The 5-4 double-overtime, Class 2A state final between Moorhead and Minnetonka on Saturday, March 7, was full of edge-of-your-seat moments, but a handful will stick in our memory long-term. From double overtime thrillers to expert saves, the Spuds and the Skippers showed why they are two of the best teams in the State of Hockey.

Five

What is a team without its goalie? The first period wasn’t kind to Moorhead sophomore goaltender Will Arnold as the Skippers pelted his net with shots, but when the time mattered most, Arnold showed up. In double overtime, Arnold made eight of his 31 saves in the game. At the 9:14 mark, Minnetonka’s Ethan Sturgis looked primed for his fourth goal of the tournament, but Arnold caught it just in time. He had a .886 save percentage in the championship game.

Four

Spuds sophomore phenom Joey Cullen gets all the credit for a play that got the crowd going with chants of “We love Joey! We love Joey!”

Zac Zimmerman swung a shot toward the right side of Chase Jerdee’s net roughly seven minutes into the third period, and Cullen was there to pick it up with ease. A lefthanded dump past Jerdee’s helmet had the student section roaring. It would be the start of three Moorhead goals in the third period to tie the score.

Three

Minnetonka’s opening shot deserves a third-place trophy. Not only was the power-play goal — shot off of Danny Browning’s pass without a second to spare — a standout shot from senior forward Jordan Johnson, but it gave the Skippers the momentum they needed to put two more goals up in the first period.

Two

From a 3-0 deficit at the end of the first period to a 4-4 tie with 36 seconds left in the third, Zac Zimmerman’s overtime-inducing goal was one to remember. The forward nearly missed his junior season for a roster spot on the Fargo Force, but he decided to stay with days’ notice. Moorhead sure is glad he stayed to represent the Spuds on state-tournament ice. Zimmerman tapped in a shot from junior forward Evan Wanner.

Zimmerman’s previous goal made it a one-goal game and gave the Spuds the momentum they needed. His performance in the state tournament earned him a new team nickname “Zac St. Paul.”

“He’s such a good player,” junior defender Drew Simonich said.

Added senior forward Tyler Bergeson: “When we score and we’re jumping on the bench with all of our teammates, those 20 guys are going absolutely nuts, and I think it just gives us that confidence to go out there the next shift and just do it right again.”

One

The final goal of the game and of the high school hockey season clinched the No. 1 spot. After a scoreless first overtime, the waiting was over in the second OT when Wanner sped up the ice and shifted the puck to the outside of his stick before launching it into the back of the net. The junior forward’s celebration — and relief — was immediate with two gloves flicked into the air as he collapsed onto the ice.

“I got through the blue line,” Wanner recalled. “They were kind of tired, but I kind of found a way to shoot it through them. [The puck] ended up going in. It was a pretty good shot, but then just kind of blacked out after. I don’t even really remember what happened, but just remember going down and thinking like, ‘Wow, what a game.’ ”

Said junior defenseman Drew Simonich: “It was probably 1:30 a.m. me and Evan, we’re roommates, and we both asked each other, ‘What would you do if you scored the overtime game winner?’ And I swear to God, he said, ‘I would just throw everything into the crowd.’ ”