A Grand statement: Goalie, penalty kill lead gritty Dodge County to section title

Feb. 26—ROCHESTER — It’s been five years since the Dodge County boys hockey team went to the state tournament.

That’s fitting, as the final five minutes of Wednesday night’s Section 1, Class 1A championship game felt like they took five years.

In the end, the Wildcats had nothing to worry about.

A team that started the season hoping to build and play their best hockey in late February showed the desire and want-to that it takes to win a section championship.

And it helps that the Wildcats have a goalie who is playing at an elite level.

Wes Wegner stole the game and the show at the Rochester Recreation Center. He stopped 32 of 34 shots as the third-seeded and unranked Wildcats beat top-seeded, No. 7-ranked and three-time defending section champion Northfield 4-2.

“It feels unreal,” said Wildcats senior forward Dylan Allen, who scored the game-winning goal on a power play in the second period. “I’ve thought about it so much. It’s every kid’s dream, especially in Minnesota. We’re going to the Casino (Grand Casino Arena) now. It’s just awesome.”

The Wildcats are headed back to the Class 1A state tournament for the first time since 2021.

“I’m excited, can’t wait!” Wegner said with a smile.

All of the stress on the shoulders of the Wildcats, their coaches and their fans melted with 8 seconds remaining, when senior captain Gabe Coshenet grabbed a puck off the boards near center ice and skated toward an empty net at the opposite end. The senior standout deposited the puck in the goal and the tension turned into exhilaration.

For the first time since the era of Brody Lamb, Matt Donovan, Gavin Giesler, Charlie Blaisdell, Easton Hammill and that crew of talented players, the Wildcats are going to Grand Casino Arena. They’ll play a state quarterfinal game next Wednesday, March 4. Their seed in the tournament, their opponent and game time will be determined this weekend, after all section championship games are completed across the state.

“It’s awesome, you know especially for our seniors because they’ve been working at it for so long,” said freshman forward Nolan Steele, who had an assist on the game’s first goal, his 45th point of the year. “I’m lucky, at the end of my first year (on varsity) I get to go, too. But it’s all for them. I’m so happy for our seniors.”

Wegner and the Wildcats’ penalty killers were the MVPs Wednesday.

Wegner stopped 13 shots in the first period, 10 in the second and nine in the third. Dodge County also held the Raiders — who entered the game converting at a 27.7% rate on the power play — to just one power-play goal in six chances.

“They did a really good job of getting the puck and throwing it deep (into Northfield’s end),” Wegner said. “They did a really good job of giving me breaks, and I just had to get whistles (freeze the puck) when I could.”

The Wildcats held a 3-1 lead going into the third period, but a flurry of whistles — three penalties against Dodge County in the first 7:09 of the period — ultimately led to Northfield pulling within 3-2. That happened just six seconds into a power play, when Jacob Peters redirected a point shot by Carter Simon high over Wegner’s shoulder and just under the crossbar.

That made it a one-score game with 9:51 remaining.

It stayed that way until Coshenet sealed the win and the section championship in the waning seconds.

The Wildcats scored the only goal of the first period, exactly eight minutes into the game, when Nolan Steele took a shot on a rush from the top of the left circle. The puck hit the skate of a Northfield defender and bounced right to Wildcats captain Cam Koch. The sophomore wired a quick wrist shot past Raiders goalie Gavin Winter for his 20th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

“That first goal was really big,” Wegner said. “We definitely just kept building, adding bricks and bricks off that.”

The Raiders made it a 1-1 game 6:52 into the second, when they won a faceoff in their own end. Ashton Pumper gave the puck to Bridger Riley behind the Raiders goal. Riley took a stride to his right, then fired a perfect stretch pass to Wade Gilbertson. He got behind the WIldcats defense and skated it into the right circle, where he picked the top corner, blocker-side against Wegner.

The Wildcats scored the next two goals, though, just seconds into power plays.

Coshenet gave them a 2-1 lead 8:26 into the period, when Koch won a faceoff to Cooper Bebee, and he fed Coshenet for the go-ahead goal.

Then, with just 1:07 to go in the second, Landen Gunderson won a faceoff to start a power play. His win went directly to the front of the net, where Dylan Allen made an incredible redirect, the puck going just under the crossbar for a 3-1 Dodge County lead.

That set the stage for the third period and the down-to-the-wire finish.

“It’s huge for our team, and our seniors,” said co-head coach Andrew Wilcox, who played in a state tournament for Rochester Century. “It’s absolutely huge, especially in Minnesota. They put the time in. I mean, every team does, but they put the time in during the summer, the offseason. They start getting confidence throughout the winter season. And so as the season starts to end, as their confidence grows, they know it’s pretty close. They know it’s doable. To actually be able to do it, it’s an amazing reward for them.”

—Northfield has been to the state tournament the past three years and four total times in program history (2017, 2023, 2024, 2025).

—Dodge County’s Gabe Coshenet and Northfield’s Charlie Becker will continue to battle head-to-head in college, just not on the ice. Becker will play football at Jamestown (N.D.) College; Coshenet will play at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minn. Jamestown and SMSU are both members of the Northern Sun Conference.

DODGE COUNTY 4, NORTHFIELD 2

Dodge County 1-2-1 — 4

Northfield 0-1-1 — 2

First period — 1. DC, Camryn Koch 20 (Nolan Steele 27, Gabe Coshenet 33) 8:00. Second period — 2. NFLD, Wade Gilbertson 10 (Bridger Riley 29, Ashton Pumper 15) 6:52. 3. DC, Coshenet 27 (Cooper Bebee 9, Koch 26) 8:28 (pp). 4. DC, Dylan Allen 7 (Landen Gunderson 8) 15:53 (pp). Third period — 5. N, Jacob Peters 18 (Carter Simon 13) 6:10 (pp). 6. DC, Coshenet 28 (unassisted) 16:52.

Shots on goal — DC, 3-8-3 — 14; NFLD, 13-11-10 — 34. Goalies — DC, Wes Wegner 32 saves (34 shots); NFLD, Gavin Winter 10 saves (14 shots). Power-play opportunities — DC, 2-for-4; NFLD, 1-for-6. Penalties — DC, 7-14 minutes; NFLD, 5-10 minutes.

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A Grand statement: Goalie, penalty kill lead gritty Dodge County to section title

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