Original Article

Chaminade senior Jacob Behnen did the math.

Behnen, the captain of the Red Devils hockey team, came up with a list of statistical reasons why it would benefit De Smet for Chaminade to advance in the Mid-States Club Hockey Association playoffs.

At the time, De Smet held Chaminade’s playoff hopes in its hands as the Spartans, who had already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals, needed to beat Edwardsville for Chaminade to advance.

Had Edwardsville won or played to a tie, the Tigers would've advanced to face CBC in the quarterfinals and sent Chaminade packing.

Behnen’s analysis theorized that Chaminade would provide a tougher challenge to CBC, which entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed. It also provided data showing how a potential matchup in the semifinals against Chaminade would benefit De Smet instead of facing CBC.

Behnen gave the list to De Smet coach Christopher Durso before the game on Feb. 7. Whether the list helped is still uncertain, but the Spartans won 6-3, sending Chaminade to the quarterfinals.

“At first it was kind of a joke,” Behnen said. “Then when I got down to it, it was more serious because our season was on the line. I didn’t’ want us 14 seniors to go out on a tie.”

Chaminade made the most of its reprieve, eliminating CBC in a shootout on Feb. 12 to advance to the Challenge Cup semifinals.

The Red Devils (9-11-6) will play none other than De Smet in Game 1 of a best-of-three series at 8:45 p.m. on Saturday at the St. Peters Rec Plex.

Chaminade comes into the series on a high after the dramatic ouster of CBC, marking the first time since 1996 that the Cadets will not play in the semifinals.

Beck Markarian scored the lone goal in the shootout. Hampus Blomdahl made all three saves during the shootout.

“I was pretty nervous,” Markarian said. “I don’t remember a lot of it. I just remember making a move and celebrating in front of the crowd.”

Markarian, a left-handed shooter, went forehand-backhand before placing the puck perfectly under the crossbar.

“The composure of this kid,” Chaminade coach Joe Watson said of Markarian. “It looked like he’s done it thousands of times.”

The drama of Markarian’s game-winner was set up by Chaminade’s 3-2 win over CBC in Game 1 of the quarterfinals. Watson called it the Red Devils’ best game of the season.

CBC returned the favor by jumping out to a quick lead in Game 2 en route to a 4-0 win to force a winner-take-all, 10 minute mini-game.

“My guys knew CBC was going to play their best game,” Watson said. “We prepared for that the best we could and they got up 2-0 right away. From there, we as coaches started to check our kids’ emotions and prepare. The work we did on Saturday put us in a spot where we lived to fight another day.”

Once the mini-game went scoreless, it was on to the shootout.

“We really had a nice mini-game,” Watson said. “Out-shot them. Out-hit them. We had three or four really good scoring chances.”

Behnen credits Blomdahl for providing a spark between the pipes.

“He came into the game in the third (of Game 2) off the bench cold and he was ready to go,” Behnen said. “He fired up the crowd and fired us up and he was the backbone getting us through.”

Markarian said knocking off CBC was a surreal feeling.

“Especially to do it against one of, if not the best, teams in Mid-States,” Markarian said. “Just one game at a time. We didn’t let that first game go to our heads.”

Living in the moment has been a calling card for Chaminade in the playoffs.

The Red Devils were 34 seconds from elimination before freshman Andrew Clarke scored to force a 4-4 tie against Marquette in pool play to set up the helper from Chaminade followed by the shootout win.

Expect another close series against De Smet. Chaminade is 0-3-1 this season against the Spartans, but all four games have been decided by two goals or less.

“They’ve got a really good goaltender so we’ve got to get pucks in traffic to the net,” Behnen said. “Be strong in front. Bang home some rebounds. They’ve got a few good offensive weapons so shut them down and I feel like we can win a close tight game.”

Watson, in his first year at the helm, believes his Red Devils are peaking at the right time.

“When I saw the skill level and the types of kids we had, I said we have the chance to do something really special here, but we’re going to have some growing pains while you get used to me,” Watson said. “But there’s going to be a point where you see it, when you see it come together and you guys will be tough to beat. The guys are seeing it now.”