Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

Freshman Grant Besse turned in a four-point performance, including three goals, and Benilde-St. Margaret's overcame deficits at both intermissions to pull of a come-from-behind, 6-5 win over Hopkins in a Section 6AA quarterfinal playoff game.

“I think we really saw Grant Besse come of age tonight," Red Knight head coach Ken Pauly said of his rookie goal-scoring phenom. "For him to step up in such a big way in his first high school sectional playoff game was nothing short of big time.”

The game didn't start out looking like BSM would have any stars as the Royals opened up a 3-0 lead in the first period, getting on the scoreboard with a power-play goal by freshamn Connor Thie, an even-strength goal from Jon Groom and a four-on-four goal, with 47 seconds to play in the opening frame, from Kyle Dalton.

“We did not come out the way that we would have liked," Pauly said of his team's first period. "We were asleep defensively and not at all sharp.”

That all changed early in the second period as Besse scored just one minute, eight seconds into the contest and notched his second less than four minutes later. When Pat Steinhauser tallied his 25th goal of the season, at the 7:33 mark of the middle stanza, the game was tied at 3-3.

The latter portion of the period, however, belonged to Hopkins. Groom's ninth goal of the year snapped the 3-3 tie and Dalton scored with 3:17 to play in the period to send Hopkins into the second intermission with a two-goal lead.

That changed quickly in the final period and it was Besse who stepped up again, completing his hat trick just 26 seconds into the frame.

The Red Knights barraged the Hopkins net but senior goalie Alex Fons was virtually unbeatable. After stopping 24 of 26 shots through two periods, he stopped 22 of the first 23 shots he faced in less than 12 minutes of the third period.

However, the hosts finally got the equalizer when Brett Patterson beat him with 5:23 to play in the game.

In the final period, BSM held a 32-8 advantage in shots on goal and they needed all 32 as it was on the Red Knights' final shot of the game, with 29 seconds to play, that Christian Horn came off the left wing and beat Fons for the game winner.

"Coming back from two deficits in a playoff game says a lot about our guys," Pauly said. "They could have rolled over but they didn’t.

This was, easily, one of the most exciting sectional games that I have ever been a part of. What a great gift of the seniors to have this memory in their last game at the SLP Rec Center."

In all, BSM held a 58-30 advantage in shots on goal, with Fons finishing with 52 saves. Jacob Meyers made 25 saves for the Red Knights. After struggling early, he stopped the last 12 shots he faced, including eight in the final period.

“Meyers was not sharp through most of the night," Pauly said of his senior netminder and co-captain. "He really was fighting the puck, but he battled through it like the rest of the team did — coming up with two game saving stops in the latter part of the game.”

The victory marked the second consecutive season in which BSM opened Section 6AA play with a home win over Hopkins.

For additional coverage on this game from the mnhockeyhub, please click on the following link:  BSM - Hopkins.

The win advances the Red Knights into the section semifinals, where they will meet the state's top-ranked team, Minnetonka. The game is slated for Saturday, Feb. 27, at Bloomington Ice Gardens, beginning at 3:30 p.m.