ST. PETERS • Francis Howell Central coach Tom Mueller said he expected nothing less from Duchesne -- his team's opponent Monday at the Rec-Plex -- than his Spartans got.
Howell Central scored a pair of third period goals to fend off Duchesne 5-4 to advance to the Wickenheiser Cup semifinals by virtue of the two games-to-none quarterfinal series win.
"Holy smoke," Mueller said. "At the end of the season, Duchesne was really playing great hockey within our division. I was really concerned about this. I thought if we could get by Duchesne, we might have an opportunity to do something."
Each team scored three times in the first period as Howell Central -- the tournament's No. 3 seed -- jumped out with a goal only to have No. 11 seed Duchesne return the favor.
Brennan Anderson scored on a wrist shot 3 minutes, 43 seconds into play, but Steven Kinnison tied it at one with 8:34 left in the period on the power play.
"Their power play is tough," Mueller said of Duchesne. "We were running guys into the box left and right and they took advantage."
With 7:51 left in the period, Edward Olson ripped a shot from the point that Mitch Miller tipped past Duchesne goaltender Kevin Lammert for the 2-1 lead.
Nathan Marquart knocked the puck in the net in the middle of a scrum with 4:05 left in the period to tie the game at two.
Olson and Duchesne's Joe Rupp each scored before period's end to send the game into the first intermission tied at three.
"What a game," Mueller said. "It went back and forth. They (Duchesne) came out in that third period and got that goal and I thought "oh my God, these guys are fired up'."
Duchesne (11-12-3) took its only lead of the game at 4-3 just 99 seconds into the third period when Kinnison found the back of the net.
Instead of folding, Howell Central took its wake-up call and got back into the game.
With 10:45 to play, Blake Sneed carried the puck down the right side and flipped a shot past Lammert to tie it at four.
"There was a little bit of panic," Olson said. "But we got through it and put one in the net and it was a new game. We just played our best from there."
Indeed, Howell Central (15-9-1) played its best when it counted.
Having won the first game of the series, a tie was as good as a one-goal lead for the Spartans. Howell Central took the actual lead, though, when Olson scored an empty-net goal with 51.5 seconds left.
‘It felt good," Olson said. "I knew there was no goalie, an empty net, so I just took the shot and it went in all the way. It felt good to put it away."
Duchesne outshot Howell Central 34-28.
In other Mid-States playoff action Monday ...
SLUH 5, MARQUETTE 1 • Bolstered by a dangerous penalty kill unit, the Jr. Billikens rolled past Marquette to march into the Challenge Cup semifinals.
SLUH, the tournament's No. 2 seed, took the initial lead on a Christian Hoffmeister goal only to have Nick Nost tie it for Marquette (12-11-3), the No. 10 seed.
Nick Walters tallied the next two goals for the Jr. Bills to put the team up 3-1. His first of the two was a short-handed goal.
"One nice thing about this team this year is that (Walters' goal) makes the 14th shorthanded goal this season," SLUH coach Charlie Busenhart said. "We've been very, very good at killing penalties and have been very, very good at taking advantage when the other team takes penalties."
Walters' second goal of the game made it 3-1 and a pair of goals by Dan Warnecke provided more than enough insurance for SLUH.
The Jr. Bills (20-2-3) will now take on Oakville in the Challenge Cup semifinals. For more on the Tigers' win over Lindbergh to move the team to the next round, read Greg Uptain's story here.
"This will be a very good matchup and I think a very good series," Busenhart said. "I really think these could be two one-goal games."
CBC 3, DE SMET 0 • Joe Lupo, Matt Sieckhaus and Christian Argyros each scored goals to even the series at one game apiece for the Cadets. The win forced a mini-game, which ended in a tie to force a decisive shootout.
CBC won the shootout 2-1 on a goal by Drew Croghan in the fifth and final round. CBC goaltender Joe O'Brien stopped De Smet's final shooter -- Jeff Makowski -- with a poke check to end the game.
The win means CBC (20-4-1) -- the No. 1 seed in Challenge Cup play -- will take on Chaminade in the semifinal round.
Eighth-seeded De Smet's season ended at 11-10-4.
CHAMINADE 6, VIANNEY 4 • The Red Devils held off the Golden Griffins with a third period goal to ice the victory at Queeny Park.
Chaminade (14-6-5), the No. 4 seed in the Challenge Cup, and Vianney (9-15-2), the No. 12 seed, were coming off a 3-3 tie in the teams' first game of their quarterfinal series.
OTHER SCORES • Seckman 3, Fort Zumwalt East 1; Whitfield 3, Fort Zumwalt West 1.
