After equipment gaffe, STA’s Ryan O’Neill “sticks it” to Duluth East

St. Paul — Ryan O’Neill stood ready to warm up with his St. Thomas Academy teammates ahead of their Class 2A  state quarterfinal meeting with Duluth East but, unlike his fellow Cadets, O’Neill was on his phone. He was speaking with his father checking the ETA for delivery of the precious cargo his dad was transporting: Ryan’s hockey sticks.

“Coach (Greg) Monohan had to go meet him at the door with the sticks right before warmups so that was a big relief,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill used at least one of them to score twice, including the game winner with 7:15 remaining in regulation to lift the No. 4 seed Cadets to a 3-1 win over the No. 5 Greyhounds to advance to a Friday semifinal meeting with top-seeded Edina. With the win, St. Thomas Academy completed a quarterfinal sweep for Class 2A ‘s top four seeds.

“The pressure and the whole anxiety about this tournament, obviously I could see how it could happen if you could be in their shoes  to see how big a deal this thing is,” St. Thomas Academy Co-Head Coach Greg Vannelli said. “But I forgive him now.”

O’Neill opened the scoring midway through the first period with a laser of a shot that beat Duluth East goaltender Brody Rabold over his right shoulder. After Charlie Erickson’s second period goal for the Greyhounds made it 1-1 entering the final frame, O’Neill notched his 21st goal of the year, one-timing linemate Nico Vega’s pass over Rabold’s left shoulder. 

“He’s the most underrated, under-the-radar forward in the state,” Vannelli said. “We knew what we had with Ryan and he’s been a key guy all year offensively. That line today was phenomenal. They had good puck possession; they have not been outplayed all year.”

McClain Beaudette’s empty-net goal with 1:28 remaining sealed St. Thomas Academy’s first state quarterfinal win in four trips to the state tournament since the Cadets bumped up to Class 2A six years ago.

“Our team just had a lot of confidence coming into this game,” O’Neill said. “We just kind of felt, especially as seniors that we were going to win this game.”

 Photo Gallery by Jonny Watkins for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Jonny on Twitter at @jwatkinsphotog.

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SAINT PAUL—As if the outstanding Section 5AA title game between Centennial and Blaine earlier in the evening wasn’t enough, Stillwater and Hill-Murray’s Section 4AA final added a thrilling exclamation point to an extraordinary doubleheader as high school hockey fans said their final farewells to the State Fairgrounds Coliseum.

Stillwater’s Brandon Jungmann’s goal early in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and the Ponies survived the inevitable Pioneer surge to beat Hill-Murray 2-1. No. 3 Stillwater began the game with seemingly no fear of No. 1 Hill-Murray and gained confidence as the game wore on.

“We could feel it in the locker room, just the mojo and momentum,” Jungmann said. “We talked about how it was like the 1980 Olympics with USA, just building up and having a big game like we did.”

“We had a great game against White Bear so after that we were just heads-in-the-clouds,” Stillwater defenseman Mitch Reinke said. “We knew we had a deep group here and we all wanted it together so we knew we could do it.”

The win sends the Ponies to the state tournament for the first time in school history and means the tournament will not be represented by either Hill-Murray or White Bear Lake (Stillwater’s Tuesday semifinal victim) for the first time since 2004 (Centennial) and just the second since 1981 (North St. Paul).

“It’s tough right now to really know the impact that this is going to have,” Stillwater Coach Matt Doman said. “Obviously there’s a lot of excitement and I think this been a long time coming for a lot of people.

“I see the smiles on these kids’ faces and it makes me so happy to know they’ve worked as hard as they have and now are rewarded for that.”

The Coliseum houses a host of memorable moments accumulated over the course of its nearly 40 years as a hockey venue and Friday night’s winning goal will certainly be added to Coliseum lore.

Jungmann’s shot richocheted off of a stick and popped high in the air where Hill-Murray goaltender Sam Illgen lost sight of the puck as it vaulted into the dingy concrete backdrop of the Coliseum ceiling. When it finally came down it dropped behind Illgen and crossed the goal line.

“Not an ideal goal but, hey, they go in how they go in,” Jungmann said. “We deserved that win and we deserved things to go our way there.”

Stillwater goalie Josh Benson , who finished with 24 saves, sympathized with his counterpart over his nightmare scenario.

“You don’t know where the puck is and you’re just hoping for the best,” Benson said. “[Illgen] didn’t have the best chance right there.”

“If that bounce goes against us we probably don’t win this game,” Doman said. “That’s just how good of a team that they are and every shift mattered for us. We played like a desperate team and came out on top because of it.”

The Pioneers took an early lead on Mitch Slattery’s 20th goal of the season, driving hard across the front of the Stillwater net to slide a backhand shot behind Benson with just 5:18 elapsed in the first period. The Ponies, however, drew even less than two minutes into the second when Devin Cates buried his ninth goal on a backdoor feed from John Heddle.

“They always say at this time of year it comes down to one moment, and it’s Stillwater’s moment today,” Hill-Murray coach Bill Lechner said.

As he stood near Stillwater’s locker room with his team’s random shouts drowning out his interview, Doman observed the traffic going in and out of the room with a huge grin.

“I’m watching guys that I coached that are coming in the room and congratulating these guys,” Doman said. “The guys that didn’t get an opportunity [to play in a state tournament] are now just as excited for those kids as if they were on the team, and that’s really what it’s all about.”

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SAINT PAUL—The ticket to the Class AA Minnesota State Girls’ Hockey Tournament for Hill-Murray and Benilde-St. Margaret’s was the right combination of dynamic offense and suffocating defense. The Pioneers (95) and the Red Knights (93) arrived in St.  Paul sporting the highest goals scored/goals against differentials among the tournament’s eight participants, putting them on a collision course for the title game.

The matchup between the two private school powers, one from east of the Mississippi and the other from the west, did not disappoint. But Hill-Murray, on the strength of balanced scoring and great goaltending, defeated the Red Knights 5-3 on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center to earn its first-ever girls’ state hockey championship.

“I was really, really pleased with the way we played,” Hill-Murray coach Bill Schafhauser said. “Benilde’s an awesome team, obviously, and we knew we had to be our best tonight and I think we were.

“We saved the best for last this weekend which I think was awesome.”

Goaltender Leah Patrick was outstanding for Hill-Murray in a 23-save effort, stopping several Benilde grade-A scoring opportunities in the process. The Pioneers, the 2013 state tournament runner-up, went three lines deep on the scoresheet and got a pair of goals from Jess Bonfe along with two points from Sarah Bobrowski (1-1–2).

“If we had an unsung or breakthrough type of player this year, it would be Leah,” Schafhauser said. “It’s a neat process to witness a s a coach to have a goaltender win over a team and get their confidence and she did great.”

Benilde senior Kelly Pannek scored all three of the Red Knights’ goals and finished with seven goals and four assists for the tournament. The 11 points give the University of Minnesota commit 99 for the season (41-58-99). Abigail Miller turned aside 17 of 22 Hill-Murray shots for Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

“I’m glad I could play well, but I would have traded that for a win here today,” a disappointed Pannek said after the game.

Hill-Murray jumped out to a two-goal lead as Bonfe scored twice before the game was 10 minutes old, the first one coming at just the 1:17 mark, and the Pioneers led the rest of the way.

“We just got off to a bad start,” Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach David Herbst said. “We kept battling but when you dig yourself a hole like that it’s tough to get out, especially in the state tournament.”

It took the Red Knights less than two minutes to bounce back from Bonfe’s second goal and trimmed the deficit to one when Brittany Wheeler’s shot from the left circle handcuffed Patrick and, for the second time in as many nights, Pannek pounced on a loose puck in the crease to get Benilde on the board.

The Pioneers maintained that 2-1 lead entering a second period which saw them pull away as Hill-Murray extended its lead on Jac Kaasa’s goal a mere 29 seconds into the middle stanza. Bobrowski’s shot from in close was denied by Miller but, Pannek’s crease-clearing attempt bounced off Kaasa’s leg for two-goal Hill-Murray cushion.

The gap was nearly widened to three just past the game’s midway point but Miller stopped McKenzie Steffen’s shorthanded breakaway attempt as well as Bobrowski’s follow-up shot. But Lindsey Featherstone scored her fifth of the season with just 2:17 left in the second to make it 4-1 and Patrick preserved the lead heading into the break with a terrific right-pad save on Caitlin Reilly’s back-door redirect with 25 seconds to go.

“That first goal kind of sucked the wind right out of us and we just couldn’t get back on track,” Herbst said. “I thought the third period we came out and we battled and we really played pretty good hockey.”

The Red Knights indeed came out strong in the final period, receiving a much-needed lift when Pannek’s shot from the left point beat Patrick clean to make it 4-2 only 18 seconds into the third and five seconds into a BSM power play. From that point the Red Knights began to apply consistent pressure in the Hill-Murray end.

It was Patrick who stole the show at that point, stoning Kippin Keller’s breakaway attempt at 10:16 and thwarting Reilly’s one-timer off a Pannek feed a minute later. “It was pretty intense,” Patrick said of the sequence. “I just tried to keep my focus because I knew if I lost it, it would be a lot harder to take the breakaway.”

“They have great [defensemen] and play great team defense,” Pannek said of Hill-Murray. “It’s hard to be down three goals and try to battle back one at a time because they’re so talented defensively and [Patrick] played a great game.”

Bobrowski then put the game away at 14:03 with a shot that caught a piece of BSM defenseman Kassandra Petersen’s stick on its way past Miller. Pannek added a late goal to complete her hat trick but it was too little, too late for the Red Knights.

“We had a number of opportunities and if we would have capitalized on those opportunities it would have been a different game,” Herbs said. “Their goalie played good, she came up with some big saves, and that’s what happens in a tight game like that.”

“It’s hard, it’s a hard three days for the kids mentally and physically,” Schafhauser said. “So to have your best game in the championship game, in my opinion, is a testament to their conditioning and mental strength.”

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SAINT PAUL—Big-game players step forward in … well, big games and Kelly Pannek did just that in Benilde St. Margaret’s 2-1 win over Lakeville North in Friday night’s Class AA girls’ state tournament semifinal at Xcel Energy Center. Pannek, who led the Red Knights in scoring this season with 88 points (34-54–88), had an assist and scored the game winner to lead BSM to its third championship game appearance and first since 2004.

Pannek broke a 1-1 tie at 3:37 of the second period when she followed up her own shot to bang home a loose puck sitting in the crease behind Panthers goaltender Abby Cooper. The celebration was briefly interrupted as officials reviewed the play to determine whether Pannek’s teammate, Kaylee Druk had interfered with Cooper but it was determined Druk was pushed by a Lakeville North player.

“When Kaylee kind of got pushed in front and the goalie was down you kind of hope that the puck’s going to pop out,” Pannek said. “It was just laying right on the [doorstep] and I just hammered it home.”

The Red Knights held the Panthers in check the rest of the way including the game’s final minute when BSM withstood Lakeville North’s late rally with Cooper on the bench for an extra attacker and Benilde’s Brittany Wheeler serving a cross-checking penalty.

It was a situation Pannek admitted the Red Knights don’t often face.

“But I thought we handled it really well,” Pannek said “To be able to kill that off with 45 seconds left is huge for us.”

“The third period I told them we’ve got to play a system of third person high and they executed that to perfection,” Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Dave Herbst said. “So I’m pretty proud of them the way we carried out our game plan and kept everything simple.”

BSM goaltender Abigail Miller backstopped the win with 13 saves while Cooper turned aside 24 shots for the Panthers. The Red Knights, state champions in 2002 and 2004, advance to face 2013 runner-up Hill-Murray at 7:00 p.m. Saturday night in St. Paul. The Pioneers defeated Eden Prairie 1-0 in the other Class AA semifinal.

Lakeville North, which was making its third consecutive state tournament appearance, came to St. Paul with high aspirations after a third place finish a year ago. But the ninth-ranked Panthers mustered only 14 shots on goal in their effort to advance to the championship game for first time.

“There was just no heart out there tonight and I didn’t see it in anyone,” a visibly frustrated Lakeville North captain Dani Sadek said. “The last few years here we’ve had a lot of heart and it just wasn’t there tonight and we came up short.”

“We were waiting for somebody to take over … and get a spark going,” Lakeville North coach Buck Kochevar said. “We did have shots on net but no one was driving hard and it’s frustrating.”

The contest got off to a relatively inauspicious start with each team barely dipping a toe in the water offensively as they combine for just two shots on goal through nearly the game’s first ten minutes. But the Red Knight’s drew first blood on Kassandra Petersen’s goal at 13:13 when she received a cross-ice pass at the right point, sidestepped oncoming Panther forward Megan Lebens and fired through a screen beating Cooper on her blocker side.

But Druk was sent off for hooking at 15:38 and the Panthers took advantage when captain Dani Sadek scored her ninth of the season, rifling a shot through traffic over Miller’s right shoulder with 10.9 seconds remaining in the first period. To the disappointment of Sadek and her teammates, however, it was the only shot to elude Miller all night.

“By the time we got anything going …,”Kochevar began to say before Sadek interjected saying, “… the damage was done.”

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SAINT PAUL—In  just their third trip to the Class AA girls’ state hockey tournament, the Hill-Murray Pioneers are making their second trip to the title game in as many years after prevailing in a tight 1-0 semifinal tussle with Eden Prairie on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center.

The two-time state champion Eagles (2006 and 2008) made the Pioneers earn a hard fought one-goal win. Eden Prairie eighth-grade goaltender Alexa Dobchuck finished with 29 saves to give her team a chance despite a lopsided 29-8 shots advantage for the Pioneers.

“[Eden Prairie’s] goalie played awesome, obviously,” Hill-Murray coach Bill Schafhauser said. “We didn’t benefit from a few bounces where I thought we might, but they played hard and played smart and all it was going to take was one shot.”

Dobchuck credited her team with limiting Hill Murray’s quality chances.

“As many shots as I saved, they weren’t all completely quality shots because the defense and forwards were all picking up sticks and blocking shots,” she said.

Shafhauser said Hill-Murray emphasizes all five skaters functioning as a unit defensively and it showed as the Pioneers suffocated Eden Prairie’s attack from start to finish.

“We’re blessed with really good defensemen but it just doesn’t happen with just two defensemen and a goalie,” Schafhauser said. “It’s critical that the forwards participate in that as well.”

“They did a nice job of just clogging up that middle on us and taking away some of those lane,” Eden Prairie coach Jaime Grossman. “I thought early in we just weren’t reading the ice, we were a little bunched up and we were kind of on top of each other.”

“The Pioneers opened and closed the scoring at the 8:18 mark of the second period on Kenzi Prater’s second goal of the tournament. Jess Bonfe drove behind the Eden Prairie net and dropped the puck to a trailing Rebecca Zarembinski who fed Prater at the top of the crease for her 12th of the season.

Not surprisingly, Prater admitted she never dreamed her goal would gold up as the game winner.

“I think our team definitely had a lot of chances and I was surprised that we didn’t score on a couple but they were just unlucky bounces,” Prater said.

The Pioneers may have been up by two at that point had it not been for the quick left leg of Dobchuck and a little luck less than four minutes earlier when Hill-Murray’s second leading scorer Jac Kaasa’s shot caromed off Dobchuck’s outstretched left pad and the left goal post.

“Credit to their goalie,” Kaasa said. “She’s really good and she just got her pad over in time.”

After falling in last season’s title game 3-1 to Minnetonka, Schafhauser said the Pioneers benefited from that experience and they are right where they expected to be.

“I knew we had a good team, it’s not a surprise to us, we’re a little more seasoned,” Schafhauser said. “I don’t think you can hang on to a one-goal lead like we just did without some experience from last year; I think that was helpful to get us to tomorrow.”

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With a can do attitude, the Green Wave of East Grand Forks kept applying pressure, finally breaking through a tough United front and goalie Catherine Johnson with a 3-2 victory over St. Paul United.  Jim Scanlan, EGF head coach was impressed with the girls resolve “the girls never stopped believing, had great attitudes all the way through and were rewarded with a hard fought win”.  The battle tested Green Wave are used to close battles having to defeat Warroad in double overtime in the sectional semi finals and then beat the state’s top ranked Thief River Falls Prowlers in double overtime for their first entrance ever into the state tournament.

East Grand Forks was challenged early on and found themselves quickly down 2-0 as St. Paul United led by their Division 1 star Alev Baysoy’s scored two early  goals in the first six minutes of the game.  With the Green Wave starting slow and the quick feet of Baysoy, the St. Paul United club took the lead on Baysoy’ first goal with assists to Joie Phelps and Lauren Boettcher.  Just one minute and two seconds later, United would double their lead, with Baysoy scoring with an assist to Kate Hallett.  Green Wave coach Jim Scanlan noted “every minute is extremely important, it just goes to show how fast things can change”.

Alexa Mack scores twice for the Green Wave (Photo / Debbie Koberinski)

East Grand Forks would cut the lead in half on Junior Alexa Mack’s first goal at the 13:21 mark.  Scanlan was very impressed with Alexa and her effort “Alexa Mack really played well today, playing  her best game of the year, and it was nice to see her rewarded with the two goals”.

In between periods, Scanlan talked with his team regarding the defensive coverage in their own zone, and transitioning the puck up ice as soon as possible and limiting Baysoy.   The two teams came out hard to start the second period, but soon, East Grand Forks would take over in terms of scoring chances and puck control, out shooting United by an 8-2 margin but not having anything to show for it as United goalie Catherine Johnson played well. “The girls really played well defensively and transitioned the puck up ice which made a big difference.  Their number seven (Baysoy) is a special player with her quickness and the girls did a good job shutting her down”.

East Grand Forks took over control in the third period, as United appeared to tire.  With the Green Wave applying much pressure, Thompson battled hard in goal for United, facing 18 shots in the third period.  The Wave continued to push for the tying goal, and on a power play after Kate Hallet was called for checking,would be rewarded.  With the Green Wave moving the puck around  Mak Langei would get the equalizer with a shot from the top of the right circle deflecting past Johnson with an assist to Karly Nelson.

With less than five minutes to play, the game looked like it was going to be heading into overtime, but a slashing penalty on Baysoy gave the Green Wave and their strong power play unit a chance to end it.  Having scored earlier on the power play, the team was determined to pound one in and Alexa Mack would be rewarded knocking in a rebound from 10 feet out with assists to Riley Koberinsi and  Mak Lengei, who picked up her second assist of the game.

With the victory, the Green Wave take on perennial power and defending state champion, The Blake School, at noon on Saturday to determine the Class A champion.  The Blake School defeated Red Wing in double overtime on Friday for their ticket to the championship game.

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SAINT PAUL—Defending state champion The Blake School of Minneapolis will defend their title on Saturday after fighting off a strong challenge from a determined Red Wing Wingers team.  Blake once again broke the hearts of the Wingers with a 5-4 double overtime win.  Blake continues to have Red Wings number, with the Wingers closer than ever, having several great opportunities to finally beat their nemesis before bowing in overtime.  Blake  defeated Red Wing last year in the semi finals before defeating the top seed Warroad by a 7-2 margin to capture the 2013 title.

Blake started out with a quick goal two minutes and fourteen seconds into the game as Sylvie Wallin was able to find the back of the net.  Red Wing, With a chance to dethrone the champs,came right back, led by their 100 point Senior Nicole Schammel.  Schammel entered the tournament with 58 goals and 100 points and a school record of 266 goals and 446 total points.   With one game to go, Schammel leads all scorers in the state tournament, adding another 5 goals and 4 assists heading into the third place game tomorrow against St. Pual United.

Schammel would even the score at the 6:48 mark tying the game as Red Wing took control of the play out shooting Blake by a twelve to seven margin after one period.   Red Wing’s Taylor Heise would give the Wingers their only lead in the game early in the 2nd period scoring just 1:04 into the period.  The Bears then would score 3 unanswered goals with Sara Chute, Alex Lovaas and Carly Bullock scoring to give them a 4-2 lead.  Red Wing would cut the lead in half with a goal at the 13:52 mark as Emily Stegora would twinkle the twine beating Bears goalie Anna Kruessel.

With less than five minutes to play, Red Wing would cash in as the dominant Schammel would tie the score setting up  the game for extended time with overtime.  Both teams played hard in the first extra session with the Bears having a slight edge, outshooting the Wingers 6-3 in the first overtime.   The snake bitten Wingers, who have yet to beat Blake in five tries in state tournament games would get bit again, as the Bears leading scorer, Sophomore Carly Bullock ended the game with her fourth goal of the tournament.  Bullock would score for the 49th time this season, bring her team to the title game against first time entrant East Grand Forks.

The title match between the Blake School of Minneapolis and East Grand Forks has the defending state champion Bears playing against the tournaments top seed in the Green Wave.  Blake enters the game having played in four other state title games, winning all four, while East Grand Forks is a first time qualifier.  East Grand Forks defeated powers Warroad and the top rated team in the state Thief River Falls to qualify for the tournament and is battle tested setting up a solid title match.

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