Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

The Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights opened the Sports Authority St. Louis Park Holiday Classic with a 3-3 tie after regulation and an eight minute overtime period with the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars.  Still, a winner needed to be determined and the Jags won a shootout to advance to the semifinals of the tournament to face the Wayzata Trojans Friday evening.

The speed of the Jaguars (6-3-1) have is aways a given every year or so it seems.   However, it was the physical play coupled with their speed that took the Red Knights by surprise in the early going of the contest that resulted in a 2-0 Jaguar lead.  Goals by Drew Redepenning and Johnny Panvica forced the issue in the first stanza.  

"How physical they were surprised us more than anything else," Red Knight coach Ken Pauly said of the Jaguars.  "I wasn't really shocked by their speed and I don't think our guys were either."  

The Red Knights (7-2-2) had little room to work, particularly in the first period and much of that was a credit to the Jaguars play.  "They physically said they were going to slow you down," Pauly observed.  "We don't play Jefferson a lot but I have never seen a Jefferson team play that physical."

The Red Knight power play is flat out devastating entering the game clicking at a 37.1% clip.  It did not disappoint as Johnny Austin scored his 2nd goal of the season.  The power play marker came with :25 left in the first period.  Evan Fleming dented the twine in the second period for his 5th goal of the season as he beat Jaguar goalie Grant Martens to tie the game at two.  

Martens turned aside 41 Red Knight shots and was peppered in the third period as the Jags were outshot 16-1 for the period and 44-17 for the game.  Charlie Strauss, a converted forward to defense, lifted the Jags back to the lead by a score of 3-2 with a power play goal at 12:02 of the second period.  

Through the third period, the Red Knights didn't panic and neither did the Jags.  Still, the Red Knights came in waves and it was Carter Roo that evened the game late in the third period with Red Knights on the power play.

It was impressive and efficient as the unit went to work late in the third period. At 13:30 of the period,  it was Roo who took a nifty back hand through the legs feed by Zack Hale at the goal mouth for the easy tally in the opening net evening the game at three.  The goal was Roo's 7th of the season.  

When discussing the game, Pauly added that it was a good test for his team.  "It was a good test,"  Pauly added.  "We didn't get an A  from the standpoint of we know that we are not one of the elite teams in the state right now. if there is such a thing.  The fact is we passed in that we didn't get knocked off our game which is a real big positive."

The Red Knights, 3-0-2 in their last five will work to be unbeaten in regulation for the Holiday Classic tournament.  They have a re-match with the Moorhead Spuds in the consolation semi-finals on Friday afternoon at 2:30pm.