Surprise goalie gets surprise of his career

Bloomington Kennedy goalie David Johnson didn't know what to think.

A surprise starter Tuesday night because a boys' hockey teammate was sick, Johnson had just withstood a furious scoring attempt by Farmington during a delayed penalty on his team. The next thing he knew, the puck was rolling on edge, toward the empty Farmington goal at the other end, and then it went in.

As ecstatic Kennedy fans cheered in the Bloomington Ice Garden, the referee skated toward Johnson.

"You're the last one to touch the puck, and you're the one who scored the goal," Johnson recalled the referee saying.

Unassisted.

"I kind of just lifted my hands up in the air, and I celebrated a little bit," the sophomore said Wednesday after practice.

"My teammates started coming up to me, giving me fist pumps and everything. That's when it started kicking in."

"He was so excited, like a kid in a candy store," said assistant coach Jeff Atchison. "When they announced David scored the unassisted goal, the crowd and the kids on our bench just erupted."

So loud, in fact, that all the star of the moment heard during the announcement of the goal was "Number 33" before the crowd's roar drowned out his name.

It was Kennedy's first goal of the game, which it won 2-1.

"I thought it might be the only score of the game," Johnson said. "I didn't really care who scored at that point."

Minneapolis South senior Kevin Smith has found his niche taking one -- or in some cases many -- for the Tigers basketball team.

"He knows he will not play unless he takes charges, so he does them because he wants [playing time]," Hyser wrote in an e-mail.

• Park of Cottage Grove junior girls' basketball player Larisa Lurken scored her 1,000th career point in the Wolfpack's 66-58 victory over Woodbury on Tuesday night.

• Little Falls boys' hockey coach Tony Couture coached his 500th game for the Flyers last Thursday in a 4-0 victory over Sartell. Couture, in his 19th season behind the bench, has a career record of 288-204-8.

• Apple Valley has hired Michael Evans as its boys' lacrosse coach. Evans played in college at Quinnipiac before working as an assistant coach at Benilde-St. Margaret's the past two seasons. The Red Knights are the two-time defending state champions.

• This year's Minnesota Girls' Basketball Association Hall of Fame inductees are Kevin Anderson (Minneapolis South; Osseo), Paul Fessler (Concordia [St. Paul]; Anoka Ramsey) Faith Johnson Patterson (DeLaSalle; Minneapolis North); and Rodger Taylor (Martin County West).