Hill-Murray Pioneer Hockey: Game 2010-01-07

First Period
No Scoring

Second Period
HM, Ben Bahe (Charlie Sampair, Kevin Schulze), 1:07.
HM, Jordan Johnson (Zach LaValle, Loren French), 7:36.
STA, Matt Kroska (AJ Reid, Zach Schroeder), 10:13.

Third Period
STA, JP Graveline (Peter Krieger), 0:21.
HM, Ryan Holler (Zach LaValle, Kevin Schulze), 6:35.
HM, John Phillippi (Chris Casto, Willie Faust), 16:12 (en).

Shots by period
Hill-Murray	7	11	12	-	30
St. Thomas Academy	9	6	8	-	23

Goalies Minutes GA Saves Result
HM - Tim Shaughnessy 51 2 21 W
STA - Kurt Altrichter 50 3 26 L

Power Plays Goals Attempts Time
Hill-Murray 0 1 2:00
St. Thomas Academy 0 2 4:00

Hill-Murray for now stands alone atop the Classic Suburban thanks to a 4-2 win in a contest of conference unbeatens. The two schools have combined to win the last four conference titles and St. Thomas is again one of the top contenders in Class A.

After a first period devoid of scoring or power plays, Hill-Murray came to life in the first eight minutes of the second, scoring twice and buzzing around senior netminder Kurt Altrichter the rest of the time. At the one minute mark, Charlie Sampair got the puck alone in the slot with Altrichter scrambling, but his shot hit a stick and deflected to Ben Bahe in the left corner. Now with Altrichter even more out of position, Bahe hit an open net from a narrow angle.

Midway through the period, Peter Krieger of St. Thomas and Willie Faust of Hill-Murray had clean breakaways within seconds of each other, but their shots were deflected wide by the goalie in both cases.

Jordan Johnson put the Pioneers up 2-0 at 7:36, one-timing Zach LaValle's pass to score from the left circle.

St. Thomas went on its first power play at 8:11, and just as it ended, Matt Kroska banged in a long rebound, one of the few rebounds a Cadet player was able to get a stick on all game. St. Thomas scored again 21 seconds into the third when JP Graveline's long shot through a screen found the back of the net.

Hill-Murray played a strong rest of the period and earned the lead back at 6:35. Kevin Schulze made a nice play to keep the puck in at the left point, and with two Hill-Murray players in the slot guarded by only one defenseman, Ryan Holler wristed a backhand past Altrichter's glove just inside the post.

Immediately after the goal, St. Thomas broke in with three 2-on-1s in a row, but Tim Shaughnessy stopped them cold each time. On the last break, Hill-Murray took a penalty, but the power play passed without incident.

With just under a minute left, Chris Casto flipped the puck off the glass and out of the Hill-Murray zone. John Phillippi was the first to retrieve it, and that turned out to be a big problem for St. Thomas since their goalie was on the bench in exchange for an extra skater. Phillippi's goal all but clinched the win, and was Hill-Murray's 30th shot on goal, a mark they have reached every game this season.