Another Prior Lake state tournament game, another hero cloaked in a No. 19 jersey.

Only this time, it wasn’t Alex Bump.

Maple Grove’s Joshua Giuliani, a fellow senior forward, lifted the Crimson to a 6-2 semifinal victory Friday with three goals, one assist and solid defensive play on Bump.

Called “Jewels” by his teammates, the 6-foot, 180-pound Giuliani shined like a diamond for a Crimson team heading to its first Class 2A state championship game.

On Thursday, Giuliani watched Bump put on one of the finest individual performances in state tournament history — five goals, all of them showcasing his great skill.

“A lot of people asked me, ‘Are you going to shadow Bump?’ Not when you’ve got him,” Maple Grove coach Todd Bergland said of Giuliani. “Why? He did his job very well.”

Bump’s quarterfinal opponent, Cretin-Derham Hall, “obviously wasn’t saying too much to him,” Giuliani said. “I kind of took a different route. Started off the game with maybe not the nicest words in the world for him. But I told him at the end of the game, ‘You’re still a really good player and you’re probably going to win Mr. Hockey.’”

But not a state championship.

Giuliani said he prides himself as a 200-foot player who starts with defense. The Crimson’s complete team performance mirrored its leader.

He scored the first two goals of the game, the second on a power play with Bump in the penalty box for roughing.

Of course, a player of Bump’s caliber can’t be completely contained. His team down 4-1, Bump scored his sixth tournament goal, cut the Lakers’ deficit to 4-2 and sent Prior Lake’s pink-clad student section into a frenzy.

A little more than two minutes later, Giuliani helped Maple Grove gain momentum, assisting on Landon Gunderson’s goal to make it a 5-2 game.

Then he extended the lead with a power-play goal. Giuliani buried a rebound in front of his appreciative student section, took off his right glove and held up three fingers to signify a hat trick, his third of the season.

“Jewels let him know he was there,” Bergland said. “19 on 19 a lot of times. I think we played him well.”