The Breck Mustangs have their place in history.
Mike Morin's deflected goal with 1:40 to play lifted Breck to a 2-1 victory over Hermantown in the Class 1A boys state hockey title game on Saturday. That makes the Mustangs the first team to repeat as champions in 16 years.
With the game tied, Morin rushed into the zone and split defenders before Hawks defenseman Jeff Paczynski swiped the puck away. But the puck bounced off Morin's body and past Hawks goalie Tyler Ampe to give Breck the go-ahead goal.
The last team to repeat as state champions was Bloomington Jefferson in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Riley Borer also scored for Breck (29-2-0) and John Russell made 30 saves.
Chad Bannor scored for Hermantown (27-4-0), which outplayed the Mustangs for most of the third period before Morin's goal.
The Hawks outshot powerful Breck 31-20 for the game and spent most of the final 17 minutes in the Mustangs' zone, putting pressure on the top-seeded private school from the Minneapolis suburb of Golden Valley.
But Russell stood tall in goal, and Morin took advantage of the flukey bounce to allow the Mustangs to escape with the victory. It was their fourth state title in school history.
The Hawks needed a little luck of their own to get to this game.
Hermantown overcame two-goal deficits twice in the third period of its thrilling semifinal victory over Mahtomedi.
Mahtomedi's Charlie Adams beat Ampe with a wrist shot at the buzzer of regulation, but the horn sounded a split-second before the puck hit the net, and Jared Thomas won it for the Hawks, 7-6, in overtime.
Try as they might, the Hawks couldn't come up with the same magic on Saturday and capture their second state title.
Bannor put the Hawks on the board first after an interference penalty against Breck's Michael Mooney. The puck trickled to him at the point and he zipped a wrist shot that sailed past Russell into the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead in the first period.
The Mustangs, who trailed Warroad 1-0 in the first period of the semifinals before rallying to a 4-2 victory, tied it up in the second period when Borer pounced on a rebound off the blocker of Ampe.
Hermantown's Kevin Danielson hit the post with a wrist shot with 11:34 to play in the game. The Hawks had another chance with just under eight minutes to go when Jared Kolquist tapped in a rebound, but officials blew a quick whistle a moment earlier saying that Russell had control of the puck.
That set up a back-and-forth final half of the third period, with both goalies coming up with huge saves to keep the game tied.
Russell stopped Thomas right on the doorstep after a brilliant pass from Charlie Comnick and a one-timer from Cody Christopherson a minute later.
Ampe responded by thwarting a breakaway by Wesley Iverson, but he was surprised by the bounce off Morin's stick a few minutes later, and it slipped past him for the game-winner.
Warroad beat Mahtomedi 5-4 in triple overtime for third place.
