The opening period started with two teams intently carrying out their game plans.  Both teams lost that the moment Riley Tufte skated by Benilde-St. Margaret’s defense man Connor Mayer.  There was a little contact and Mayer ended up going down and Tufte continued to chase the puck.  After that, the play in the opening period went in every direction and the 1,000 or so fans in attendance saw a great high school hockey game.  The question at the start what would be the Red Knights’ strategy to match Blaine’s outstanding line centered by Luke Notermann with Tufte and Alex Penn at wings.  Halfway through the first period, it became clear, put defensemen Mayer and Nick Austin on the ice whenever Tufte hit the ice with Peter Heimbold as a backup.  It didn’t work in the opening period.  Three  minutes after Mayer mysteriously dropped, Tufte battled Austin and Mayer along the right boards and his stick was mysteriously sent flying to the end boards.  Tufte hung in and Notermann came over to support giving Tufte the opportunity to retrieve his stick.  A moment after he picked it up, the puck slid over to him and he had a clear path to the Benilde net and goalie Ryan Bischel.  He attacked.  His first shot from point blank range was stopped but Tufte didn’t stop and put his own rebound in the net.  Blaine led 1-0 after five minutes of play.  Notermann got the assist.

At that point, Benilde went after Tufte, playing physical.  The refs let it go and Tufte ended up in the penalty box for retaliating (slashing) with nine minutes to play.  On his next shift after the penalty, Tufte was railed behind the end boards by a BSM defender.  Again no call.  Twenty seconds later, Tufte dropped a Red Knight in the slot in the BSM zone and drew an interference penalty.  This time, the refs huddled and took back control.  With Tufte in the box a second time, the Red Knights had a terrific power play.  They moved the puck well, got some great shots, but could not beat Blaine goalie Ridge Gerads.  After killing the penalty, Blaine’s Griffin Fussy led a 3-on-2 rush on Bischel.  Fussy’s shot from the right faceoff area beat the goalie on the right side of the net.  Blaine led 2-0.  Dylan Ronn got the assist.  As the first period ended, the Red Knight’s bench got called for too many men on the ice.  It would be the first of three “too many men” penalties called on Benilde as they tried to counter Blaine’s shift changes.  The Bengals led 2-0 at the end of the first period.  Benilde outshot Blaine 13-6.

In the top picture right, Riley Tufte scores the opening goal. Tufte attacked goalie Ryan Bischel on the right side of the net shooting a point blank shot from the right crease.  Bischel made the stop and Tufte somehow put his rebound in the net ending up on the left side of the goal.  In the second picture, Blaine's Griffin Fussy is watching his shot of this 3-on-2 rush hitting the back of the net.  The two Blaine scores put the Bengals up 2-0 after the first period ended.

There was a minute left in Benilde’s “too many men” penalty at the opening of the second period.  The Red Knights killed the penalty.  BSM continued to play aggressive and it resulted in Notermann drawng a cross checking penalty a minute later.  The Red Knights had set up on the power play in the Bengal’s zone when Penn knock the puck loose along the right boards and broke out of the zone into neutral ice.  When a second Red Knight defender came over to challenge, Penn in full stride flipped the puck over the defender’s head and beat the defender to the sliding puck.  He skated down the right boards, regained control of the puck, cut from the low right faceoff across the top of the crease and beat Bischel to put Blaine up 3-0.  Penn’s shorthanded goal was scored unassisted.  Benilde-St. Margaret’s called timeout with 69 seconds left in their power play. 

The re-grouping worked.  The Red Knights scored to get back into the game.  After the time out, they set up in the Bengal’s zone, moved the puck around the perimeter to Mayer at the top of the slot.  Mayer’s blistering shot beat Gerads to cut Blaine’s lead to 3-1.  Auggie Moore and Zach Risteau got the assists.  At this point, there was still thirteen minutes left to play in the period and Benilde took control of the game.  The Red Knights forwards used their quickness to beat the Blaine defense in the Bengal’s zone.  Play would shift to neutral ice or the Benilde zone only when the Notermann line hit the ice.  The new pressure caused a simple defensive lapse that led to BSM’s second score.  An intended pass to a Blaine center breaking in the Bengals’ zone misfired and ended up being passed to the Knights’ Risteau alone in the slot.  Risteau attacked the Blaine goal beating Gerads with a top shelf shot to cut Blaine’s lead to 3-2.  The Red Knights continued the pressure over the remaining time in the second period constantly attacking and controlling the puck in the Blaine zone.  They got some tough one-time shots from the slot on Gerads, but couldn’t score.  Part of the reason they were held scoreless is that they also wasted a number of chances making blind or difficult passes into the slot.  With less than a minute left to play, the Red Knights drew their second “too many men” penalty.  Blaine got a roughing penalty as the period ended setting up a 4-on-4 opening the third period.  That would prove to be crucial to the outcome.  The Red Knights outshot Blaine 20-4 in the second period.

One of the key plays in the game (and there were many good plays) was this questionable call from a ref about 5 feet away from Notermann on the end boards just out of the picture.  The ref's high sticking call negated Blaine's tying goal.  But it does not look like a high stick.  The puck, to this corner of YHH, appears to have bounced off Nick Austin's helmet and behind Benilde's goalie Ryan Bischel ending up in the net.  Pictures can be deceiving.  Follow the four pictures and you make the call. 

Playing 4-on-4 hockey in the opening minutes of the third period, Benilde got the lucky break 30 seconds in when a soft shot was thrown at the Blaine net.  The puck bounced weird off the ice and bounced off Gerads’ left leg pad and rolled toward the net to Jerry Calengor.  Calengor beat the attempted clear by Blaine putting the puck into the net for the tying score.  Austin and Jacob Holmers got the assist.  Four minutes later, Benilde’s Nick Austin scored the winning goal with Mayer and Nick Sims getting the assist.  Blaine led 4-3, but the game was far from over.  The Bengals offense came alive and pounded Bischel in the Red Knight’s net.  A minute after scoring the go-ahead goal, Benilde drew a hooking penalty trying to slow the stronger Blaine forwards.  The Red Knights killed the penalty only to draw their third “too many men” penalty of the game with six minutes to go.  Twenty seconds into the power play, Benilde drew a cross checking penalty.  Blaine had a 5-on-3 for 100 seconds and set up Tufte for four blistering shots on the left side rotating the puck from Notermann on the right.  Bischel stopped all four and the three Benilde defenders crashed the net to tie up the rebounds. The game went from physical to very physical.  BSM killed the penalties.  In the last minutes of the game, came the play of the game.  A shot rebounded high and Blaine’s Notermann went for the puck high with his stick but had the smarts to let it go just as he was being cross checked by Austin.  The puck bounced off Austin’s helmet and behind Bischel ending up in the net.  The ref, five feet away, from Notermann along the end boards called it a high sticking and ruled no goal.  The picture below show the sequence.  It was a great high school hockey game, well played by both teams.  The refs were overmatched.  Blaine outshot Benilde 16-6 in the third period.

What is Next?

Unless Benilde-St. Margaret’s loses some games, they are on a clear path to the Class AA State Tourney.  Their principle challenger will be Edina or Wayzata.  With the #1 Section 6AA seed now a clear possibility, the Red Knights would likely play Holy Angels or Hopkins in a semifinal game and watch Edina and Wayzata play for the opportunity to challenge Benide.  The Red Knights have only three Section 6AA opponents on their schedule (Hopkins, Wayzata, and St. Louis Park).  They play Moorhead Friday and Hopkins next Tuesday at the Hopkins Pavilion before hosting the Sports Authority Holiday Tournament at the Rec Center.  The Red Knights play Lakeville North, Elk River, and Maple Grove in the tourney before opening play in the Metro West Conference against Chanhassen January 7th.  Their biggest threat to getting beat will be in that tourney or when they host St. Thomas Academy January 5th or when they travel to Wayzata February 11 or when two days later they travel to Eden Prairie.  Benilde-St. Margaret’s still have a tough road ahead.

Blaine’s remaining schedule is equally tough but their principle challengers to get to state in Section 5AA are Centennial (5-2-0) and Maple Grove (4-5-0 overall but 4-1-0 in conference play).  Maple Grove plays Centennial Thursday at Centennial in a game that is likely to establish the who the Bengal’s principle challenger will be this season.  The tough teams on Blaine’s schedule are outside their sectional play (Eden Prairie, Duluth East, and Hill-Murray).  Blaine travels to Minnetonka Thursday and hosts Anoka and Eden Prairie next week.  Tuesday’s loss to Benilde-St. Margaret’s will not hurt Blaine in the Section 5AA seeding next February, but the Bengals are clear favorites to return to the Xcel.  The Class AA tourney always seeds the top five teams.  The Bengals should be among that five and a #1 or #2 seed has an advantage in quarterfinal play.  The loss to the Red Knights hurts their chances for a #1 or #2.  But it is a long season with just a fourth of the games having been played.  Hockey players lose weight during the season.  Blaine starts the season as a strong team and should be playing better next March at the Xcel.