Sophomore defenseman Cooper Wylie scored midway through overtime to lift Stillwater (6-0) to a thrilling 5-4 victory over Benilde-St. Margaret’s  on Thursday afternoon at Dakotah! Ice Center in Prior Lake to kick off the inaugural Tradition Hockey For Life Classic.

Wylie scored the game-winner by stuffing a loose puck just inside the left post of Red Knight goaltender Carson Limesand, who finished the game with 20 saves. Stillwater goaltender junior Jesse Brown totaled 24 saves to earn the victory. 

Junior forward Adam Eisele notched a hat-trick in the win for the Ponies, while senior forward Josh Long tallied a single goal. Four players scored for Benilde-St. Margaret’s (3-6-1), with Ian Bahr, Matt Kocourek, Joe Collins and Jordan Roo all marking the scoresheet. All scorers for the Red Knights were seniors with the exception of Bahr, who is a junior.

Holy Family Catholic, ranked No. 7 in the latest Class 2A state coaches’ poll, scored in all three periods while holding Elk River to two goals in the second stanza en route to a 4-2 win in the second game of the Tradition Hockey For Life Classic. 

Eighth-grader Trey Fechko broke the ice for the Fire (8-2-1), notching an even-strength goal late in the first period. Carson Simon would tie the game for the Elks early in the second beef sophomore and St. Cloud State commit Garrett Pinoniemi and Joe Hankinson tallied goals for Holy Family Catholic to stretch the fire lead to 3-1. Joey Foss scored in the last minute of the second period to pill the Elks (6-4) within one entering the third. 

The Fire’s John Simon ended the game with 24 seconds to play in regulation, icing the game with an empty-net goal. Neither goaltender faced more than 16 shots, with both team’s successfully pushing offensive opportunities out of high-volume scoring areas. 

Despite not having sophomore forward and Minnesota commit Rhett Pitlick in the lineup due to injury, Chaska (6-3) hung with No. 8-2A Moorhead until the very end, battling valiantly in a 3-1 loss to the Spuds. 

Moorhead senior forwards Jack Stetz and North Dakota commit Carter Randklev each scored once in the first period to give the Spuds (8-3) a 2-0 lead, which was erased late in the second period when Chaska sophomore forward and Wisconsin commit Shane Lavelle pared the Spud lead in half and made the score 2-1 entering the third. 

Stetz would add his second goal of the game on an empty Chaska net with just four seconds remaining in the game. The loss is the second in a row against a top-10 for the Hawks, who fell to No. 2-2A Minnetonka in its previous tilt.