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BSM tops Hopkins in 6AA quarterfinal

02/26/2009, 11:00pm CST
By Staff

Meyers stops 21 to lead Red Knights into section semis

Benilde-St. Margaret's struck for the first goal, eventually grabbed a three-goal lead, and Jacob Meyers stopped 21 shots as Benilde-St. Margaret's downed Hopkins, 4-1, in a Section 6AA quarterfinal game.

"Whenever you win that 4th and 5th seeded game, it’s a great relief," Red Knight head coach Ken Pauly. "Hopkins came in with some legitimate firepower and I thought our guys really shut them down.

"The key is that we stayed physical and that hasn’t been the case for most of the season. They have some crafty forwards and we didn’t give them much room."

Fourth-seeded BSM made the physical play pay off on its first goal as Bryan Glynn won a battle in the left corner to get the puck to Brett Patterson. He got the puck to Christian Horn, who fired wide behind the net but Patterson picked the puck up off the boards on the left wing.

His shot was stopped but Horn came in from the right side to knock in the rebound for his team-leading 24th goal of the season.

"It was huge to get that first goal, especially with a goalie like (Alex) Fons," Pauly said. "The longer he goes with a goose egg on the board, the stronger he would have gotten and it may have planted some doubt in our kids’ heads."

Although the Red Knights got to Fons in the opening period, he and Meyers kept the score 1-0 deep into the second period but two goals by the hosts quickly turned that into a three-goal lead.

BSM took a 2-0 lead when Pat Borer's shot from the right faceoff circle was stopped by Fons. Will Nelson tipped the rebound to Pat Steinhauser to the right of the goal, and his backhand shot found its way inside the near post with 3:33 to play in the middle stanza.

It then took just 18 seconds for the Red Knights to get on the scoreboard again. Patrick Duda was able to tip a loose puck to Jake Horton on the right side near the blueline.

Horton carried the puck across the ice on his background and, at the left point, turned to his right and found a shooting lane which he used to score his second goal of the season.

"Our underclassmen came through with the goals tonight," Pauly said, pointing out that his team's first three goals came from two freshmen and a sophomore. "All three looked like they had good jump."

Less than two minutes, the Royals served notice that they would not go down without a fight.

Working on their fifth power play of the game, Matt Rowley moved the puck from the right point to Tom Plotkin at the left point. The latter's shot went wide but rebounded off the end boards and onto the stick of Nate Seashore, who's 20th goal of the season breathed life into the visiting team.

BSM finally put the game away with 7:31 to play when Glynn created a turnover near his own blueline and Patterson, who coralled the loose puck, quickly returned it to Glynn for a short-handed breakway.

The senior co-captain carried the puck straight down the middle of the ice, fought off a back check and snapped a wrist shot over Fons glove.

"We really didn’t breathe easy until Glynn got that short-handed goal," Pauly said. "We took way too many penalties. If we do the same thing on Saturday then the playoff run will be over."

Although concerned about the penalties his team took, Pauly's demeanor was drastically different when talking about his goaltender.

"Jacob Meyers looked like the Meyers of last year," he said of his junior netminder, who turned aside 12 shots in the middle frame, when he faced 13 shots. "He made some key second-period stops."

The win for the Red Knights marked the fourth consecutive season, since they moved up to Class AA, that the team has reached the section quarterfinal.

For the third consecutive season, BSM will meet Eden Prairie in the section semifinal. The Red Knights won last year's semifinal meeting, 6-5 in double overtime, while the Eagles were 6-3 winners two years.

The meeting between 10th-ranked BSM and top-ranked Eden Prairie is slated for a 4 p.m. faceoff, Saturday, at Braemar Arena in Edina.

Tag(s): News & Events  Team  BSM Varsity