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New-look Skippers coming of age

By Loren Nelson, Editor, 05/07/10, 10:49AM CDT

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Minnetonka survives nerve-fraying finish to beat rival Edina


Minnetonka's Chase Fisher scored twice in the Skippers' 7-5 victory over Edina. Photo by Helen Nelson

Don’t make the mistake of confusing this Minnetonka team with THAT Minnetonka team.

No, the Skippers’ state championship squad from last season is mostly just an ever-fading memory. Images of that group can be found online, and game footage has been burned onto DVDs, but that’s about the best you are going to do.

“It’s a completely different team, everyone is different,” said junior midfielder Chase Fisher. “We play way different as a team. We’re not just relying on a couple of people.

“It’s definitely more of team this year, and I like it a lot.”

Fisher scored twice in Minnetonka’s 7-5 triumph over Edina on Friday, May 7, a victory that avenged a heartbreaking loss to the arch rival Hornets’ earlier in the season in which the game-winning goal was scored with eight seconds left.

That 8-7 setback to Edina on April 17 effectively knocked Minnetonka out of any discussion about who might be the state’s best team. The Skippers, as the common thinking goes, just don’t have the horsepower to compete with Goliaths such as Blake or Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

Edina (5-5) has lost four times since beating Minnetonka, further weakening any Skippers’ claim for elite status.

“I wanted it really bad,” Minnetonka junior midfielder Parker Weinstock said about the rematch with the Hornets. “I personally didn’t play as well as I thought I could have the first time we played them. We wanted to prove ourselves as a team, that we’re still a team to beat.”

Minnetonka led 7-2 heading into the final quarter, when Edina made the finish on a cold, wet, and windy night worthwhile for the hearty fans who stuck it out to the end. The Hornets scored three consecutive goals in the opening five minutes of the final quarter.

“A lot of kids got kind of afraid, you know, nervous,” Fisher said. “I actually got nervous. But as soon as we got the ball back, we figured out we could keep our composure, that we could keep the ball out of their hands.”


Joe Stafford of Edina looks to make a pass as Minnetonka defenseman Beau Allen gives chase. Stafford scored twice for the Hornets. Photo by Helen Nelson

A team loaded with sophomores and juniors, these Skippers don’t have a lot of experience gutting out victories under adverse conditions. This season has been a learn-as-you-go process.

“Last year’s team, we had played together forever, and there was a lot of chemistry,” Weinstock said, “and this year we are trying to find that.

“We were trying to figure out our identity as a team, and I think we’re starting to get there.”

Don’t look now, but the Skippers are 7-2 and, by all accounts, a vastly different team than the one that lost to the Hornets three weeks ago.

Minnetonka controlled long stretches of Friday’s game against Edina. When the Hornets did have possession, they never were able to feature their top scorer, senior attackman Charlie Lavin. He entered the game with team highs of 23 goals and 34 points, totals that didn’t budge after a solid Skippers’ defensive performance.

“The message was we’ve got to start playing lacrosse, throwing and catching,” Edina coach Ed McFadden said about getting his players ready for the fourth quarter. “Because we had a hard time with that tonight. We just didn’t get into synch until the fourth quarter.”

Edina’s Pete Smith and Joe Stafford scored goals 13 seconds apart in the fourth quarter, and Danny Burke added another with 7:04 remaining.

“We’re a young team, so we have a tendency to kind of lose our composure,” said Minnetonka senior midfielder Ned Wolff, who scored twice. “I just try to tell myself, take it easy. And I try to tell my guys around me to take it easy.

“It was definitely a letdown, but I knew they weren’t going to come back. I knew they weren’t going to beat us again.”

Loren Nelson

Loren Nelson

MN Lax Hub Managing Editor

Phone: 612-379-1030 (ext. 126)


Minnetonka's Teddy O'Reilly goes airborne as he tries to elude Edina's Pete Smith. Photo by Helen Nelson

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THREE STARS

1. Ned Wolff, Minnetonka
Senior midfielder gave the Skippers a 7-2 lead late in the third quarter when he converted a great pass from Teddy O'Reilly. The goal, one of the prettiest on a cold, wet and mostly miserable night, was Wolff's second of the game and 15th of the season.

2. Chase Fisher, Minnetonka

Junior midfielder uncorked a wicked shot from about 15 yards out early in the second half to put Minnetonka ahead 5-1. It was Fisher's second goal of the game and team-best 18th of the season.

3. Joe Stafford, Edina
The Hornets' junior midfielder gets another nice bump in his stats after playing the Skippers, as he scored twice to help keep Edina in the game. Stafford has scored four of his 10 goals in the Hornets' two meetings with the defending state champions. Stafford also had a team-best six ground balls.

Quick Hits

Less than ideal
Although miserable seems like the most accurate word to describe Friday's cold (temperatures were in the low 40s), wet (the steady rain came down particularly hard in the second half) and windy weather, Minnetonka players didn't seem to mind playing in conditions best suited for sitting in front of a fireplace. "I like it, personally," Skippers junior Parker Weinstock said. "I think it makes everything a little bit more intense. It makes (holding) the sticks a little bit tough, but once you get used to it it’s fine." Added Minnetonka senior Ned Wolff, "The cold and the water, it's a nasty combination. The stickchecks hurt twice as much."

Penalty magnet
Minnetonka sophomore Matthew Boyce (the youngest of three Boyce brothers playing for the Skippers' varsity) was the featured performer in one of the most entertaining -- and bizarre -- sequences of Friday's game. Late in the third quarter, Boyce drew a penalty as he raced across midfield and then, after some more dodging, ended up scoring a goal. He was whacked by another Hornets player after scoring, drawing a second penalty. Minnetonka went up two men but was unable to score. Actually, it was Edina that ended up scoring just after the first of the two penalties expired.

Hasty exits
It's common after games for teams to assemble at separate ends of the field and receive messages from their coaches. On this nasty night, both teams happily skipped that tradition, making quick exits from the playing surface. Edina hastily packed its gear and headed straight to its team bus. The Skipppers stuck around just long enough to stow their gear before heading to the parking lot.

STANDINGS

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