The Royals ended the regular season with a 3-3 tie with Wayzata, so when the sixth-seeded Royals were matched up with the third-seeded Trojans in the first round of section play, it was set to be a close game. Boy, was it ever.

Right from the opening faceoff, the back-and-forth battle began. Neither team could gain zone time and the first period ended scoreless, with a 9-5 shots on goal lead for Wayzata.

In the second period, the Trojans controlled the puck and continuously fired away at the Royals goal. It looked as if it would get worse for the Royals when Matt Hines, senior was awarded a penalty for giving Trojans goalie Alex Schilling, junior a snow shower and left the Royals shorthanded. However, a retaliation by Wayzata’s Hank Sorenson, sophomore, negated the Royals penalty and made it four-on-four hockey. Hines was sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct and Sorenson was sent for roughing. A strong performance by Royals goalie Josh Kuehmichel, senior, kept zeroes on the board after two periods.

After gaining a little momentum with a strong push at the end of the second period, the Royals had to go on the penalty kill when a slash by Noah Bragg, senior gave Wayzata the game’s first and only powerplay. But Kuehmichel and the strong Royals defense were there to kill the power play as Kuehmichel made five of his 34 saves.

With over two minutes left in regulation, overtime seemed a foregone conclusion. As the Royals were pressing on, a mishandled puck landed on the stick of Trojans forward Max Zimmer, junior who surged down the ice with Luke Paterson, junior, on a two-on-one. As good as Kuehmichel is, there wasn’t anything he could to do to stop Paterson from the right wing. The goal would be the final dagger of the Royals’ season. With just 1:10 left in the game, the 1-0 deficit would be too hard to overcome.

It was unfortunate that one of the most successful seasons in recent HHS boys hockey history ended with a first-round section loss. Regardless, the Royals brought serious boys hockey buzz back to the Hopkins community for the first time in years.