Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

Benilde-St. Margaret's took a two-goal lead in the first period but gave up three goals in the second and was outshot, 13-4, in the middle frame as the Red Knights dropped a 4-3 junior varsity decision to Blaine.

BSM opened the scoring when Mark Kaske deflected a Jack Lawton shot from the left point, seven minutes, four seconds into the game,

That lead became a 2-0 lead two minutes later when goalie Jalen Long stopped a breakaway by the Bengals' Jesse Slawson. Nick Gionet quickly moved the puck into the neutral zone where Zach Risteau touched the puck ahead to Will Duda, who skated into the right faceoff circle and slipped a shot underneath Andrew Houle.

The Red Knights carried that lead into the second period but Riley Tufte got the visitors on the scoreboard just 45 seconds into the period and the Bengals would go onto dominate the middle 15 minutes, taking a 3-2 lead through 30 minutes.

Much of that dominance for Blaine came thanks to a pair of major power-play chances but the Red Knights went on the power play just nine seconds into the final frame.

However, it was the Bengals' Troy Vegel who scored the eventual game-winning goal when BSM turned the puck over at their own blue line and Blaine capitalized.

From that point, the Red Knights controlled much of the play in the final period, eventually outshooting their guests, 18-10, but it took until the 10:52 mark of the period for the hosts to get back to within a goal of the lead.

With a faceoff in the left circle of the Blaine zone, Eddie McHugh knocked the puck loose in a scramble and Conor Deterding came across the slot and banged home the loose puck.

In the end, BSM held a 30-29 edge in shots on goal. Long made 25 saves for the Red Knights.

BSM will play three road games in the final week before the Christmas break. The Red Knights face Maple Grove, Monday, in a 5 p.m. before heading north for the weekend where they will play at the Marshall School in Duluth, Friday, at 4 p.m., followed by Saturday's one p.m. matinee at Hibbing.