It doesn’t happen very often in the game of hockey. A buzzer beater. But that’s what Edina’s boys’ hockey team got Thursday night at a chilly Braemer Arena. (it was freezing inside that old building…parents, fans and at least one media member,  were scrambling to the concession areas between periods to stay warm).

With the game tied at 4-4 and seemingly headed to overtime, Edina senior Jon Cote thought “just throw the puck at the net”. Good things can happen with that philosophy and they did. Cote’s “shot” deflected off a defenseman and into the net as the game clock showed just 9/10ths of a second remaining (officials later put 2 more seconds on the clock). But Cote’s buzzer beater was the gamewinner and gave the Hornets a 5-4 victory and their second win of the season.

Edina trailed most of the night, falling behind 1-0 in the first period before a Max Everson shot from the point tied the game at 1-1. Behind the strength of two power play goals, Burnsville had a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission. “We needed to eliminate mistakes on our penalty kill and stop taking retaliatory type penalties” said Edina coach Curt Giles. And by the 3rd period, that’s exactly what happened. Trailing 4-3 heading into the 3rd, Edina did not commit another penalty, and used their size and strength advantage to gain control of the offensive zone for much of the final period.

Michael Sit, who scored the Hornet’s 3rd goal, set up Cote for the equalizer with just 3:09 remaining. After slicing through the defense, Sit fanned on a shot attempt before backhanding a perfect pass in front of the net onto Cote’s stick for the game-tying 4-4 goal. Then it was time for the goal not even Cote himself could explain as time was expiring. Cote’s gamewinner officially came at 16:57 of the 3rd.

For Burnsville, it was their first loss after opening the season with an impressive 6-4 victory over Hill Murray.