The North Branch B2 Bantams played in their final game of the season on Sunday, February 22 at 8:15pm at Anoka against Centennial Black. The Centennial squad finished their regular season with an 18-0-1 record and among those victories was a 6-1 regular season shelling of the Vikings. The Vikings were eager for a rematch, but figured that they would only see Centennial Black again during the playoffs. Both teams had won three straight playoff games to ascend to the District 10 Bantam B2 Championship Game, so it was clear that both teams were playing great hockey.
North Branch, in their white jerseys, struck first with 8:14 remaining in the first period on a goal by left wing, Cory Husnik. He was assisted on the play by J.T. Lindholm.
The Centennial team roared back with two goals of their own to take a 2-1 lead into the second period of play.
At the 9:24 mark of the second period, Husnik again with help from Lindholm, tallied another goal to knot the game at 2 goals each.
Centennial Black quickly answered with a power play goal to take the lead 3-2.
The Vikings continued their frenetic pace and amassed 11 shots during the period until one finally went in as Husnik, assisted by center Kyle Kaminski, slid a shot by the Centennial goalie with only :17 seconds left in the second period.
Shots through two periods were even at 20, but Centennial came out shooting during the third period. Goalie Chris Lindberg turned away shot after shot to maintain the 3-3 tie.
On a mid-ice turnover, Kaminski found Husnik once again and Husnik raced down the ice, and blew a shot passed the goalie for a Vikings 4-3 lead with 1:28 remaining in the contest.
Centennial Black called a timeout to regroup and likely tell the goalie when to vacate the net area for the extra skater. The Vikings, excited with the lead, now knew that there was still a lot of time left and had to now preserve the narrow one goal margin to get the win.
The Vikings were able to counter every rushing attempt by the excellent Centennial Black team and cleared the puck out of the defensive zone at every opportunity. The clock ticked away and the Vikings pulled out the win in a thrilling and well played game.
Centennial Black held a 31 to 25 shot advantage, but Lindberg had a great day between the pipes and received terrific support from the defenseman and forwards all game long.
Congratulations to the team on a terrific and memorable hockey season.
