Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

Grant Besse scored a pair of goals and, for the second night in a row, a late goal by Jake O'Borsky proved to be the difference as eighth-ranked Benilde-St. Margaret's advanced to the championship game of the Holiday Hockey Classic with a 5-3 win over 11th-ranked Moorhead.

One night after scoring in overtime to send the Red Knights to the tournament semifinals, O'Borsky lit the lamp with one minute, 18 seconds to play, snapping a 3-3 tie.

As it did in the quarterfinals, BSM got on the scoreboard first. Grant Besse got behind the Spuds' defense and scored a short-handed goal just 1:17 into the contest.

The Red Knights' second goal came via the hard work of their third line as Seth Chumley forced a turnover with a hit to the left of the Moorhead goal. The puck came loose to Alec Anderson, whose shot was stopped by Michael Bitzer but Chase Jungels came in from the right side and found the back of the net before Bitzer could get across his goal crease.

However, the Spuds weren't about the quit after falling behind, 2-0, in the game's first 6:11. Aaron Herdt provided Moorhead with a short-handed goal with 20 seconds to play in the first period and then scored on the power play, 4:19 into the second period to tie the game.

BSM's top scoring line restored the Red Knights' lead as Dan Labosky converted passes from Besse and T.J. Moore with 3:04 to play in the second period.

Moorhead controlled much of the play in the third period but BSM goalie Anders Jecha was equal to the task until Ben Welle's shot from the left point hit traffic in front of the net and caromed into the right side of the net with 5:10 to play in the game.

The winning goal came from a turnover in BSM's zone and Christian Horn took the puck through the neutral and, after crossing the Moorhead blueline, found O'Borsky coming down the middle and the big left winger beat Bitzer over the glove.

Moorhead won the ensuing faceoff, pulled Bitzer for an extra attacker and had possession of the puck deep in the BSM zone. Jake Horton forced a turnover in the left corner and Moore quickly threw the puck off the left-wing boards. Besse chased down the puck and cut to the middle in the Moorhead zone, scoring into the empty net with 60 seconds to play.

The victory sends the Red Knights into a rematch with third-ranked Maple Grove tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. The two teams met Dec. 20 on the same rink, with the Crimson holding on at the end of the game for a 5-4 victory.