Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

Grant Besse scored a pair of third-period goals and fourth-ranked Benilde-St. Margaret's managed to overcome an early third-period deficit to defeat No. 11 Maple Grove, 4-3.

Besse's eighth and ninth goals of the seasom came in a span of just over three minutes and gave him his fourth game winner in six Red Knight victories.

“When you have guys who can score, you are always dangerous,” BSM head coach Ken Pauly said. “You just can’t teach it. Besse seems to get it in the same spot every time. You just can’t teach that timing.”

But it was two early goals that appeared to have BSM off and running.

With a delayed penalty being called, Pat Steinhauser broke free from a backcheck and snapped a shot past Crimson goalie Ryan Coyne just 40 seconds into the contest.

The Red Knights would need barely four minutes before Jake O'Borsky converted a Dan Labosky feed for a 2-0 lead just 5:01 into the contest.

Maple Grove quickly regained its composure and, nine minutes later, Alex Mason took a pass from Tony Paulson as me crossed the BSM blueline. He skated towards the left circle and caught Red Knight netminder Justin Quale off guard to cut the lead in half.

The home team needed just 5:15 into the second period before Chase Carey intercepted an errant pass inside the BSM blueline and fired a shot between Quale's legs to even the score.

The Red Knights were called for too many players on the ice with just 24 seconds remaining in the middle frame and the power play carried over to the third period with a costly consequence.

Steven Popowitz scored just 43 seconds into the final frame to give the Crimson its only lead before Besse's heroics propelled BSM back on top for good.

Quale, playing his second varsity game, stopped 23 of 26 shots to raise his record to 2-0-0 on the season, while the Red Knights head into the Christmas break with a 6-0-0 mark.

Following Christmas, BSM takes part in the second annual Holiday Hockey Classic, taking place at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center, Dec. 28-30.

In their quarterfinal contest, the Red Knights take on second-ranked Eden Prairie in a game scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. faceoff.