It was another game head coach Ken Pauly couldn't be too proud of, but it may have been Benilde-St. Margaret's best of the weekend. 

The boys hockey team held off a late rally and wrapped up its home holiday tournament with a 3-2 win over Centennial on Thursday at the St. Louis Park Rec Center. It was the second straight one-goal win for the No. 11 Red Knights, which is partly disconcerting because both came over unranked teams, but also partly encouraging because the team showed some fortitude in close games. 

"I think it's an improvement from yesterday from the standpoint of continuing to compete in tight situations," Pauly said. "One thing you're looking for in a good team is whether you win those tight games. Are you winning one-goal games? That's the difference between having a good or great team." 

The Red Knights finished the tournament 2-1 and won the consolation title. After three games in three days, they'll have a few days off before returning to action Jan. 4, with a Jan. 11 home match-up with No. 5 Edina on the horizon. 

The fatigue was evident late in Thursday's game, exacerbated by Centennial's rough-and-tumble style of play that made for a more physical game than either of Benilde's previous two. Though Pauly had previously chided his team about an unwillingness to hit, he thought his team, which relies heavily on its skill players, may have leaned too far the other way Thursday. 

"I actually think we got too caught up in their physical play," he said. "That's how they play, but they don't have the type of skill players we have, which helped them shut us down."

Pauly switched out his overworked first-line power-play squad for the second line, but it didn't help Benilde's power-play woes, which he said have gotten worse over the course of the season. The Red Knights finished 0-for-6 on the power play, though they did reverse a nagging problem of spending too much time in the box themselves. 

"I'm not too sure why we can't score on the power play, but I think it's just a matter of getting back to practice and correcting things," sophomore forward T.J. Moore said. "It's a step in the right direction and that's what we need right now." 

Moore scored what turned out to be the winning goal midway through the third. Sophomore Dan Labosky escaped on a breakaway but pulled up short of the goal and, unable to find an open skater, waited until all five Red Knights entered the offensive zone and passed to Moore, who slid in a wrist shot. 

That gave Benilde a 3-0 lead, which it carried into the final five minutes. And despite giving up a pair of late goals and the special teams struggles throughout, there were positives for Pauly to take away. 

"How do you play when it is kind of grubby, and there isn't much of an atmosphere, and it's the third day and you're tired?" he said. "We responded alright. In that sense, I think it was our best game of the weekend."