“We need our Kyle Rau,” said boys’ hockey head coach Mr. Ken Pauly, referencing the former Eden Prairie Eagle who not only led the team in scoring on their way to last year’s state championship, but also consistently showed up when his team needed a goal.
BSM’s Kyle Rau is junior forward Grant Besse, who has been on a roll lately, averaging over 2.8 goals a game in his last seven games. He twice found the back of the net and added an assist in a 4-3 win over section rival Wayzata on Monday, Feb. 6.
With section seeding on the line, there was a playoff-like atmosphere at the packed Plymouth Ice Center. “I loved it,” said Besse. “I thrive on that stuff.”
Head-to-head match-ups usually determine the seeding of the section playoffs, so with BSM playing only two section opponents all season, coach Pauly knew the significance of tonight’s game. “The truth is, I don’t believe we could afford to lose this game,” said coach Pauly.
The Red Knights looked like they would have an early advantage when a Trojan was called for a five minute boarding call, but BSM failed to get any real chances on the extended advantage. “I think sometimes, in big games, if you get a power play too early, it can work against you,” said coach Pauly. “We were too juiced up and didn’t even come close to setting [the power play] up.”
Senior goalie Anders Jecha made the start for the Red Knights, but was pulled in favor of junior Justin Quale in the second period after Jecha gave up his second goal on only the ninth shot he faced. “In games like this, when it’s a section playoff-type atmosphere, you don’t have time to wait around to figure out whether or not the [goalie is] going to find it that night or not,” said coach Pauly.
The Red Knights scored all four goals in the second period, with Besse notching the first two and senior forward Christian Horn and sophomore forward Jack Glover also lighting the lamp. Besse’s second goal, on the power play, came on a one-timer off of a pass from junior forward Tj Moore that went from the bottom of one circle to the bottom of the other. “I have to give credit to my line-mates, Tj and Lobes [junior forward Daniel Labosky]. You saw on both my goals, they made the plays,” said Besse.
