Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

Dan Labosky scored a pair of goals for Benilde-St. Margaret's but David Rath tallied four goals for Eden Prairie as the Eagles posted an 8-5 win over the Red Knights in the quarterfinals of the Holiday Hockey Classic.

Rath came out and sandwiched his first two goals around Labosky's first-period tally, scoring his second goal at 11 minutes, 53 seconds, just 28 seconds after BSM had tied the score at 1-1.

He added a power-play and a short-handed goal in the second period as Eden Praire ran up a 6-1 lead before Patrick Daly's power-play goal with 24 seconds remaining the middle frame cut the lead to four goals.

Jack McCartan got that goal back for the Eagles, 4:50 into the final period, before the Red Knights got back in the game.

It started when Chris Flood carried the puck from his own end, up the right wing boards and cut to the net, beating Eden Prairie goalie Andrew Ford on the short side at 8:58.

Just 38 seconds later, it was Labosky rushing down the slot to put home his fifth goal of the season.

With 3:30 to play, Jake Horton got a pass from Christian Horn behind the Eagles' net and tucked home a wraparound attempt to get his team back to within two goals before Kyle Rau ended the comeback bid with an empty net with 1:31 to play in the game.

"It was, to say the least, disappointing to see us come out a play so poorly in the first two periods," BSM head coach Ken Pauly said. "EP had much more a sense of purpose than we did. To play that poorly against a section rival is inexcusable and we need to address it — and we will.

"While I’m very proud that the guys came out and played their tails off in the third period, you had to wonder where that was the whole game."

Both Ford and BSM goalie Anders Jecha recorded 25 saves in the game as Eden Prairie held a 33-30 edge in shots on goal.

"It was a painful loss and one where a lot of lessons need to be learned," Pauly added. "We better learn them quickly because our next two games won’t be easy." 

The Red Knights move to the consolation bracket of the Holiday Hockey Classic where they will meet Elk River, tomorrow, beginning at 12 p.m. at the St. Louis Park Rec Center.