Minnetonka senior goaltender Julie Friend sure picked a fine time to shine.

The future St. Cloud State player put on a 22-save 1-0 shutout performance against Edina on Saturday night at the Pagel Center.

She stopped 12 during a tense third period, and every single one was witnessed by a surprise visitor: Huskies assistant coach Brita Schroeder.

“I saw her along the glass during the second period,” Friend admitted after recording her eighth shutout of the season. “I was like, ‘OK, hopefully I don’t play too bad.’”

No worries there.

Friend was especially clutch over the final 17 minutes, when the second-ranked Hornets (20-3-1) really brought the business after putting just 10 shots on net through two periods.

“We didn’t have anything to hold back and we talked about ways to get to the net,” Edina coach Laura Slominski said. “They were just tough to crack.”

The top-ranked Skippers (20-1-1) got all the offense they needed with three minutes to go in the first period.

Laura Bowman notched her team-leading 18^th goal of the season when she tipped a backhanded shot by Sydney Baldwin up and over the glove of an unsuspecting Maddie Dahl.

From there, it was all defense. Minnetonka continued to pressure offensively, but laid back in the third period with just five shots on goal.

“It wasn’t the plan; we respect Edina a lot,” Skippers coach Eric Johnson said. “But low-scoring games have been kind of a trend. So we knew.”

After splitting the Classic Lake Conference championship with Edina last season, Minnetonka can win the new Lake Conference title outright with a win over Hopkins on Thursday. The Skippers won 4-0 over the Royals earlier this season.

“We’re sure not going to overlook them,” Friend said. “We know we just have to play our game and hope the puck goes in the net.”

Meanwhile, she’ll take care of stopping them.

Julie Friend, Minnetonka

The senior goaltender stopped 22 shots for her eighth shutout of the season.

Q Why the big burst of emotion from you and your teammates at the final horn?
A It was really hard last year tying them for the conference [championship]. We kind of felt we had some unfinished business. So coming in here and getting a 1-0 win at home aginst them was just huge for us. A lot of people have been talking about the rankings – No. 1 against No. 2 – and for a lot of people, that’s a big thing. We try not to look at that, but it’s nice to prove that we can beat them.

Q That third period, with Edina getting 12 of their 22 shots on you, was tense to watch. How was it to play?
A Coach [Eric Johnson] told us before the third period to just stay poised and keep it out of our zone. For the most part, it worked out well. We played more defensively than offensively, and that was OK. We’ll take this and enjoy it for the rest of the weekend but Monday it’s right back to practice. 

Q Win Thursday against Hopkins and the conference title is yours outright. Are you pretty confident after a 4-0 win against the Royals earlier this season?
A Hopkins is a good team. We’re sure not going to overlook them. We know we just have to play our game and hope the puck goes in the net.