St. Thomas Academy boys' hockey coach Tom Vannelli lauded his team's effort in Saturday's 3-1 victory against host Hill-Murray at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood.
The Cadets (No. 2, Class 1A) played physical in their zone and went hard to the Pioneers' net. They scored three times in the second period en route to their first victory in five games this season against Class 2A teams ranked in the top five. Hill-Murray is No. 3 in Class 2A.
Hill-Murray coach Bill Lechner took the loss at face value considering two of his regular forwards missed the game.
"We take it personally when we're not at our best, but we didn't have our legs," Lechner said. "We had a battle and a half two nights ago against Mahtomedi."
The Zephyrs game cost the Pioneers two players. Kevin Becker, tied for second on the team with 13 goals, suffered a concussion and became the first Pioneers player to miss action because of injury this season. In addition, Charlie Sampair drew a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty against the Zephyrs and was forced to sit out Saturday.
"Hockey isn't always fair," Lechner said. "Credit St. Thomas Academy. They were flying and they kicked our butts."
St. Thomas Academy stormed to a 15-5 shot advantage in the first period. And after Eric Shurhamer rang the post early in the second period, the Cadets found the mark and scored three times.
Zach Schroeder ripped a shot past goaltender Tim Shaughnessy high into the far corner of the net with only 11 seconds remaining in the period.