Normally, a 9-9-4 record heading into the final games of the regular season isn't much to talk about. While Jaime Grossman isn't professing his Eden Prairie girls' hockey team should be included among the state's top-notch squads, he's cautiously optimistic this year's Eagles will be competitive in the weeks to come.

Grossman overstressed the fundamentals to begin the year, admittedly leading to the team "taking some lumps."

The hope is the team, with nine seniors used to winning, will be playing its best hockey to finish out the season.

"I think we have more talent than people understand," Grossman said. "The problem is, we have three really good No. 2 lines. We don't have that killer No. 1 line. If we can wear people down, we have success in the third period.

"But if we run into that team with a No. 1 line so much better than our lines, we struggle."

Even so, the Eagles were bailed out Saturday by junior goaltender McKenzie Johnson, who made 63 saves against Class 2A, No. 6 Edina to preserve a 2-2 tie.

"She's the type of goalie that can keep us in a game we maybe shouldn't [have been] in," Grossman said. "It was a bit of a shooting gallery, and Mac was pretty much in control. I looked up at the end of the game and saw how many shots [she faced] and thought, 'Wow, she made that look easy.'"

Mat bits

• Minnetonka co-wrestling head coach Jim Nunn picked up his 400th career victory last Thursday. Coaching partner Jeff Lamphere collected win No. 400 last month.

• Osseo's Adam Hammer broke the Orioles career victories record, and entered this week with a record of 172-48. He is 22-3 this season with 18 pins at 138 pounds.

• Last Wednesday, Minneapolis Roosevelt's Jorge Gomez Rojas sealed the Teddies' first individual City Conference championship. He pinned all five of his City opponents at 106 pounds.