Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

After a sluggish start, which saw nearly 20 minutes of scoreless hockey, Benilde-St. Margaret's scored three times in the second period, scored three more goals in a span of two minutes, five seconds, in the third period and the Class AA third-ranked Red Knights cruised to a 6-1 win over Class A No. 7 Rochester Lourdes.

Needing to find a way to get on the scoreboard, and killing its second penalty of the game, BSM turned to Grant Besse to get things going.

T.J. more forced a turnover near his own blueline and flipped the puck up the left side to Besse. From there, the school's all-time leading score calmly skated in on Lourdes goalie Jack Burkel, used a deke and went to his back his backhand for the short-handed goal which game the Red Knights a 1-0 lead, 2:26 into the second period.

Just over two minutes later, while on the Red Knights' first power-play opportunity of the game, Besse struck again.

This time, it was a quick backhand pass from Spencer Naas across the slot which found Besse open on the right side of the slot and he wasted no time in becoming the sixth player in Minnesta high school history to record 150 career goals.

The Eagles weren't going to go away, however, and it took them just 20 seconds to cut the lead in half as Ben Weir won a faceoff in the left circle of the BSM zone. Jason Samuelson pushed the puck back to Weir and he snapped a shot past Paul Lundberg from the left side of the slot.

It was the only shot Lundberg would allow past him and, from there, his Red Knight teammates did the rest.

Much like BSM's first goal, a Lourdes turnover in the neutral zone led to a Red Knight goal as Naas picked up the puck, entered the home zone from the left side and, like Besse did on his first goal, used a deke before going to his backhand for his 25th goal of the season.

The game, however, was essentially sealed during a 125-second span in the final period.

The spree started when Naas and Chase Jungels worked to get the puck loose behind the Eagles' net and out the Jack Lawton at the left point. The sophomore defenseman's shot found its way through traffic and Lawton's first career goal gave the Red Knights a 4-1 lead.

Less than two minutes later it was another defenseman, Johnny Austin, who pumped in a goal, his first as a Red Knight, on which Mark Kaske, making his varsity debut, also picked up an assist.

Just 23 seconds later, Nate Meyer worked the puck free in the right corner to Zack Hale, behind the Lourdes goal. He then walked out to the right side and stuffed the puck past Burkel for his first goal of the season.

While posting three goals in the final period, BSM did not allow a shot on goal in the final 17 minutes, holding a 29-11 advantage for the game.

The Red Knights return home, Wednesday, to face Section 6AA foe and 16th-ranked Holy Family in a 7 p.m. game at the St. Louis Park Rec Center.