St. Cloud Apollo knocked off Hibbing Friday night in St. Cloud 3-1 in a matchup of two top five Class A teams. The No. 3A ranked Eagles got three goals by senior forward Brandon Bissett all three of different varieties to get past the No. 4A ranked Blue Jackets at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud. 

After a scoreless first period, Hibbing got on the board first when Zach DeBoom was awarded a penalty shot after an Apollo defenseman was called for freezing the puck in the crease. DeBoom beat top goalie Nick Althaus five-hole to give the Jackets a brief 1-0 lead. The DeBoom goal lit a fire under both teams like gasoline to an already well stoked fire. Hibbing playing with Vegas money started to take some chances and Apollo down by one really cranked it up a notch.

Six minutes later Bissett would get the first of his three on a greasy goal in front scoring on his own rebound to beat Hibbing goalie Ryan Ullan. The teams would trade chances in the second, but both goalies showed why they are so highly acclaimed. "Ullan is one of the best we've seen this year," said Apollo head coach Pete Matanich after the game.

Apollo would take the lead after an ugly hit on Noah Bissett in the third period. "He's been knocked around a lot lately," said older brother Brandon Bissett, "we knew we had to step it up after that." And they did, big brother beat Ullan after holding his edge just long enough to slide it by the freshman goalie to give the third ranked team in the state a lead they would not relinquish.

The turning point in the game came a few minutes later with Hibbing trailing 2-1 and on the power play. Bissett stole the puck from a Hibbing defender and beat Ullan again to give the Eagles a two goal cushion. The Blue Jackets would challenge pumping 11 of their 32 shots on Althaus in the third. The senior Frank Brimsek award favorite stopped them all. "He's been doing that for us for four years, we kind of take how good he is for granted...not tonight though," said Matanich of Althaus.

Up Next: The Eagles travel to Virginia Saturday as part of a five game in seven day stretch. The Blue Jackets host Iron Range and section rival Greenway on Tuesday at the Memorial Building.