Dean Spiros: Seniors don't lie; it never gets old

So, I went to a hockey game Saturday and a seniors-only party broke out. (I looked to the Grand Rapids/Greenway band for a rim shot when I wrote that; no response.)

Not to be insensitive, but some members of the Eden Prairie girls' hockey team are kinda old. How old are they? They're so old they can barely count their state championships on one hand.

Saturday's 5-3 victory over Grand Rapids/Greenway in the Class 2A championship game at Xcel Energy Center made it No. 5 for seniors Hannah Riggs, Andrea Peterson, Katie Osberg and Rachel Blader. They've hoisted the big prize three years in a row in lacrosse and added their second in hockey against the Lightning.

Kelly Seeler joined the lacrosse team as a sophomore so she is gunning for her third lacrosse title this spring as the others go for their fourth.

The last time I saw that much hardware in one place John Madden was trying to sell me a dehumidifier.

Seeler had a goal Saturday, as did fellow senior Nikki Ludwigson. Senior Andrea Green scored three, including an empty-netter. Senior goaltender Maddie Burke earned the victory.

"That's what we were expecting from them,'' Eden Prairie coach Tim Morris said. "In the locker room before the game they said they were going to take charge, and they did.

"I give that group a lot of credit. They went 111-5-1 in their careers.''

You usually don't see that much celebrating among seniors unless the five-day forecast is about to come on.

I kid, I kid. What we need is love, and the 12 Eden Prairie seniors deliver.

"We all love each other to death,'' Seeler said.

Green said the group is just as tight away from the ice. "We're a really tight-knit group,'' she said. "It's all about the chemistry. You can't just do it with talent.

"This year we just really pulled together. We said it was our last season, so let's go out with a bang.''

Green said she got the same words of advice from her dad before the game. She high-fived him on the way to the locker room after the awards ceremony and yelled, "I went out with a bang!"

After posing for a team picture on the ice, the seniors got together for one last time at center ice. Lying on their stomachs, they formed a circle and shared a private message.

"It's a ritual that the seniors at Eden Prairie have been doing after the last home game,'' Seeler said. "We decided to do it again since this is our last game together.''

Five of the 12 seniors have earned scholarships at Division I schools. Seeler and Ludwigson will play for the Gophers, Green will attend Boston College, Kelsey Ketcher has committed to North Dakota and Melissa Feste will become an Ohio State Buckeye.

Talk about quick hands; wait until they have to text-message each other every day instead of simply heading down to the rink.

But I tell ya, these kids today. They always want to get in on the fun, too.

"We've got some young players who we think are going to develop,'' Morris said. "So we'll try to make another run at it next year.''