Hemmer scored twice in less than a minute as Zumwalt West came back from a two-goal deficit to beat Fort Zumwalt South 5-2 in a Mid-States Club Hockey Association St. Charles Conference game at the Wentzville ice rink.

“On the bench I’m trying my best to get the boys riled up,” Hemmer said. “I guess I had to start it myself and that helped us win the game.”

The win pulls Zumwalt West (12-2-3) even with Zumwalt South (13-5-1) atop the St. Charles Conference standings with 27 points each, but the Jaguars have two games in hand.

“This is their rival and this is my first year being a part of this,” Zumwalt West coach Joel Herr said. “We get caught up playing emotional instead of with emotions. When we play emotional, we start taking penalties and it gets kind of out of control and these guys start taking it to us, so it was nice to get a win tonight.”

TJ Steinman and Brandt Diel also scored for Zumwalt West, which beat the Bulldogs for the first time in four tries going 0-1-3 in that span. Logan Van Gels and Anthony Tinsley each had a pair of assists, while Jackson Winkles made 23 saves.

Ian Wilson and Michael Buckowitz scored for Zumwalt South. Aaron Tinker made 34 saves.

Wilson gave Zumwalt South the lead with 6 minutes, 8 seconds left in the first period. Wilson led a 3-on-1 rush and snuck a wrist shot off the pipe and into the net.

Buckowitz made it 2-0 Bulldogs late in the first picking the right upper corner from the circle for his second goal of the season.

“Just guys sticking to the game plan and not panicking,” Herr said. “We’ve been down a few times this year quick off the bat and somehow dig down deep and everybody contributes whether it's blocking a shot or making a play.”

That’s when Hemmer got to work.

The Zumwalt West captain got the Jaguars back into the game with his team-leading 20th goal of the season with 35 seconds left in the opening period. Hemmer quickly added to that total roofing a perfect backhand shot for a shorthanded goal just 26 seconds into the second period to even the game 2-all.

“As soon as I put that in, I knew we were going to win the game,” Hemmer said of the shorthanded goal. “From that moment on the game shifted our way.”

Steinman gave Zumwalt West its first lead of the game, burying a perfect feed from Justin Shouse with four minutes left in the second.

“The talk between the first and second period really pulled us together and we just got momentum there and carried it on from there,” Steinman said.

Diel made it 4-2 with the Jaguars’ second shorthanded goal of the game midway through the third period. He added an empty netter with 39 seconds left.

“It's always huge to get a shorthand goal and those guys played it pretty well,” Herr said. “Just from top to bottom I couldn't be more proud of them the way they battled.”

Zumwalt West has won five of its last six games with the postseason looming.

“We’re just trying to try to make sure all the gears are working the right way and everybody's clicking and taking momentum into the playoffs,” Herr said. “You don't want to get on a losing streak and the next thing you know you're out in the first round.”