Cougar Boys Suffer Eye-Opening Loss at Eagan

What a difference a week made for the Lakeville South boys hockey team.

One week after dominating Bloomington Kennedy 9-0, the Cougars managed just 11 shots on goal in a 4-0 loss at Eagan.

Coach Kurt Weber was almost upbeat afterward, stating the game was a good early-season loss for his team.

"This is a deer-in-the-headlights-type thing. They're as good as anybody we'll see all year," he said. "When you play one of the best teams in the state, if you don't play at both ends of the ice, it's going to end up 4-0. It would have been worse if our goalie didn't do a nice job." Brady Frahm stopped 32 shots.

Eagan (2-1-1, 2-0-1 South Suburban Conference) entered the game ranked eighth in Class AA; Lakeville South 19th.

"They're the real deal. They got a lot of depth and they're big and strong," Weber said. "When you're not used to playing at that level, and they can hit … they got kind of intimidated by that." Nine players on the Cougars roster don't have much varsity experience.

The Cougars are still playing without two of their top defensemen: Joe Freemark (broken leg) and Ethan Quinnell (knee). Both are expected to be out until at least Christmas. "We have three guys carrying way too much weight right now. Against a team like this you just can't do that," Weber said. "We've got just enough holes right now that a team like this is going to expose them to you."

Lakeville South (1-1-0, 1-1-0) was scheduled to play Edina last Saturday, but the game was postponed because of last weekend's .

"Had they have played Edina, I think we would have seen a much different team," said Eagan coach Mike Taylor.

Despite the lopsided shot differential, Lakeville South was only down 2-0 when it went on the power play late in the second period.

A shot by Charlie Heller hit the left post and Eagan goaltender Tommy Bodeker made a save on the rebound attempt by Justin Kloos.

Less than 20 seconds later, Michael Zajac passed to Eli May at center ice. Two strides after entering the Lakeville South zone, May used Drew Brevig as a screen and beat Frahm for a goal with a long wrist shot to make it 3-0 Wildcats. Just 15.1 seconds remained in the period.

"To beat a team like this you've got to get some bounces," Weber said. "We played better in the second period, but that kind of broke our back."

The Cougars travel to 10th-ranked Hill-Murray Saturday and are home to No. 6 Burnsville Tuesday. 

"We're going to learn the hard way," Weber said.