“The second goal, that was a birthday present,” Besse said. “It was Christmas. They just gave it to me in front of the net. It was, ‘Oh, thanks.’ ”



Then came the back-to-back breakaway goals, one late in the second and one early in the third. Both shots sent the water bottle flying off the top of the goal.



“First one I saw he was kind of back in his net, actually that was the second one, first one he was a little out front so I thought I could make a little move on him go to the backhand and put it up top,” Besse said. “That seemed to work. The second he was a little far back in his net and I saw upper glove hand. Fired it home.”



The finale came with 2:57 remaining on a shot from the top of the right face off circle. It was a laser beam that caught the upper left corner.

Besse had another breakaway opportunity earlier in the third period but his shot ticketed for the upper left corner was stopped by Dugas.

Even the great Pavarotti hits a sour note from time to time.



“I can’t recall, I don’t think so. No,” Hill-Murray coach Bill Lechner said when asked if he had ever seen one player dominate a game so thoroughly. “He had an exceptional night. He made the puck bounce his way, and he took advantage of his opportunities.”



Pauly has watched Besse put up pinball scoring numbers for years. But even he couldn’t fathom what he witnessed.



“My goodness,” Pauly said. “This has to go down in history as one of the greatest performances in state tournament history ever. I’ve watched this tournament for a very long time.



“Five. All five goals. And three shorthanded. That’s what makes it even more incredible, he’s out there and they have one extra guy, and also it’s an opportunity for them to get back in the game.



“So those are big. They are big emotional swings. It’s not five goals in a 10-1 rout, you know.”



Minutes after the game, Besse autographed his stick and gave it to a young fan. Besse, might not be up on his tourney history, but he knows enough to keep the stick that scored the five goals. He gave away his backup stick.



“It was broken on the bottom, so I signed it for a kid,” Besse said. “He was thrilled.”

-- Loren Nelson, MN Hockey Hub editor