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Micah Miller appeared to try to leap over the plexiglass to join his Grand Rapids fans after scoring the double-overtime winner against Duluth East. Photo Credit: John Gilbert

 Two goals, by two great hockey players, both in the second overtime against their arch-rivals, and the goals boosted two really good teams to the next level of competition.

One of the goals was scored last Thursday by Micah Miller, who is the most-heralded skater on the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks roster. His blistering slapshot gave Rapids a pulsating 3-2 victory over Duluth East at 10:18 of the second sudden-death overtime before 7,054 fans -- the largest crowd of the season at AMSOIL..

The second goal was an amazing mid-air swat by a young woman named Lara Stalder, who should win the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best college player in the U.S., and it gave the UMD Bulldogs a 2-1 triumph over the University of Minnesota -- at Minnesota’s Ridder Arena -- in the semifinals of the WCHA Women’s tournament last Saturday afternoon.

The goals elicited a stark contrast in celebrations. Miller veered to the end boards, right in front of the orange-clad mob of Grand Rapids students, and leaped so high it looked like he might end up clearing the glass and joining them. That was a moment before he was completely engulfed by his orange-jerseyed teammates, because it meant that Grand Rapids had defended its 7AA title and would be returning to the state tournament.

The Thunderhawks mobbed Micah Miller to celebrate their 3-2 victory over East, earning the 7AA title before 7,054 fans at AMSOIL Arena. Photo Credit: John Gilbert

Stalder might have felt like leaping over the glass in elation, but elation can only take you so far when it is up against exhaustion, and the Bulldogs women had to come right back and take on No. 1 ranked Wisconsin Sunday. So, by comparison, it was quite subdued. 
If you had never seen a hockey game before and saw only the East-Rapids Section 7AA championship game at AMSOIL Arena, and the UMD-Gopher game -- which will be duplicated Saturday afternoon at AMSOIL in the NCAA quarterfinals -- you could go away knowing you had seen the best the game has to offer.

Grand Rapids is at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul this week, starting out Thursday night as the No. 5 seed, taking on No. 4 Maple Grove in the final game of the quarterfinals. The winner advances to face the survivor of the 6 p.m. game between top-seeded Eden Prairie and unseeded but defending champion Wayzata, which not only beat Edina to gain the state tournament, but beat Eden Prairie in last year’s state title battle. All that overcomes Wayzata’s shockingly mediocre 10-17-1 record.

Thursday’s quarterfinals begin with Lakeville South facing St. Thomas Academy at 11 a.m., followed by Hill-Murray against Moorhead.

The entire tournament kicked off with a full day of Class A smaller schools, climaxed by top-seeded Hermantown (26-1-1) facing Luverne. If the form-chart follows, the first round in Class A will feature some lopsided games, followed by extremely close Friday semifinals.

Duluth East's Ian Mageau circled behind Grand Rapids goaltender Zach Stejskal, after setting up Garrett Worth for the goal that tied the game 2-2. Photo Credit: John Gilbert

But the small schools can’t match the hype earned by the Class AA teams. If you need evidence of the competitive level high school hockey has attained, consider that the final semi-official ratings of Class AA teams showed the top eight to be: 1. Eden Prairie, 2. Edina, 3. Stillwater, 4. Holy Family, 5. Centennial, 6. St. Thomas Academy, 7. Elk River, and 8. Lakeville North. Of those eight, only Eden Prairie and St. Thomas Academy made the state field.

Section 7AA led the way with that showdown at AMSOIL. Grand Rapids coach Trent Klatt was a maestro of juggling, because he has good players all down the lineup, but three exceptional ones in Miller and wingers Blake McLaughlin and Gavin Hain, a pair of quick, skilled juniors. Klatt’s decision is always whether to play the three together on the best forward line in the state, or split them up onto two lines. “Actually, I have three options,” Klatt said. “I also can put one on each line and make three lines that can score.”

Klatt put the three on the same line for the third period against top-seeded Elk River in the 7AA semifinals, and after the Thunderhawks had roared from a 2-0 deficit to win 5-3 with a 5-goal third period, Hain had a hat trick and McLaughlin a goal and two assists. Against East, which has good balance and depth, Klatt started the three on the top line, going against East’s top unit with sophomore Ryder Donovan centering juniors Ian Mageau and Garrett Worth. Then he started juggling. I told him I tried charting lines, but gave up when the count got into double figures. But when it got serious, he reunited the line.

The Thunderhawks pinned the Greyhounds back at the start, getting seven of the first eight shots in the game, one of which was when McLaughlin plunked the rebound of a Miller shot for a 1-0 lead. Donovan tied it on a power play when he retrieved the puck deep on the right and threw a blind backhand toward the crease that bounced in.

McLaughlin and Miller assisted in the first minute of the second period, with McLaughlin’s pass across the slot converted by Michael Heitkamp’s one-timer. East tied it again, when Mageau made a deliberate power rush up the right side, keeping possession until he could fling a shot on goal, and Worth scored on the rebound for a 2-2 count. Then it stayed 2-2 through one overtime, and into the second, as goaltenders Kirk Meierhoff of East and Zach Stejskal of Rapids stopped everything.

The shots ended up 45-45, but they were 45-44 for East when Miller caught a pass from Nano DeGuiseppi and rushed across the East blue line on the right. East captain Reid Hill, playing one of his best games of the season under such pressure, was back, retreating to cover the speedy Miller. As he go to within 50 feet, Miller veered slightly and cut loose with a shot that missed Hill’s shinguard by a couple centimeters, and the rising missile snared the upper left extremity of the net before Meierhoff could even pick up its trajectory, and then it was time to hurdle the plexiglass.

My vantage point, from the press box, meant I could see Miller’s plan. “Did you see an opening in the upper left, or could you even see the net?” I asked him. Miller laughed. “No, I couldn’t see it,” he said. “All I was trying to do was get it past the ‘D.’ ” 

When someone as good as Micah Miller shoots one past a screening leg, his instincts mean that it also is like on a laser guided, into the net.