February 10, 2007 @ St. Thomas Arena 7:30
| Hill-Murray | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | 1 |
| St. Thomas Academy | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | 2 |
First Period STA, JC Blaisdell (Nick Larson, Tony Mergens), 3:41. Second Period HM, Nick Larson (Ryan Furne, Tyler Zepeda), 0:30 (5x3 pp). STA, Tony Mergens, 3:18 (pp). Third Period No Scoring |
| Shots by period | ||||||
| Hill-Murray | 12 | 14 | 13 | - | 39 | |
| St. Thomas Academy | 8 | 15 | 12 | - | 35 | |
| Goalies | Minutes | GA | Saves | Result | ||
| HM - Joe Phillippi | 51 | 2 | 33 | L | ||
| STA - Aaron Crandall | 51 | 1 | 38 | W |
| Power Plays | Goals | Attempts | Time | |
| Hill-Murray | 1 | 4 | 5:05 | |
| St. Thomas Academy | 1 | 5 | 7:56 |
Game Recap
Tony Mergens' go-ahead goal early in the second period stood up as the game winner for St. Thomas, who earned a split of the season series with Hill-Murray for the second year in a row. That leaves the teams tied for first place in the Classic Suburban with one game remaining.
St. Thomas took a 1-0 lead at 3:41 of the first period. A centering pass deflected to J.C. Blaisdell between the circles, and his low shot went through a screen for the only goal of the period.
Hill-Murray began the second period with a minute of 5-on-3 power play time and converted 30 seconds in. Tyler Zepeda's shot from the high slot was blocked by Aaron Crandall but the rebound went right to Ryan Furne to Crandall's left. Furne got the puck past Crandall, leaving a tap-in for Nick Larson on the back side.
A Hill-Murray penalty negated the second half of the remaining power play, and the Cadets went ahead again while up one skater. Several players had whacks at a loose puck in the slot, and finally Mergens picked it up and scored on a backhand shot as Phillippi's vision was once again screened.
Hill-Murray had several chances to tie the game in the second period. The Pioneers' Nick Larson went around several players but couldn't get the puck past Crandall. Crandall later made a nice glove save off a 2-on-1 rush.
The Pioneers took the first 10 shots of the third period, their best chance coming on a shorthanded 3-on-1. Crandall got a piece of Dan Cecka's shot from the left side, and nobody could get a clean shot on the rebound which was deflected wide. In all, Hill-Murray took 13 shots in the final period but none in the last five minutes. Instead, it was Joe Phillippi making several big saves on one-timers from close range to give his team a chance, but St. Thomas played smart hockey down the stretch to preserve their lead and earn a victory.
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