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BHS: SPA wins 6th straight with 3-0 win over Minnehaha

By Tony Scott, 01/08/16, 8:45AM CST

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Jack Johnston leads Spartans with 1G/2A

A great effort from junior goaltender Justin Evenson, stopping 32 shots was not enough to earn the victory for the Minnehaha Academy Redhawks.  The Redhawks were playing without two of their top scorers Josh Radtke and Alex Jordan.  

The St. Paul Academy Spartans came out with a lot of energy and dominated the first period, out-shooting the Redhawks 13 to 1.  Although they dominated in shots, the Spartans didn't get very many quality chances and were only able to muster one goal, scored by Justin Jallen, on a short-handed two on zero breakaway. 

The Spartans came out in the second and were again dominate in shots, 13 to 2.  However the Spartans were able to get a lot higher quality scoring chances.  Will Kelly started the scoring in the second, while he was camped out in front of the net and received a nice feed from Jack Johnston.  Johnston would get his own goal just a couple minutes later with a nifty move to beat Evenson.  

When asked about his team's effort, Head Coach Matt Funk said,  It was important that we set the tempo early. Pat (Griswold) had a great game plan against us and it was important for us to get shots and traffic to the net. In the first period too many of our shots were from the perimeter without traffic. I was happy with our play in the 2nd and our willingness to go to tougher spots. Their D were tough to play against tonight.

The Spartans seem to be hitting a good stride to start the second half of the season and have won their last 6 games, including winning all three games at the Duluth Heritage Hockey Classic over the holidays.  Funk had this to say about his team's recent play, "This group is tight and that is why we have been focused on our theme: FAMILY. We really came together in Duluth and are playing some of our best hockey. Each one of us plays a role and they have really bought into that mindset. It boils down to a pretty simple ask: Trust the process, do your job, and compete. We still have room to go, but I am happy with our progress to this point."

Next up the Spartans will face Mankato West on Saturday, January 9 at 2:00 at Drake Arena.  


Jack Johnston had 1G/2A for the Spartans Thursday night

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