1 victory. “I thought we could have scored one or two more tonight. I thought we played pretty well apart from a couple minutes here and there.”

His opposite number was realistic ahead of the matchup. “We have to play very disciplined hockey tonight,” Tartan co-head coach Steve Romanchuk said before the game. “We have to play our positions without mistakes. We have to be tight. If we play loose in our zone, it could be trouble.”

So it came as little surprise when early Titans penalties led to two powerplay goals for Totino-Grace within the first 10 minutes of the game. Junior Andrew McDonald and senior Dan Heck scored the goals for the Eagles.

The Eagles then proved they could score just as effortlessly at even-strength after goals from McDonald and TJ Roo gave Totino-Grace a 4-0 advantage by the end of the first period.

Ahead four goals at the beginning of the second period, Totino-Grace continued its assault on a Tartan team that looked befuddled by the offensive outburst.

And while Tartan struggled to get the puck out of its defensive zone for much of the period, Titans goaltender Evan Hauser played well, stopping several point blank shots from the Eagles.

But Totino-Grace wasted little time reinforcing its dominance in the third period. Forward Luke Mezzenga scored to give the Eagles a five goal advantage just three minutes into the period.

A shorthanded goal from Tartan's Joey Washenberger with six minutes left in the period looked like it might provide the offensive spark the Titans sought.

But a fluke wrist shot from Eagles' defenseman Derek Heid beat Hauser a minute later to once again give Totino-Grace a five goal advantage and a 6-1 victory. Totino-Grace outshot the Titans 42 to 23 in the game.

Titans senior captain Jay Friberg was understandably frustrated with the performance, but still saw reason for encouragement.

“We played pretty badly tonight. We couldn't finish,” Friberg said after the game. “We have the talent and potential to knock off the top teams, we just gotta keep working hard.”

Totino-Grace next faces off against Chisago Lakes on Saturday, Feb. 12. An Eagles win will put Totino-Grace into a tie for the conference lead.   

"We've got to go out and practice hard tomorrow," Eagles coach Loahr said. "At this point in the season, every win is important. We're playing Chisago Lakes on Saturday which gives us a share of the conference lead with a win. So we're really focused on that from this moment on."