by Todd Abeln
Thisweek Newspapers

A bad start hurt Eagan, while hot goaltending saved the day for Apple Valley.

The Eagan girls' hockey team fired 59 shots on goal but were only able to manage a 2-2 tie against Apple Valley on Tuesday night at the Apple Valley Ice Arena.

Apple Valley came out with a high flying offense scoring two goals in the first 12 minutes and were able to hold on to get the tie despite getting outshot 59-24.

"I'm disappointed. It's like a loss for us and win for them," Wildcats head coach Scott Darwitz said. "We started out crappy, we just didn't come ready to play tonight."

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead at 6:34 when sophomore Sami Broberg scored on an assist from Alexia Gurtcheff.

Five minutes later, the Eagles took a 2-0 lead when freshman Taylor Barsness scored a power-play goal on assists from Alexa Kohorst and Amanda Crafts.

"That's about as hard as we can play," Eagles head coach Chuck Scanlon said. "We got up 2-0 and held them off."

Hold them off they did. Eagan fired 46 shots at Apple Valley goalie Kylie Smith in the final two periods and overtime period trying to get back in the game and then attempting to steal the victory.

They fired 22 shots on net in the second period but were shut out by Smith until 13:36 of the period when Hilary Christiansen scored a power-play goal to make the score 2-1.

For the goal, Kate Vanwatermulen won a faceoff back to defenseman Kelsey Kennedy. Kennedy quickly fired a pass to a wide open Christiansen who one-timed the puck past Smith.

Less than three minutes later Lisa Berreman scored an unassisted goal when she skated through the Apple Valley defense and beat Smith for a goal.

In the third period, Eagan controlled the play and fired 15 shots on net compared to three by the Eagles, but Smith stood tall and kept the game tied.

In overtime, both teams had excellent chances to score but neither could get the puck in the.

"You get over 50 shots on net, you have to score more than two goals," Darwitz said.

Todd Abeln is at sports.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.