Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

Benilde-St. Margarets' top three lines each contributed a goal and the fourth-ranked Red Knights overcame a two-goal deficit to score a 3-2 win over ninth-ranked Minnetonka.

"That was a big early-season win for us against a very talented Minnetonka team," BSM head coach Ken Pauly said afterwards. "Whenever you can win the third period, that says something for your grit and character."

Despite being outshot, 9-4, in the final period, the Red Knights scored the only goal of the final frame when Pat Steinhauser moved the puck from behind the net to Christian Horn in the bottom of the left faceoff circle.

Horn drew Skipper goalie Alex Glockner towards him before making a pass across the top of the crease to Grant Besse. Earlier in the game, Besse had failed to score on a similar set up but the second time was the charm as he buried his team-leading seventh goal of the year to complete the three-goal comeback.

BSM found itself  trailing by two goals as Erik Baskin scored with five minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the opening period and Max Coatta tallied on the power play at 7:45 of the second period.

At the time of Coatta goal, Minnetonka held a 5-1 advantage in power-play opportunities and it was a concern for Pauly.

“Our penalties never gave us anything as a team and just sent us to the box too many times in a row," he said. "We used the same eight players to kill those penalties and they were just gassed. It really put us at a disadvantage.”

Just 40 seconds after taking the 2-0 lead, the Skippers had another great scoring chance but Anders Jecha made saves on shots by Sam Rothstein and Vinny Lettieri to keep his team in the game.

Two minutes later, the Red Knights finally broke the ice. Tyler Ellegard intercepted a Minnetonka pass along the boards on the left side in the neutral zone. He bumped a pass off the boards to Dan Labosky who broke in from the left side and beat Glockner low to cut the lead in half.

With the tide of the game beginning to turn in BSM's favor, the line of Mike Blessing, Chris Flood and Nick Lauth got the puck back into the Minnetonka zone and a hit by Flood in the left corner caused a turnover.

Blessing grabbed the loose puck and moved it to Nick Lauth who slid across the slot and scored through traffic just 52 seconds after Labosky's goal to tie the score.

“It was great atmosphere of high school hockey," Pauly said. "It was further evidence as to why Minnetonka and BSM has developed into one of high school hockey’s best rivalries.

“It was exciting for high school hockey fans but our performance was uneven and I think if we would have lost, it would have been a more powerful lesson on how you cannot play this game.”

But it wasn't all bad for Pauly's charges. The play of Jecha continues to be excellent. He stopped 24 of 26 shots on the night and kept his team in the game until they could finally get on the scoreboard.

The Red Knights struggling power play also showed some signs of life, despite going 0-for-5. The Skippers were whistled for three penalties in the final 4:09 of the second period and BSM had 10 shot attempts but only put three on goal.

“I really liked our puck movement," Pauly said. "But we simply have to hit the net more.”

Coming off their second win of the season versus a top-10 team, BSM will close out the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule, Tuesday, with a 7:30 p.m. game at 11th-ranked Maple Grove.