AFFTON • Thomas Place didn’t know he’d made the save until he looked in his mitt.
The St. Louis University High goaltender had been under siege between the pipes against rival CBC. With just over a minute remaining and SLUH nursing a 2-1 lead, the Cadets threw everything they had at Place. They pulled their own goaltender in an effort to find the equalizer. But Place rebuffed every challenge, and the Jr. Billikens held on for the victory Friday night at Affton Rink.
“I didn’t know I had it until it was in my glove,” Place said.
It’s the second time in three meetings this season SLUH has found its way past rival and juggernaut CBC. Both times the Jr. Bills were able to jump out early and finish off the Cadets.
“We wanted to be aggressive in their end,” SLUH coach Charles Busenhart said. “We didn’t want to sit back and wait for them to come to us. We wanted to force them into mistakes.”
SLUH (18-2-3) took the lead when forward Nick Walters took a pass from Dan Warnecke and banged home a goal off the right post that just barely found its way around CBC goaltender Joe O’Brien with just over 3 minutes to play in the first period.
The Jr. Billkens struck again early in the second period when Warnecke plucked the puck from a scrum and poked it into the net for his 22nd goal of the season. This time Walters picked up the assist.
CBC (17-2-1) got its goal from Matt Sieckhaus with 12:12 to go in the third period and then started pouring it on. The Cadets peppered Place time and again. He even came up with an incredible save on a three-on-one breakaway with 6 minutes to play.
In the last 90 seconds CBC fired four shots at Place, one of which came on a one-timer on a faceoff that was on him in a blink.
The Cadets threw 24 shots at Place, with just that one finding its way past him.
“I should have had it,” Place said. “It hit my glove.”
CBC coach John Jost shuffled his lines on Friday in an attempt to generate some chemistry.
“We did some things to shake it up a little bit,” Jost said. “We wanted to get some more offense out of our top line. I was happy with our effort. We’re looking forward to the playoffs.”
The Challenge Cup playoffs get underway next week and both teams expect to have high seeds. CBC, if Busenhart has a vote, would be the top seed, followed by SLUH.
“They’re still the best team,” Busenhart said.
The Cadets have reached the title game each of the past two years and have been upended each time. The last time they won the title was 2009 -- and in the championship game, they defeated SLUH.
