Sydney Rossman didn't know she had it in her.
"No idea I could skate that fast," she said.
Yet there the Minnetonka goaltender was Friday, a blue streak flying from one red line to the other to join the heap that was a wild postgame celebration by the defending Class 2A girls' hockey champions.
Diana Draayer provided the spark, a goal into a wide-open Benilde-St. Margaret's net that broke a 1-1 tie exactly 2 minutes into sudden death overtime in the Class 2A, Section 6 championship game at Parade Ice Garden.
"My hands were shaking," Draayer said of the moments just before her third goal of the playoffs. "I don't even remember it, to be honest. I know the puck was shot on and [the rebound] was sitting there. I think I just shot it."
The puck trickled untouched into the back right corner of the net, thwarting a furious game-long effort by the top-seeded Red Knights.
Benilde-St. Margaret's (21-3) won the shots battle 26-14 and had a hand in far more scoring chances throughout the game thanks to better team speed. But Rossman was there in the clutch, most notably on a sliding left-leg save with 5 minutes left in the second period and a blocker-pad stop on a breakaway by BSM's Caitlin Reilly in the early minutes of the third.
"She's a big part of this," Skippers coach Eric Johnson said. "We needed her tonight to weather some serious storms."
