A water bottle flying through the air was all Nick Austin needed to see.

That was enough to tell the Benilde-St. Margaret’s junior defenseman his Red Knights had defeated Eden Prairie Friday night at the Eden Prairie Community Center.

“I was behind everything at the blue line,” Austin said. “I didn’t really see (the goal). All I saw was the water bottle off the net, and then I saw everyone celebrating, so I just followed them.”

Senior forward Chase Jungels was responsible for popping the water bottle off the top of the Eagles’ goal when his wrist shot made it past Eden Prairie junior goalie Shaun Durocher and into the net with 34 seconds remaining in the third period. The goal gave Benilde-St. Margaret’s a 2-1 lead that would hold up as the final score.

The Red Knights (3-2), No. 8 in the Class 2A coaches poll, handed the No. 7-2A Eagles (5-1) their first loss of the season.

Benilde-St. Margaret's junior defenseman Peter Heimbold set up the game-winner. Heimbold picked up the puck when the Eagles’ defense tried to make a pass to the wing and sent a beautiful pass to the forehand of Jungels, who had little time to maneuver for a shot.

“I got a quick shot off because I knew time was running down,” Jungels said.

Jungels’ goal came immediately after a Red Knights' penalty kill and less than 3 minutes after Austin’s goal tied the contest. 

“That was a huge motivator for our team,” Jungels said of Austin’s goal. “We got that penalty at the end, but we battled through it and Nick got us a goal. We just happened to get another one.” 

Prior Austin’s goal, the game was all Eden Prairie. 

The Eagles were out-skating and outshooting Benilde-St. Margaret’s by a significant margin, but the Red Knights held on and kept making plays at the last possible second. 

Benilde-St. Margaret’s was killing a penalty late in the third period when Eden Prairie junior forward Michael Graham got three quick high-percentage shots off his own rebounds, but the Red Knights were there to block them.

“The thing is, things were certainly going their way in terms of the scoreboard, but we felt we were getting a lot of opportunities,” Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Ken Pauly said. “I was just worried they would get that second (goal), and that would have broken our back. We really weren’t getting a whole lot of puck movement.”

Eden Prairie outshot Benilde 34-31 for the game and had more scoring opportunities to boot. However, Red Knights sophomore goaltender Ryan Bischel continually shut the door on the Eagles’ scoring chances.

“I don’t think there’s any question he’s arguably one of the best goalies in the state,” Pauly said. “He showed why tonight. This was a nice little coming-out party. I think you’re going to see big things from him.”

The lone goal let up by Bischel came while his squad was shorthanded with 30 seconds left in the second period. Eden Prairie sophomore forward Nolan Sullivan took a perfect pass from Graham and caught Bischel on the wrong side of the net to score. That was the only time a puck would get past Bischel. 

The young goalie was the biggest constant for Benilde-St Margaret’s all night and was key in killing two of three penalties.

The stats may not show it, but Bischel also had a hand in a lot of the Red Knights' scoring, Jungels said. 

“Bischel is a stud,” Jungels said. “He takes the puck well and handles it and feeds it to us effectively. He handles pressure really well, so it’s good that we can rely on him when we need to.”

It was Eden Prairie's game to lose going into the third period. The Eagles led 1-0 off of a Nolan Sullivan power-play goal with less than a minute to go in the second period. 

Eden Prairie went on to dominate the majority of the third period, but Benilde-St. Margaret’s battled back and overcame two penalties to score the winning goals in a 2-1 victory over the Eagles at the Eden Prairie Community Center on Friday.

Red Knights defenseman Nick Austin scored the equalizer with less than 4 minutes left in the contest after peppering Eagles goalie Shaun Durocher with a barrage of shots. Benilde-St. Margaret’s was then assessed a penalty for roughing, giving Eden Prairie a man advantage with 2:34 to play. 

The Red Knights killed the power play before scoring the game-winner with 34 seconds to play as forward Chase Jungels ripped a wrist shot from halfway past the blue line into the net, knocking down Durocher's water bottle and giving Benilde-St. Margaret’s a 2-1 lead. The Red Knights then held off a late push by the Eagles, who pulled their goalie, to seal the victory.

Eden Prairie outshot Benilde-St. Margaret’s 34-31 in the game. 

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