Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

St. Thomas Academy scored twice in the game's first four minutes, two seconds, and fended off Benilde-St. Margaret's as the defending Minnesota Class A champions held off the Class AA champions, 3-1.

It took the Cadets just 49 seconds into the contest to get on the scoreboard as Alex Johnson banged home a loose puck from the right side of the Red Knight goal.

STA went on the power-play less than three minutes later and needed just 25 seconds to make it a 2-0 game as Tony Bretzman's shot from just inside the blueline found its way through traffic and past BSM goalie Andrew Sprang.

A quick timeout after that goal allowed the Red Knights to regroup and they would managed to even the shots at 10-10 through the opening 17 minutes of play but would not get on the scoreboard until 3:49 had elapsed in the second period.

A neutral-zone turnover by the hosts led to a quick transition by BSM and Patrick Graham moved the puck to Grant Besse, who entered the St. Thomas zone on the left side and fired a shot from the top of the circle.

Cadet goalie David Zevnick left the puck in front of him and Dan Labosky got off a second shot, which rebounded into the middle of the slot, where Peter Heimbold swooped in and fired a shot which got the Red Knights on the scoreboard and gave him his first career point.

The hosts got a key goal when Tommy Novak buried a rebound from Johnson with 36.8 seconds remaining in the second period to send the Cadets into the second intermission with their two-goal lead restored.

BSM had a golden opportunity taken away with 6:24 to play in the game while on the power play as Besse took a touch pass from Spencer Naas in the neutral zone and carried the puck to the top of the right faceoff circle in the STA zone.

Zevnick got a piece of Besse's shot, targeted for the upper-right corner, but did not control the puck and it fell into back of the net. However, a quick whistle was blown and officials waved off the goal.

The final tally saw the Cadets with a 32-29 edge in shots on goal as Zevnick record 28 saves with Sprang stopping 29.

After facing the state's top-ranked Class A team, the Red Knights' schedule doesn't get any easier as they host sixth-ranked Minnetonka, Saturday, in a rematch of last year's Section 6AA championship which is slated for a 7 p.m. faceoff.