Senior Cade Gleekel, the once wunderkind scorer at Blake (25 goals, 27 assists as a sophomore), transferred to Benilde-St. Margaret’s before his junior season with high hopes and endless enthusiasm.
Then a strange thing happened. The scoring dried up. Gleekel had just eight goals and four assists in 27 games for the Red Knights last season. Talk about a tough transition.
“It’s harder than you expect it to be,” Gleekel said about the jump from small- to big-school Minnesota hockey. “But my coaches and my teammates were so great to me, they never gave up on me or doubted me.”
Now look at him. Center on one of the state’s most lethal forward lines. Mr. Hockey finalist. Points? In a good week, he matches or surpasses last year’s entire season point total. He ranks third in the state in Class 2A with 58 points (22 goals, 36 assists).
“I can’t say enough about my coaches and teammates and what they did for me when I did hit that slump,” said Gleekel, who gained confidence in his game with a solid second half to the Upper Midwest High School Elite League last fall.
At 6-foot-1, 195-pounds, Gleekel has above average size. He also has better-than-average speed. Combine those attributes with excellent ice awareness and smooth stickhandling, and you get a player who has been crucial to the No. 1-ranked Red Knights’ run at an unbeaten regular season (after beating No. 4 Eden Prairie on Saturday they are 22-0-1 with two regular season games to go).
His goals on Saturday at a packed Eden Prairie Community Center were vintage Gleekel, as he can score most any way possible. In the second period he found some open ice in the high slot, took a pass out of the corner and quickly blasted a shot into the upper reaches of the net. That put the Red Knights ahead 4-1 and proved to be the winning goal.
Gleekel scored the clincher with 7.9 seconds left in the third when he outmuscled an Eden Prairie defender for the puck at center ice, then skated in ever-so-slowly toward an empty Eagles goal (they had pulled goalie Nick Wiencek in favor of an extra skater). He waited, waited, waited and waited some more before finally sliding the puck into the net.
The “slow roll” goal wasn’t a big hit with several Eden Prairie players, who made their displeasure known to Gleekel. Defenseman Wesley Young sent his message, then headed to the penalty box for slashing.
Gleekel said what the Eagles misinterpreted as taunting was really a show of respect. He said he was milking the clock for all it was worth, knowing that Eden Prairie possesses a stable of top-end scorers led by Mr. Hockey finalist Michael Graham and University of Minnesota commit Casey Mittelstadt.
“I have seen so many times, especially with players like Mittelstadt and Graham, teams can score two goals in any amount of time,” Gleekel said. “So I am just thinking, ‘Get as much time off the clock as I can.’ ”
After the final horn sounded, Benilde-St. Margaret’s players mobbed goaltender Ryan Bischel. The joyous mob scene was more animated than usual for the Red Knights, a sign that their rivalry with Eden Prairie remains heated even though the teams, once rivals in Class 2A, Section 6, have been split into different sections.
“We approach all the games the same, or we try to,” Gleekel said. “Just focus on the process. But you can’t deny that in a game like this against a rival, it feels good to get the win. We had a great fan turnout, too. It almost felt like a home game. That was really fun.”
Gleekel hasn’t committed to play at a Division I school. A top student who scored a 33 on his ACT, Gleekel hasn’t even made an official visit. He said he’s interested in potentially playing in the Ivy League and has had communication with Harvard and Yale.
“He is sharing the puck more,” Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Ken Pauly said. “He is buying into the synergy of the team and that is elevating his game. Cade is making other people around him better.”
