EDEN PRAIRIE -- Eden Prairie centerman RJ Thompson logged heavy minutes on the power play, the penalty kill, and swung a hammer with his smashing 200-foot-game Saturday night to will the Eagles to resemble the kind of offensive threat the program has been accustomed.

And he’s only a freshman.

Thompson scored his team-leading 18th goal and added an assist for his 37th point of the season in the Eagles' 3-2 overtime loss to Edina in a fiery atmosphere at the Eden Prairie Community Center.

It was an effort so fierce and a response so steadfast against an older, heavier and faster Edina team, No. 4 in Legacy’s latest Class 2A rankings, it almost felt like a win.  Eden Prairie (10-10-1) is back buzzing after a midseason six-game skid, and it has Thompson leading the charge.

“He can shoot the puck, and he can go up and down the ice extremely well,” Edina coach Curt Giles said in praise of Thompson. “He’s strong on his skates too … it’s not like he’s just really quick and slight, he’s got a good foundation. He’s an awfully good player.”

Thompson comes back to the Minnesota scene this season from Little Caesars in Michigan, one of the nation’s top AAA and Tier I programs.

He was born in Minnesota, lived for a while on the West Coast when his dad’s job took the family that way, and then moved to Eden Prairie as a Peewee. 

Last year at Little Caesars on the top 14U AAA team, he recorded 106 goals and 194 points in 95 games, including playoffs. 

Now he’s back in Minnesota, and he’s making an impact.

Thompson rejoined the team during Eden Prairie’s summer training program, and played in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League this fall. He scored nine goals and 19 points in 21 games this fall, and was named to one of the league's all-star teams. Thompson ranks third in the state in scoring among freshmen, behind only St. Thomas Academy's Maverick McKinnon (53 points) and Mora/Milaca's Ty Stanchfield (44). 

“He’s elite,” said linemate Jack Peterson. “Elite shot, elite playmaking ability, elite hands. But he’s unbelievable defensively as well. A strong all-around game.”

Thompson, who turned 15 years old in August, casts a shadow on the Lake Conference bigger than any typical freshman. Thompson is NOT the typical freshman.

“RJ has that athletic maturity with a unique skillset,” said Eden Prairie coach Lincoln Nguyen. “But the biggest thing about him is that he’s a competitor. He hates to lose, and he wants to win. He’s going to put in the work to make it happen. It’s helped propel our culture.” 

Saturday night’s overtime thriller delivered some of the best of what the state’s traditional blue bloods have to offer, and Thompson’s happy to be home and be in the center of it.

“High school hockey is definitely special,” Thompson said. “There’s nothing like the atmosphere, and to play with your buddies, the friends you go to school with.”

The Eagles, winners of five of their last seven, enter February looking to peak for the section playoffs in a little more than two weeks. The Eagles might be looking at a No. 3 seed in a top-heavy Section 2AA. Minnetonka and Shakopee are locks for the top two seeds, but Eden Prairie will be happy to ride the dark horse.

Thompson will see to that. 

“Our expectation is to get better every day, and we’re going to work to shock some teams,” Thompson said. “That’s what we believe in that locker room.”

EDEN PRAIRIE - Alex White scored shorthanded midway through overtime to lift Edina to a 3-2 victory over Eden Prairie Saturday night in a heated Lake Conference showdown marred by a second-period donnybrook.

Eleven penalties and 43 minutes were issued on the night, and in the aftermath of the teams' multi-player skirmish that included a misconduct and a major.

“It wasn’t a very good start for us, and we had to hang in there, and hang in there until we could get a push,” Edina coach Curt Giles said. “It took a long time for us to do that.”

Edina, No. 4 in Legacy’s most recent Class 2A rankings, struck first with a goal by Tucker Johnson with 0.3 seconds remaining in the first.

Eden Prairie answered midway through the second period when leading scorer and freshman phenom RJ Thompson scored his 18th of the season. The goal injected new energy into the building as the No. 16-2A Eagles kept pace with a fast, physical Hornets team.

In the third, Thompson, along with linemate Owen Konrad, set up Cameron Rice’s power-play goal from the slot, and Eden Prairie went ahead before Edina answered with a power-play goal of its own from leading scorer Bode McConnell. 

Eden Prairie threatened with a power-play opportunity in overtime before a neutral zone breakdown led to White’s goal.

Edina (16-5-1) walks away happy to survive.

“There’s value in hanging in there,” Giles said. “These games aren’t always pretty, there are ugly ones too. We need to win the ugly ones just like we need the pretty ones, so I give our guys credit for gutting it out.”

Eden Prairie (10-10-1), which has won five of its last seven after a slow start, can find a silver lining in this defeat as the young Eagles continue to improve by the week. 

“I don’t mind where we at right now,” coach Lincoln Nguyen said. “It’s no secret we’re a young team, and we keep growing and growing. Who knows what happens these last couple weeks, and then into sections?”

Thompson, who added two points to give him 37 in 21 games, leaves encouraged by the team’s response.

“I think we took a big step forward tonight, but our next step has to be even bigger,” Thompson said. “We’ve still got some work to do.

“Our potential is so high, and every day we’re working to get better,” he added. “I can’t wait to see where this goes.”