Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

John Kernan recorded his first hat trick of the season, scoring his third goal of the game into an empty net to seal Benilde-St. Margarets' 5-2 win over Hill-Murray.

Not only did Kernan score late, with his empty-netter coming with one minute, 26 seconds to play in the game, he also scored early, converting a Michael Blessing pass into a 1-0 Red Knight lead just 33 seconds into the contest.

The hosts made it 2-0, scoring on its first two shots of the game, as Chris Flood notched his eight goal of the season just 1:09 after the opening tally.

A power-play goal by George Splichal midway through the opening stanza got the Pioneers back to within one goal but Kernan's second goal, which proved to be his team-leading fifth game winner of the season, was the only tally of the second period and Jeff Spellmire's goal at 4:02 of the third period gave BSM a three-goal lead.

Hill-Murray cut the lead to two goals when Zach LaValle scored with 3:20 to play in the game but, just 13 seconds after getting goalie Spencer Donnelly off the ice for an extra attacker, the visitors saw their hopes of a comeback dashed when Kernan scored his 16th goal of the season.

Outshot 24-18, the Red Knights' got a 22-save effort from Adam Clark, who won his ninth game on the season without a loss.

BSM returns to action Thursday, Jan. 22, when they head to Parade Ice Gardens for a 5 p.m. game with Totino-Grace.