Photo by Michael R. Gulledge, STLhighschoolsports.com

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

ST. PETERS • St. Louis University High junior Henry Wagner took the scenic, and adventurous route, to the Rec-Plex on Saturday.

Wagner had spent the last couple of days in Boston on a college visit to Harvard. After a severe winter storm closed the airport, his dad rented a car Friday to try to make it back in time for SLUH’s game against Chaminade in Game 2 of the Mid-States Club Hockey Challenge Cup semifinals.

After a 24-hour drive through treacherous conditions that featured three flat tires, a spinout into a snow ditch on Ohio, and a speeding ticket for Wagner’s dad, the duo arrived at 4:30 p.m. in time for the 6:15 p.m. puck drop.

If Wagner was tired, he didn’t show it, as he scored four goals to lead SLUH to a 9-0 rout of Chaminade.

“Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, but we got here safely,” Wagner said.

SLUH (27-1-0), which beat Chaminade 10-0 in Game 1 on Feb. 24, advanced to the championship at Scottrade Center at 8 p.m. March 13. The Jr. Billikens will play either CBC or De Smet.

Christian Berger had two goals and an assist, Matthew Hohl, Christopher Holmes and Steven Pawlow also scored for SLUH and Joseph Winkelmann, Gabriel Schwartz and Trevor White each had two assists. Brendan Rasch made 12 saves, while earning his second consecutive postseason shutout and seventh overall this season.

“We knew they were going to be a different team tonight,” Berger said. “We didn’t take them for granted at all.”

Goalie Hampus Blomdahl made 22 saves, including several tough ones early on, to try and keep Chaminade (16-8-4) in it.

Wagner, who had four assists in Game 1 against the Red Devils, has seven goals to match his seven assists in four playoff games.

“My teammates just gave me some great passes,” Wagner said. “I didn’t have to do anything special.”

Wagner gave SLUH a 1-0 lead 2 minutes and 53 seconds into the first.

He then showed off his speed later in the period, taking the puck off the faceoff from his own zone and beating the Chaminade defense to create a break-away for a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 SLUH with 4:57 left.

Berger made it 3-0 for the Jr. Billikens, scoring from his knees on the power play with 17 seconds left in the opening period.

“That took any hope they had,” SLUH coach Jack Behan said. “If they took the lead, they’d have some hope. We took that way from them and we just rolled from there.”

Wagner’s hat trick goal, which made it 4-0 midway through the second period, also was his prettiest. Winkelmann sent him in on the rush with a perfect pass and Wagner cut in front of the Chaminade goal and tucked it in on a backhand past Blomdahl’s outstretched pad.

Wagner and Hohl put the game out of reach with goals late in the second to make it 6-0.

SLUH outshot Chaminade 14-3 in the second period. Blomdahl had no chance on any of the three goals allowed.

“I’ve had some of them for four years from start to finish and I’ve seen them evolve into men and I’m proud of them,” Chaminade coach Kiley Hill said of his players.

This is SLUH’s fourth successive trip to the championship game. The Jr. Billikens have lost to CBC, the four-time defending Mid-States champion, in each of the last three years at Scottrade Center.

“No one’s content right now,” Berger said. “We knew we were going to be here. We haven’t done anything yet in the team’s eyes.”