Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

Three goals in a 37-second span enabled Benilde-St. Margaret's to break open a one-goal en route to a 6-2 win over St. Cloud Tech to open the 2008-09 season.

Will Nelson's power-play goal, one minute, 15 seconds, into the final period began the outburst and, according to Red Knight head coach Ken Pauly, was an important goal in sending his team on its way.

"It was a big advantage to have the power play to open the period because we had pretty good movement all night on the power play," he said. "The third-period outburst was all about confidence. That first goal just ignited our kids and we kept getting chances. It was nice to see a few fall right way."

It took BSM just 14 seconds to extend its lead to three goals as Pat Cron scored his first varsity goal. Patrick Duda followed with his second goal of the game 23 seconds later.

The Red Knights got on the scoreboard just 1:09 into the game. A Jon Mavetz penalty put the hosts on the power play. Brett Patterson won the ensuing faceoff in the left circle to Christian Horn along the left-wing boards. He quickly moved the puck to Pat Borer at the left point and his shot was tipped by Patterson for the season's first goal.

Sophomore Pat Steinhauser, making his varsity debut, put BSM up by two goals when he knocked home a rebound of a Sam Anderson shot at 8:36.

The Tigers used a pair of quick goals in the second period, with Mavetz scoring at 1:48 and Jobe Peterson tallying 38 seconds later to tie the score at 2-2.

Patrick Duda's first varsity goal proved to be the game winner as he tipped a shot by Anderson from the left point at 7:07 of the middle stanza.

Although his team won by four goals, Pauly had 10 players making their varsity debuts and knew his team would struggle at times.

"In a lot of ways it was a typical first game," Pauly said. "Especially for the guys who were playing their first varsity contest. There were a lot of nerves, so things were not as sharp as we’d like and our play was inconsistent. The good news is that they responded with fire in the third period after a really poor showing in the second."

That second period saw Tech with a 2-1 advantage on the scoreboard and a 9-8 advantage in shots on goal. However, BSM outshot its guest, 16-8, in the final period and held a 33-20 advantage for the game.

Jacob Meyers got the start in the season opener for the second year in a row and made 18 saves to pick up his second consecutive season-opening victory.