Late goals push Red Knights past Panthers
Three unanswered goals lead BSM to win over Lakeville North.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. -- Chalire Bischel tied the game with with two minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the second period, Charlie Warnert snapped the tie midway through the third period and Blake Mesenburg sealed a 4-2 win with an empty-net goal with 9.7 seconds as No. 15 Benilde-St. Margaret's upended Lakeville North.
For the first time this season, head coach Ken Pauly ran four lines consistently and the strategy paid off immediately when Will Thompson's body check forced a turnover in the right faceoff circle of North's zone.
Jonah Mortenson picked up the puck and took it to the net and scored from in close with just 2:36 gone in the game.
However, it would be the Panthers who struck for the next two goals, with Ben Konik finishing off a 2-on-1 rush at 12:18 of the opening period and Spencer Schneider scoring on the power play, 6:54 into the second period.
From that point, BSM goalie Carson Limesand would turn aside all 14 shots by North to keep his team in the game.
Nearly eight minutes after Schendier gave the Panthers the lead, Bischel tied the game when he poked home a loose puck to finish off a goal-mouth scramble.
Bischel would prove to play an instrumental part in the eventual game-winning goal as well as he forced a turnover in the right circle, with the puck going directly to Warnert at the top of the circle.
Charlie Bischel was named the game's first star after scoring the game-tying goal and setting up the game winner.
Warnert used traffic in front to create a screen and his shot found its way over the glove of Panther goalie Caleb Mayer and into the upper-right corner of the net with 9:33 to play.
The hosts clung to that lead until the closing moments of the game and, with 1:55 to play, North called timeout at pulled Mayer for an extra attacker.
The Panthers managed just two shots on goal put kept the puck in the Red Knights' zone forst much of the final two minutes.
With 19.7 seconds to play, North won a faceoff in left circle of the BSM zone. The puck went to the left point and was moved across to the right point, where Mesenburg read the play, poked the puck into the neutral and then raced the rest of the way to score into the empty net.
The 15th-ranked Red Knights return to Metro West Conference play Saturday, when they travel to the Chaska Community Center for a 2 p.m. game with 10th-ranked Chaska.
