Besse, Benilde win AA; Hawks fall in A final
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MN. — In a state hockey tournament where nothing went according to form, the final surprise came in the two championship finals. Benilde-St. Margaret’s whipped Hill-Murray 5-1 in a Class AA title game neither was expected to reach. The victory wasn’t as surprising as the fact the Red Knights turned loose Grant Besse, their junior sniper, and he frolicked up and down the Xcel Center rink — scoring all five Benilde goals, three of them shorthanded, to astound a crowd of 17,607.
Earlier, before 9,157 fans, Hermantown, the No. 1 ranked Class A team and the state’s only undefeated team in either class, had their season ended rudely when St. Thomas Academy not only beat the Hawks but ran away with the game — scoring the first five goals and cruising to a 5-1 victory in the A final.
The Hawks were the lone public school in either championship game, and the decisiveness of both title games merely concluded a four-day run of surprises.
Grant Besse scored his first of two shorthanded breakaway goals against Hill-Murray goaltender John Dugas.
Besse, a lean but quick skater with a knack for getting loose, and for shooting with laser precision, scored twice in a 1:33 span of the first period, finished his hat trick with a shorthanded goal in the second, and then, after Hill-Murray scored its only goal in the third period, Besse scored shorthanded at 8:00. He climaxed his unforgettable night by rushing from end to end up the right side while shorthanded again, this time firing a deadly shot from the right circle into the upper left corner of the net at 14:03.
That gave Besse eight goals for the tournament, an amazing 8-3–11 that brought back memories of the days of John Mayasich — or at least Dave Spehar.
Benilde-St. Margaret’s was a sentimental pick for several reasons. The school won the Class A championship in 1999 and 2001, and was then urged by coach Ken Pauly to move up to AA — something most hockey fans urge all other private schools to do. Saturday night’s championship proved the merit of that move, with the Red Knights‘ first championship in their second Class AA tournament appearance.
The Red Knights also played with the extra inspiration from Jack Jablonski, their junior varsity player who was paralyzed in a check into the boards at midseason, and who was at Xcel Center for the games. Benilde served notice of its caliber by stunning No. 2 ranked Minnetonka 5-1 in the Section 6AA final, then beat Edina, Lakeville South, and Hill-Murray to claim the title.
The tournament was a duplicate of near-miss luck for both Hermantown and Duluth East, the top-rated teams in the two classes. East, which was upset by Lakeville South Thursday, came back to beat Edina 3-2 in consolation play Friday, and beat Eagan 4-1 Saturday for the consolation trophy, as Jake Randolph scored twice, and Dom Toninato and Steven Holappa once each. For the tournament, Toninato had 3-4–7, and Randolph 3-3–6 in the last games together for the pair, who have been linemates since Mites hockey — age 6.
East’s loss, and Marshall losing its first two games, left Hermantown as the Duluth area’s lone hope, and after finishing second in the last two finals, the Hawks made a run at the title. Winning their first two games, against Rochester Lourdes and Thief River Falls, gave the Hawks a chance to avenge their 5-4 overtime loss of a year ago against St. Thomas Academy. Instead, the Cadets (26-5) never gave the Hawks a chance to get untracked.
Hermantown was surrounded by celebrating Cadets most of the day in the Class A final.
Alex Johnson had two goals and two assists, igniting a lead of 2-0 in the first period, and it became 5-0 before the Hawks finally broke through for Jared Kolquist’s goal on a two-man power play later in the second period.
“St. Thomas Academy was great today, and there’s not a whole lot we could do different to change that,” said Hermantown coach Bruce Plante. “We tried our best. We were battling hard, but they took so much away from us. We were hoping to get a goal because a goal gets everyone percolating, but it just didn’t happen.
“We had some trouble with matchups. We’ve got a nice team, with a good first line, but they have three first lines and we have one.”
Matt Mensinger blocked the puck, and Hawks defensemen Jared Kolquist (16) and Brian LeBlanc helped out.
St. Thomas Academy co-coach Greg Vannelli said getting the first goal was a big plus. “Last year, we went down 3-0 against Hermantown,” he said. “There’s so much pressure and anxiety in the championship game that scoring the first goal loosens up the whole team, and it gave us good flow.”
How about scoring the first five goals? Matt Perry scored the game’s first goal at 2:53 when he went to the net and Austin Sattler’s rebound went in off his skate blade. Alex Johnson then blasted one in at 5:42 and it was 2-0.
Matt Mensinger dived to beat St. Thomas Academy freshman Tom Novak to the puck.
The Hawks had a lot of time to get back into the game in the second period, but Johnson scored on a quick shot on a Cadet power play to make it 3-0 at 7:26, and the stream became a river when Pete Krieger grabbed a blocked shot and converted just 11 seconds later to make it 4-0. At 10:08 of the middle period, Alex Johnson sent a soft pass from the left side across the slot for Austin Sattler to deflect past goaltender Matt Mensinger, and it was 5-0.
The Hawks couldn’t penetrate the St. Thomas Academy defense until the Cadets took two penalties six seconds apart. On the two-man power play, Jared Thomas passed from the right circle across to the left circle, and defenseman Jared Kolquist ripped a shot at 11:34 that broke Zevnik’s bid for a shutout.
The Cadets breezed through a tight third period, where shots were only 2-2, preventing the Hawks from any thought of a rally, and they go home with what is still the state’s best record at 30-1.
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About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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