On a quiet night in goal, Josh Weber was a difference maker.
The senior had only 13 saves Thursday night. That was good enough for his fifth shutout of the season as East Grand Forks Senior High beat visiting Park Rapids 4-0 in the Minnesota Section 8A boys hockey tournament quarterfinals.
While Weber didn’t have quantity for saves, he had quality. Twice he stopped Panthers on breakaway attempts with the Green Wave clinging to a 1-0 lead.
“You just have to stay calm on those,’’ Weber said. “I’m confident in that situation. After practices, we work on breakaways a lot. That really helps.’’
Senior High led 1-0 after the first. Austin Monda whipped a pass from the left circle across the crease to Reed Corbid, who tapped in the score, giving him a goal in four consecutive games.
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Then Weber came up with his breakaway stops, at 7:02 in the first and 7:15 in the second.
“Those were huge,’’ Park Rapids coach Pete Stahnke said. “Score and we get some momentum. We were trying to clog the middle on defense, chip the puck out and try to get some breakaways. But we weren’t able to capitalize.’’
It stayed 1-0 until 35 seconds were left in the second. Grant Loven put a shot off Panthers goalie Austin Jerger's chest and sophomore Bauer Brown punched in the rebound for his second goal of the season.
“That gave us a cushion,’’ said Senior High coach Tyler Palmiscno, whose team hit the pipe on two second-period shots and was stopped on a 2-on-0 breakaway. “We needed to get to the net. We finally found a rebound and capitalized. (Brown) made a nice play around the net.’’
Tanner Tweten and Dixon Bowen added goals in the third period, with Bowen finishing with three points in the game. That was more than enough offense with Weber in goal.
“Josh didn’t have to make a lot of saves, but he made quality saves,’’ Palmiscno said. “He doesn’t get rattled.’’
Jerger, a freshman, finished with 41 saves. “He’s going to be a good one,’’ Stahnke said. “He had a good night. That (Senior High) is about as good a shooting team as you’ll see.’’
Park Rapids closed with a 12-15-0 record.
