Benilde-St. Margaret's Ken Pauly is one of six coaches in state history to reach 600 career wins. Photo by Drew Herron, legacyhockeyphotography.com
LONG LAKE - Benilde-St. Margaret's coach Ken Pauly reached the 600 career-win plateau on Thursday in the Red Knights' 6-4 victory over Orono at Orono Ice Arena.
Pauly, in his 32nd season at Benilde-St. Margaret's and 35th overall, became just the sixth coach in state history to win 600 or more games. Northern Lakes' Mike Randolph and Hill-Murray's Bill Lechner are the other active coaches with more than 600 victories. Pauly has a 600-287-35 career record.
Dylan Popehn and Junior Podein each scored twice for the No. 11-2A Benilde-St. Margaret's (14-5-0). Keegan Davis' empty-net goal with 25 seconds left clinched the victory.
Jackson Knight scored twice for No. 13-1A Orono (10-9-2). Rory Kvern's goal with 4:37 left tied the score at 4-4.
HERMANTOWN - Bobby Thornton scored what proved to be the winning goal in the final minute of the second period and Grady Knutson added an empty net goal as Cloquet/Esko/Carlton beat Hermantown 3-1 in a matchup of the state's No. 1- and 2-ranked teams in Class 1A.
Thornton's goal, his 17th of the season, put the No. 2 Lumberjacks (17-4-0) ahead 2-1 with 39 seconds left in the second period. Knutson's goal came with 1:31 remaining.
Hermantown's Ethan Aysta and Cloquet/Esko/Carlton's Nikolas Gentillini traded first-period goals.
The loss was No. 1 Hermantown's first of the season against a Class 1A opponent, and likely drops the Hawks (13-6-3) to the No. 2 seed behind C/E/C in the upcoming Section 7A playoffs.
GRAND RAPIDS - Rock Ridge scored the game's last two goals to force a 4-4 overtime tie with Grand Rapids in a matchup of ranked teams battling for Section 7AA seeding positioning at Yanmar Arena.
No. 14-2A Grand Rapids (14-6-1) scored three times in the first as Jameson Duell netted two goals 92 seconds apart.
No. 19-2A Rock Ridge (17-3-2) got a goal from Cal Scott to cut the Thunderhawks' lead to 3-2 after the first.
Alexander Salisbury gave Grand Rapids a 4-2 lead 97 seconds into the second period but John Westby scored just over two minutes later to bring the Wolverines within one, 3-2.
Derik Dahl tied the score with 14:59 left in regulation. Scott added two assists for Rock Ridge. Nathan Garski led Grand Rapids with three assists.
Wyatt Jonassen, sixth in the state with a .931 save percentage, made 43 saves for the Wolverines.
MINNETONKA - White Bear Lake scored the game's final three goals, including Liam Maloy's with 1 second remaining, as it rallied from a three-goal deficit to earn a 4-4 tie with Minnetonka at the Pagel Activity Center.
Nash Roed, Jack Stanius and Liam Maloy scored the third-period goals for the No. 8-2A Bears (13-3-3). Stanius finished with two goals and two assists.
Ethan Sturgis' goal 35 seconds into the third period put No. 16-2A Minnetonka (10-8-2) ahead 4-1.
BLAINE - Joey Kotzian's overtime goal came with 4:32 left in the period as Elk River/Zimmerman picked up a 6-5 win over Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids at Fogerty Arena.
The game featured scoring runs by both teams.
Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids (8-12-0) used goals by Brody Herzog and Drew Lindquist to lead 2-0.
The Elks' Logan Rustad cut the lead to 2-1 before Elk River/Zimmerman (9-11-2) scored four times in the second to lead 5-2. Six Elks scored goals while Rustad added two assists.
Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids rallied in the third on goals by Caden Lichter, Andrew Clark and Cayden Alphin, the last two scoring goals in the final 4:37 of regulation.
RICHMOND - River Lakes scored five of the game's last six goals as the Stars rallied for a 7-5 upset win over No. 12-1A Little Falls at River Lakes Civic Arena.
River Lakes (13-6-2) trailed 4-2 before Griffin Mayhew and Jaiken Mackedanz scored in the final 2:32 of the second period to tie the score.
Parker Welz and Blake Schultz scored goals as the Stars opened a 6-4 lead with 4:53 to play.
Little Falls (11-7-2) cut the lead to 6-5 when Lucas Jendro scored with 2:49 remaining. Welz then scored with 1:13 to play to clinch the victory.
Mayhew had two goals on the night while Mackendanz added three assists.
Beau Majerle scored twice for the Flyers.
ROGERS - Mason Jenson scored three goals to open the third period as Rogers broke open the game and defeated Blaine 6-1 at Rogers Ice Arena.
Jenson, who leads the state with 68 points and is second with 32 goals, has recorded at least two points in his last 10 games. He has five games with three-or-more goals this season.
No. 3-2A Rogers (18-1-1) has won 10 straight and is unbeaten in its last 16 contests.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first and the Royals led 2-1 after two periods thanks to Parker Deschene's second goal of the game.
Then Jenson scored three times in 10 minutes to give Rogers a 5-1 lead. Jake Vukich completed the scoring.
Wyatt Knott made 15 saves for his 16th win this season.
Porter Bayer scored a goal for Blaine (12-7-0).
CHASKA - Jake Campbell scored 4:49 into overtime to complete Chaska's rally for a 3-2 win over New Prague at the Chaska Community Center.
New Prague (7-11-2) led 2-0 after Connor Williams netted his second goal of the game with 10:57 to play in the third.
Mason Gutowsky then got Chaska (3-15-1) on the scoreboard 27 seconds later before Tyler Hromatka forced overtime by tying the game with 5:44 left in regulation. Campbell assisted on both goals.
Tyler Nesheim made 50 saves for Chaska.
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