Grand Forks Central's Rylan Hoffman scores in double overtime to beat Fargo Davies in East Region opener

Feb. 14—GRAND FORKS — When Grand Forks Central's Rylan Hoffman scored late in the second overtime Tuesday night, Knights goalie Preston Diederich started to skate toward the game-winning goal scorer.

"I was super excited," Diederich said. "I was trying to get over to Hoff as quick as I could but my team kind of stopped me."

That's because the Knights had to thank Diederich for stopping 43 shots, including 15 in the two overtime periods, as No. 3 Central beat No. 6 Fargo Davies 3-2 in double overtime at Purpur Arena in the quarterfinals of the East Region tournament.

"It was a goaltender duel," Central coach Grant Paranica said. "(Davies) could have scored four in overtime and (Diederich) stopped them all."

For Davies, goalie Gavin Erickson finished with 30 saves.

"Both goalies were standing on their head," Davies coach Nate Metcalf said. "Both teams had chances in overtime, but we came up on the short end of the stick."

Central advances to play Fargo South-Shanley in a region semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at Purpur Arena.

"I'd like to think we need to regroup and play better," Paranica said. "It wasn't pretty but this time of the year the point is to move on. We were fortunate."

On the game-winning goal, Erickson made a kick save on a Bryce Philpot shot. The rebound caromed to Hoffman, who went high to score on the putback.

"Bryce came out of the corner, took a shot, the puck came right to me, and I tapped it in," said Hoffman, who also had two assists. "It was a huge relief to put one in the back of the net with both goalies playing their hearts out."

Hoffman also had assists on a second-period power-play goal by Donovan Balek and a second-period even-strength goal from Dylan LaMont.

"We talk about making sure you're ready for your moment, and (Hoffman) was; he just pounded it (on the game-winning goal)," Paranica said. "You never know when your moment is going to come, and he cashed in on it."

After LaMont's goal gave the Knights a 2-1 lead at 12:57 of the second, Davies tied the game on a Jobe Freier rebound goal.

Both teams had chances to take the lead in regulation. Erickson stuffed Ryder Burris on back-to-back chances at the doorstep with 12 minutes to go.

Hoffman was also stoned on a breakaway with five minutes remaining.

With two minutes remaining in the third, Diederich came up with his biggest save when he stopped a Colten Spiewak rebound.

"It was fun," Diederich said. "I was busy, so I was able to stay sharp when I see that type of action."

Davies faces West Fargo in a loser-out game at 1:15 p.m. Friday at Purpur.

"We're working a lot harder, so hopefully soon we can get some puck luck and keep grinding away," Metcalf said.

The Central-Davies game was moved ahead two hours for a 5 p.m. start in hopes the Eagles could return to Fargo before a winter storm hit.

With the double-overtime finish, though, Davies was forced to change plans and spend the night in Grand Forks.

First period — 1. FD, Grant Matter (Talon Seckerson, Jack Bullinger) 10:19

Second period — 2. GFC, Donovan Balek (Rylan Hoffman, Bryce Philpot) 7:04; 3. GFC, Dylan LaMont (Hoffman, Markus Lunski) 12:57

Third period — 4. FD, Jobe Freier (Elijah Hayes) :40

Second overtime — 5. GFC, Hoffman (Balek, Philpot) 15:36

Goalie saves — GFC: Preston Diederich 8-7-13-15 — 43; FD: Gavin Erickson 5-7-12-6 — 30