Author: Steve Mulholland

After Eden Prairie’s gritty 3-1 win over Prior Lake on Thursday, Billie Jacobson-Couch emerged from the Eagles locker room at Dakotah! Ice Center. Celebratory music began playing from behind the doorway. It was at that moment he was asked the question, “Did you get the puck?” “I did. Yeah, it’s in my bag right now,” Jacobson-Couch replied, pointing to a hockey duffel bag large enough to hide a refrigerator. The junior forward had sent said puck flying into the net to score his first varsity goal. His relentless effort put the Eagles on the board, tying the game at one…

After falling behind Wayzata 2-0 in the first period Tuesday night, the Eden Prairie Eagles needed a change of pace; a spark. They found it in the most unlikely of places. From the Zamboni. “That was goofy,” Eagles head coach Steve Persian said with a chuckle after the game. After two laps around the main rink at Plymouth Ice Center during the first intermission, the Zamboni stalled on the ice and could not be revived. Give credit to the arena management for quickly making the decision to move the game to “Rink C” in the facility, which, like Eden Prairie…

With their goalie pulled in the final minute and a half, the Eden Prairie Eagles capitalized and nearly took their game with Wayzata into overtime Tuesday night at Plymouth Ice Center. Senior captain Paige Holt scored on a breakaway with 51 seconds remaining in the third period to make it a 2-1 hockey game. Wayzata scored two first-period goals and held on to win the contest. Junior goalie Tegan Swanson had 17 saves as the Eagles dropped to 4-10 on the season. Eden Prairie will take on fourth-ranked Edina tomorrow night at Braemar Ice Arena. Check back in with eplocalnews.org for complete…

The Eden Prairie Eagles had reason to smile. Despite their 4-0 loss to ninth-ranked Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the third-place game at the Mid-Winter Meltdown tournament, the Eagles girls hockey team was given a lift on Thursday night. Their newly-adopted mascot of sorts – an eight-week-old British black labrador named Tallie – was in the house to pay them a visit after the game. Call it “puppy love.” “She’s been to every game since we got her two weeks ago,” Melissa Konrad, mother of Tallie and Eagles forward Ella Konrad, said. “Except for last night,” she added, referring to the Eagles’…

After winning in the opening round of the Mid-Winter Meltdown tournament with a 4-2 victory over Chaska/Chanhassen, the Eden Prairie Eagles came out on the short end of their second-round game Wednesday with Shakopee and lost a 4-0 decision to ninth-ranked Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the third-place game on Thursday night at Eden Prairie Community Center. The eight-team, three-day tournament also includes varsity and JV teams from North Wright County, Hill-Murray, Cretin-Derham Hall, Roseau and Breckenridge/Wahpeton. “It’s not because of a lack of effort,” Eagles head coach Steve Persian said. “They have plenty of effort. It’s sometimes just a lack of…

“Everybody looked like they’d been off for three weeks,” an exasperated Ellen Wiese said on Wednesday afternoon. “We had three days off. So, no excuses!” In the corridors adjacent to the Park Center High School gymnasium, the Eden Prairie head coach didn’t sound like someone whose team had won a hard-fought, closely-contested girls basketball game. Her third-ranked Eagles got off to a slow start against St. Louis Park at Park Center’s 7th Annual Girls Basketball Showcase in Brooklyn Park, but eventually powered through to a 68-60 win. The Eagles’ previous game – a 61-51 win at Champlin Park on Dec.…

The Eden Prairie Eagles boys basketball team returned to the court after an eight-day break from game competition and picked up where they left off last week: with another win. The Eagles, hosts of the OSR Physical Therapy Eden Prairie Classic at Eden Prairie High School, rolled to a 90-79 win over Chaska on Wednesday. Sophomore Max Lorenson led the Eagles with 25 points. Senior Chiddi Obiazor put up 20. Sophomore JJ Sullivan had 15, and senior Luke Rapp finished with 11 points in the victory. Eden Prairie, ranked third in Class 4A in the most recent poll released on Dec. 14, improves to…

Eight days since their last game, the third-ranked Eden Prairie Eagles shook off the rust to get a hard-fought 68-60 win over St. Louis Park on Wednesday at the 7th Annual Park Center Girls’ Basketball Showcase. The two-day, six-team tournament also features host Park Center along with Chaska, Hopkins and Owatonna in both varsity and JV play. The Eagles were led by senior guard and captain Molly Lenz with 21 points. Sophomore guard Tori Schlagel added 17 points, all in the second half, including three straight three-point shots. Senior forward and captain Kylee Bamlett owned the boards for the Eagles…

As the second period drew to a close at Dakotah! Ice Center on Tuesday afternoon, Eden Prairie’s Andy Earl took possession of the puck in the offensive zone. He had already scored two goals earlier in the period to give the Eagles a commanding 6-2 lead over Lakeville North in the opening round of the Tradition Holiday Invitational. Earl raced by a Panther defender and into the slot. He got the shot off, but Lakeville North goaltender Van Eigner made the save. It appeared Earl may have put a little something extra on his shot. Another goal meant a hat…

Back on the ice after the holiday break, the Eden Prairie boys hockey team kicked off the Tradition Holiday Invitational with a 7-5 victory over Lakeville North Tuesday afternoon at Dakotah! Ice Center in Prior Lake. Along with the Eagles and the Panthers, the three-day, eight-team tournament, put on by Youth Hockey Hub, features Chaska, Edina, Moorhead, Prior Lake, Rogers and St. Thomas Academy. The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period of their opening game. Junior forward Connor Crowley found the net first. His goal, just 1:28 into the game on a one-timer from the slot, was assisted by…