Boys Hockey: Hill-Murray wins Section 4AA title with 5-1 victory over White Bear Lake

  Hill-Murray celebrates their Section 4AA crown.
  (Photo: Dan Hinrichs)

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Momentum's a great thing to earn in a hockey game, especially when you're playing a rival for the right to go to the state tournament. Hill-Murray used the momentum generated by their quick-strike offense to score three goals in five minutes and 27 seconds to break open the Section 4AA championship against White Bear Lake in a packed Warner Coliseum on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

The Pioneers had a 1-0 lead when Chris Canto scored the first goal of the rush, snapping off a wrist shot from just outside the face-off circle to the left of Bears goaltender Jared Schletty. The goal, assisted by Kevin Becker, came just under six minutes into a very intense second period which saw each team's goaltender getting sprayed with snow on almost every held puck.

With the momentum squarely on their side after the goal, the Pioneers continued dominating play, keeping the puck in the White Bear Lake zone and firing shot after shot at Schletty. After the Bears were able to give Schletty a short break by getting the puck momentarily into the Pioneers' zone, Hill-Murray's Willie Faust found Ben Bahe on a beautiful cross-ice, blue line-to-blue line pass. Bahe did the rest, scoring with 7:34 left on the clock to make the score 3-0.

After a quick Bears penalty put Hill-Murray on the power play, Pioneers captain Jack Walsh capped off the scoring surge with a power play goal assisted by Loren French. Hill-Murray put 14 shots on net during the second period, compared to five for White Bear Lake.

White Bear Lake broke the shutout two minutes into the third period, scoring a power play goal off the stick of Max Birkinbine to make the score 4-1. That shot was the only one to get past Hill-Murray goaltender Tim Shaughnessy, who stopped 22 of 23 White Bear Lake shots. Jack Walsh then closed the scoring with his second goal at the 5:34 mark, getting a nice centering pass from Ryan Holler who raced down the ice to beat an icing call and set up Walsh for the goal. A few minutes later, the Pioneers were celebrating a 5-1 victory and the Section 4AA title.

Early penalties taken by the Pioneers didn't end up hurting them, as their penalty killing unit erased a 52 second 5-on-3 situation in the first period without allowing a White Bear Lake shot. In all, both squads committed six penalties for 12 minutes, and each team scored one power play goal.

Bears goaltender Jared Schletty faced 36 Hill-Murray shots on the game, stopping 31.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period: H-M, Kevin Becker (from Kevin Schultz), 13:37.

2nd Period: H-M, Chris Canto (from Kevin Becker), 5:56. H-M, Ben Bahe (from Willie Faust), 9:26. H-M, Jack Walsh (from Loren French), 5:37, power play.

3rd Period: WBL, Max Birkinbine (from Brandon Wahlin and Ryan Wolter), 2:07, power play. H-M, Jack Walsh (from Ryan Holler), 5:34.