ST. PETER — The No. 4 seed Mankato East/Loyola boys hockey team gave up two goals in the final 5:07 of the game and fell to No. 1 seed Luverne 3-2 Saturday in a Section 3A semifinal game at Don Roberts Ice Rink at Lund Arena.
East/Loyola took a 2–1 lead early in the third period. Junior forward Luke Lebens received a bouncing pass from senior Tyler Rundle and got it by Luverne goaltender Gavin Hoven on the left side of the net 3:13 into the period.
The lead stood for over eight and a half minutes. At the end of a Luverne power play, Blaik Bork got by an East/Loyola defender and scored on his backhand to tie the game at 2. In the final minute, Luverne’s Landyn Lais collected a loose puck in the East/Loyola end and scored on the right side of the net with just 36 seconds remaining.
“It’s playoff hockey,” said East/Loyola head coach Adam Fries. “Someone always wins, someone always loses. We knew what it was like to win for most of that game, but unfortunately, things didn’t go our way.”
East/Loyola started the game being the aggressors against the section top seed, but they weren’t able to crack the net on some good chances.
“We knew we had to control the game,” said Fries. “[Luverne] has some really good players. We did what we needed to do. We just needed to score one more goal.”
Luverne finally broke the scoreless tie with a power play goal 14:28 into the game.
East/Loyola continued to get quality scoring chances in the second period, even when they were shorthanded. The Cougars tied the game late in the period. Sophomore Indy Ragan picked up a loose puck at the Luverne blue line and scored on a breakaway to make it 1-1.
Senior goaltender Brody Kunst had a great game in net for the Cougars. He stopped 30 shots in his final high school game.
East/Loyola finishes their season with a 10-17 record.