Lakeville's Kvasnicka hurt Rochester hockey teams more than baseball

FELDY: Lakeville North grad and current Gophers baseball standout Mike Kvasnicka was drafted in Round 2 of the Major League Baseball draft today by the Houston Astros. Kvasnicka, a 2007 North grad, was also a standout on the Panthers' hockey teams.

While his team lost in the Section 1AA hockey final to Rochester Century in Kvasnicka's senior season, he played a key role in denying Century a trip to state in '06, in another in a long line of nail-biting, heartbreaking overtime games between those two teams in the hockey section finals.

Kvasnicka was the player who, on March 4, 2006, scored at 7:44 of the third overtime to send Lakeville to state. In that game, Lakeville scored twice in the third period -- including once with just 52 seconds remaining -- to force OT. After two scoreless OTs, Kvasnicka beat Century goalie Kraig Ewing on Lakeville's 62nd shot of the game.

Kvasnicka, a catcher/outfielder at Minnesota, was hitting .350 with eight homers and 48 RBIs before the Gophers NCAA tourney game on Monday. The Astros reportedly plan to move him to third base.