Every time Benilde-St. Margaret’s has taken the ice this winter, it has worn a giant bullseye. The Red Knights are unbeaten and have been top-ranked in the Class 2A coaches’ poll for most of the season.

On Thursday night before a better-than-standing-room-only audience at Plymouth Ice Center, Benilde-St. Margaret's weathered a mighty storm brought on by a hungry Wayzata team and endured through the misfortune of losing its top player to an apparent shoulder injury.  

The Red Knights took all in stride and came out with a 4-2 victory that tested to the core the leadership of the deep, deep team.

“I don’t like to emphasize that we are undefeated,” Benilde-St. Margaret's coach Ken Pauly said. “But we haven’t lost a game, and there is a reason for that.

“We’ve been down (before), but our guys know how to respond," he added. "And when you know how to create offense, it’s easy not to let you dabber get down. There is that belief.”

The Red Knights fought back from a disastrous opening period against the No. 7-2A Trojans and eventually worked their way to a gutsy victory that keeps Benilde-St. Margaret's (23-0-1) charging through the final week of the season.

Senior Cade Gleekel, the Red Knights’ top scorer (22-36-58), top forward and Mr. Hockey finalist, went down following a body check very early in the opening period. He watched the rest of the period from the bench with an ice pack on his shoulder and never returned to the game.

Making things worse, Wayzata hammered on Benilde-St. Margaret's in the opening period and seizing an early 1-0 lead while outshooting its guests 12-5.

“With Gleekel going down early like that, it knocked us out for a while in the first period. Things were really discombobulated,” Pauly said.

“It was a reality check,” senior forward Auggie Moore said of the first period. “We all know that, that kind of job (in the first period) wasn’t going to get it done. We needed to get better.”

A little more than two and a half minutes in, the Trojans converted on a power play goal as sophomore Grant Anderson scored with a single assist to Luke Paterson to give confirmation to Wayzata’s early grasp of momentum.

“Wayzata took the initiative in the first period,” Pauly said.

The second period was a different story while the third was up for grabs and seemed to be tipping the Trojans' direction when senior Amer Batra scored at the 7:41 mark to push Wayzata out front.

The lead was short-lived, however, as the Red Knights' Connor Mayer struck for the second time of the night, this time at 8:07 to level the score.

Then Moore stepped up big, scoring the game-winner with 4:25 remaining.

About three minutes later, he tallied his 18th of the season after scoring an empty-netter to seal the win.

“There were times we were looking at each other on the bench in frustration after we couldn’t get anything going,” Moore said. “But we’ve got a lot of seniors and guys with experience on this team. That kind of (maturity) helps us in situations like this.”

“I think that our depth carried the day today,” Pauly added.

Wayzata’s physical play was a factor throughout the night, and the Trojans were slowed only by one minor penalty. It slowed Benilde-St. Margaret's significantly at times, though the Red Knights ultimately worked through it.

“There’s a fine line between playing physical, but at the same time, being smart about it,” Trojans coach Pat O’Leary said. “That was something we emphasized.”

After losing Gleekel, Benilde-St. Margaret's wasn’t going to start throwing the body around—tempting as that was when tempers are high—at the cost of changing the DNA of the team.

“The key is to play that game, to play with grit, without losing who you are,” Pauly said. “It’s still a contact sport where you play the body. You have to give a hit and take a hit, but you can’t over emphasize that to the point where you aren’t playing with the puck anymore.”

With the loss, Wayzata falls to 15-8-1 and can find some silver lining in learning it can hang with the heavyweights on the eve of the section tournament.

“Hockey is difficult, and little plays can mean everything,” O’Leary said. “(Benilde-St. Margaret's) made two more plays tonight than we did, and that was the difference.”

The Red Knights will also find something to take away from this kind of game and atmosphere.

“We don’t really care about the record,” Moore says. “That’s not important. We want to continue to improve into late February and hopefully into March. More than the result, it’s good to build off the process of learning how to win a game like this.”


Connor Mayer (18) scores on a wraparound that ricochetted off the skates of Wayzata goaltender Alex Schilling. Photo by Cheryl Myers

First Report

Senior captain Auggie Moore scored twice in the final five minutes to help lift Benilde-St. Margaret's over Wayzata 4-2 Thursday night before a packed house at Plymouth Ice Center.

The Red Knights, ranked No. 1 in the Class 2A coaches' poll, had to fight from behind without the services of its top scorer and Mr. Hockey finalist Cade Gleekel, who left the game early in the first period with a shoulder injury.

Instead, Gleekel's teammates picked up the slack. Moore and junior defenseman Connor Mayer each finished with two goals to push the Red Knights past the No. 7-2A Trojans.

Ryan Bischel earned the victory between the pipes, stopping 21 of 23 shots he faced. His counterpart, Alex Schilling, made 17 saves for Wayzata.

Amar Batra and Grant Anderson each scored a goal for the Trojans.

With the victory, Benilde-St. Margaret's improves its record to 23-0-1. Wayzata drops to 15-8-1.

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