Allen Patten savored the victory, but Axel Osborn took home a memorable consolation prize – a national record – following St. Cloud Tech’s 3-2, six-overtime victory against Bemidji in a Minnesota hockey marathon.
Patten was the winning goalie in the thriller, which lasted four-and-a-half hours from start to finish. Along the way, he broke the national record with 56 saves. However, Osborn bested him with 58 saves and his name will be the one on top of the honor roll, which previously listed 48 saves by Glenn Walker of Verona (Wis.) against New Richmond in 2003.
Minnesota also holds the distinction of having the longest game – 11 overtimes – when Minneapolis South nipped Thief River Falls, 3-2, in 1955. Two games lasted eight overtimes and there are several at six.
Bemidji coach Wade Chiodo called it "a game for the ages. Both goalies played tremendous games and both made huge saves. That’s part of the reason it went so many overtimes. He (Osborn) was remarkable.
"It was tough on the kids after the game. They were very shocked emotionally and physically drained. They put it out there and left everything on the rink. Both played with a lot of heart. They got the bounce at the end of the game and that was the story."
Osborn told MaxPreps, "It really didn’t feel like a national record – probably because we didn’t come out on top. It’s kind of nice to know, I guess. Physically, I got pretty tired, but mentally I could have gone on. It definitely wasn’t the sorest I’ve ever been."
The 6-foot, 160-pound senior, whose previous high had been 44 stops in a regulation game, estimated that he had "15 or 20 trop-quality saves, at least. Probably four were breakaways."
St. Cloud Tech coach Neil Andruschak said, "The goalies both rose to the occasion. They didn’t make very many mistakes. Both teams played so hard and so well, it needed to go that long. I was really nervous in the first three overtimes. A couple times I literally hid behind somebody’s jersey and ducked down behind the bench. The last three I was intense and focused on my guys."
Patten ended up with the historic puck, but he gave it to his coach on the bus in honor of his first playoff victory.
"As excited as they were about the big win, I don’t think we were five miles out before everybody was snoring," Andruschak noted. "There wasn’t one reading light or cell phone on."
Axel Osborn, Bemidji
Photo courtesy of Onita Osborn
* Superior (Wis.) goalie Garrett Jensen had 57 saves – No. 2 in national hockey history – during a 3-2 victory over River Falls.
* Senior Bethany Brausen has been named Minnesota’s Miss Hockey after leading Roseville to the Class 2A state title. A University of Minnesota recruit, she finished this year with 35 goals and 35 assists and had 216 career points.
Robinson scores 57 points
Daylen Robinson is one of the most talented unknown basketball players in the country. The 6-foot senior point guard poured in 57 points as Northeast (Kansas City, Mo.) suffered an 80-74 loss to city rival Central. It was the highest total for a Kansas City player since 1979. The Kansas City Star called it "one of the single greatest performances by a Kansas City high school athlete."
Robinson, who is averaging 30 points, had 48 points, (21-of-26 shooting), 11 steals and eight assists during an earlier 102-71 victory against William Chrisman. He also is a great ball-handler and passer. The Star reports that Robinson has been shot several times and missed some games during his career due to academic ineligibility. However, the 19-year-old has overcome his checkered past and wants to play college basketball.
* Foothills Christian guard Kalob Hatcher broke NBA star Jason Kidd’s California career record for assists and now has 1,173.
* The Pickens County (Reform, Ala.) Tornadoes definitely lived up to their nickname as they scored seven points in the final nine seconds of the third overtime to nip Houston County, 88-86, to win Alabama’s Class 2A state title. It marked Pickens’ first state title in any sport.
* High-scoring Corey Hawkins was held to a season-low 12 points, but his younger brother, Devon, came through with 24 as Goodyear Estrella Foothills (31-1) defeated Eager Round Valley, 77-57, to win its third consecutive Arizona Class 3A state title.
* Junior Timmy Knipp, Kentucky’s leading regular-season scorer, pumped in 45 points as Elliott County edged West Carter, 75-71.
* Talk about a one man gang – Super guard Josh Selby exploded for 45 points, but Lake Clifton still suffered a 58-56 overtime loss to Edmondson in the Baltimore city championship game.
* Non-starter Bryce Taylor poured in 23 points during just six minutes of action as Taft (Woodland Hills, Calif.) crushed Sylmar, 128-29.
* Senior forward Keala King pulled down a school-record 26 rebounds as Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) defeated Los Alamitos, 80-60. Two-time CIF Player of the Year Tom Lewis had held the record of 25 from the 1984-85 season.
* In Wisconsin, No. 1-ranked Racine Park had to forfeit 10 of its 21 victories because players who had not met attendance requirements (skipping classes or arriving late required students to sit out a week of basketball) had participated in those games.
* Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) transfer Terrence Ross, a 6-5 senior, was denied a hardship waiver at Jefferson (Portland, Ore.), where he had played for two years.
* The News Journal (Wilmington, Del.) reports that 6-4 junior Trevor Cooney has made a commitment to Syracuse University. Cooney is averaging 18 points and 10 rebounds for Sanford (Hockessin, Del.).
* Bob Brink became only the second Minnesota boys basketball coach to record 900 victories when Rocori (Cold Spring, Minn.) nipped Alexandria, 70-68, in overtime.
* Retiring coach John "Chip" Tatro wasn’t as lucky because he ended his career with 399 victories as Palmyra-Macedon (N.Y.) lost its season finale, 68-63, to Charlotte.
* How many persons can match 68-year-old Goshen resident John Preheim, who has just completed a 15-year odyssey to see every one of Indiana’s current 403 boys basketball teams play at least one game?
Freshman scores 55 points
In Virginia, freshman Adrienne Motley erupted for 55 points as Hampton Roads upset Norfolk Christian, 74-67, in overtime. Motley scored 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Navigators overcame a 15-point deficit. She made 17 field goals and 18 of 21 at the free throw line.
* In Kentucky, Pineville junior Chelsey Smith scored 54 points against Middlesboro … Another Kentucky junior, Chastity Gooch, amassed 29 points, 18 rebounds, eight blocks and seven assists as Franklin-Simpson defeated Russellville.
* In Pennsylvania, Jeannette missed its first 25 shots and was held scoreless in the first quarter, but still defeated South Fayette, 44-40.
* It turns out, National Player of the Year and MacArthur (Irving, Texas) senior Odyssey Sims tore an ACL in the first 13 seconds of her team's 67-60 season-ending 5A playoff loss to Cedar Hill on Saturday. She had poured in 40 points earlier against Duncanville. The injury originally was diagnosed as a hamstring injury. Sims, a 5-8 guard considered one of the top players in Texas history, hopes to be ready in the fall before she starts her college career at Baylor.
* One of the nation’s top juniors, 5-8 point guard Alexia Standish, suffered a season-ending torn ACL in her left knee at Heritage (Colleyville, Texas).
* Arizona’s winningest girls basketball coach, Don Petranovich, retired in a blaze of glory as Winslow defeated Fort Defiance Window Rock, 51-40, to give him his eighth Class 3A state title.
State champion coach dies
Mike Messier, who led Exeter-West Greenwich (R.I.) to Rhode Island Division IV state football titles each of the last two years, died recently in a car accident. The 55-year-old coach, who was an electrician by trade, also was the girls softball coach.
* Daxx Garman, a junior quarterback from Jones (Okla.), has transferred to Texas powerhouse Carroll (Southlake), according to the Dallas Morning News. Already committed to the University of Arizona, the 6-foot-2, 175-pounder passed for 2,311 yards and 24 touchdowns last fall in just eight games.
* According to the Austin American-Statesman, the amazing University of Texas junior pledge class has added the state’s No. 1 offensive lineman, Sedrick Flowers, a 6-3, 290-pounder from Galena Park North Shore. Two days earlier the Longhorns heard from the state’s No. 2 linebacker, Daingerfield’s Steve Edmond.
Trujillo ties 5A record
Austin Trujillo slammed three home runs to tie Arizona’s Class 5A state record as Anthem Boulder Creek routed Avondale La Jolla, 22-5. One of his homers came with the bases loaded, the other two in one inning, and he drove in seven runs.
* In Florida, Fleming Island (Orange Park) defeated Bartram Trail, 7-5, to give coach Don Suriano his 500th victory.
* In Texas, Lake Travis (Austin) baseball coach Roy Kinnan picked up his 500th career win with a 15-0 win over Temple on Saturday night. Kinnan has coached at five high schools, the last seven years at Lake Travis, which has gone a combined 61-15 the last two seasons.
Potpourri
* Mirai Nagasu, a junior from Arcadia (Calif.), placed fourth, just missing a medal, in figure skating during the Winter Olympics in Canada. Rachael Flatt, a senior from Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs, Colo.) who defeated Nagasu earlier for the USA title, finished seventh.
* Stillwell Blue Valley senior wrestler Parker Madl set a Kansas state record with his 40th pin and went on to post a 47-0 record as the Class 6A state champion at 171 pounds. As a junior he compiled a 44-1 record and won the state 140-pound title. He will attend the University of Oklahoma.
* Nic Fink of Pingry (Martinsville, N.J.) set a national record for independent schools when he won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:03.37 during a meet against Bishop Eustace. The overall national record is 1:03.35 by Ed Moses of Lake Braddock (Va.) in 1998.
* Perham tied a Minnesota state record by winning its seventh consecutive Class A state gymnastics title. Jenna Schmitz, the team’s lone senior, was a member of six of those teams.
