The St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders have their first state championship, defeating the Greenway Raiders 5-2 in the Class A title game.

St. Paul — In a back and forth affair, the Crusaders finally have their state title. Led by Jackson Savoie, the senior delivered when it mattered most, scoring the game-wining goal at the 1:52 mark of the second period and the Crusaders never looked back.

Savoie, who scored 28 points – 14 goals and 14 assists – in 25 games in the regular season was just as good in the playoffs, with four goals in three sections games and four more goals in the state tournament.

Savoie’s goal was the turning point for the Crusaders.

“That was big momentum changer,” said teammate Jack Smith. “That was a great shot by Savoie and the guys kind of calmed down on the bench and we were like guys, we’re up by one. We just got to calm down and play our game and that was big change.”

The senior finished the game with three points in the win, with two of them being goals.

It’s also the first time the city of St. Cloud has won a state hockey championship. 

“Our region of the state doesn’t get the credit it deserves,” said head coach Derrick Brown. “There’s a lot of good hockey players in central Minnesota and it’s great for the St. Cloud youth hockey program and it’s great for everybody in 6A and it’s great for central Minnesota. This is a big heavy burden off of our area. We’ve come so close and Alexandria was right there last year. But to have a state championship trophy on the bus with us going home to St. Cloud today, I don’t think there’s anything more special than that.”

After an action-packed first period where both teams held the lead, things were tied 2-2 heading into the first intermission.

During the second period, a golden opportunity presented itself for the Raiders as they received a five-minute major power play. Despite scoring two power-play goals earlier in the game, Greenway went silent on the man-advantage and only registered a few shots on goal as the Crusaders killed off the penalty, preserving their 3-2 lead.

With the Raiders not being able to convert the lengthy power play, it was a turning point in the game.

“Yeah, I mean the five minute penalty, not being able to score on that was, was kind of, you know, wind out of the sails,” said head coach Grant Clafton. “But I don’t think we quit the entire game and, you know, I thought, you know given up shorthanded goals, you know, doesn’t help the guys, either.”

Greenway wouldn’t find the net the rest of the way as the Crusaders scored two more goals in route to their win.

Raiders senior, Donte Lawson, who received the Herb Brooks Award for Class A, was well deserving. Lawson put up 20 points – 10 goals, 10 assists – in six games dating back to sections.

“Playing with these group of kids growing up, that’s awesome,” said Lawson after his team’s runner-up finish. “With our families and our parents and our friends always come to the games and seeing from out of town people coming and the whole community really getting together and having a good time it’s awesome to see.”

 Photo Gallery by Tim Kolehmainen of Breakdown Sports USA for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Tim on Twitter at @BreakdownUSA.

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They had the lead, they lost the lead, they regained the lead and now they’re headed to the Class A title game.

With their season on the line with less three minutes to go, the Raiders capitalized on the power play with a rocket of a shot from senior Ben Troumbly, sending the game into overtime.

Twenty-three seconds into the extra period, once again, Troumbly was the hero, scoring the game-winning goal.

“There was a battle out front,” said Troumbly. “Loose puck came my way and I kind of just went around and I just put it in. I wasn’t even thinking at the time until after it kicked in and going to the championship.”

Even when they blew a 1-0 lead and found themselves down 2-1 late in the third, head coach Grant Clafton didn’t have to say too much to his group.

“Very limited coaching,” said Clafton. “When you believe you believe and these guys believe in themselves and we’re calm. It’s a calm, cool, collected, mature group of kids. It’s a unique deal and they don’t panic. I mean I’ve seen them do it since they’ve been in pee-wee’s. So yeah, (very) confident.”

Assisting on the game-winning goal was Donte Lawson, another senior who’s been playing out of his mind since sections.

He had 11 points – six goals, five assists – in three section games. Then he followed that up with four points – two goals and two assists – in the quarterfinal game. So obviously he put up four more points – 1 goal, 3 assists – including assisting on the game-tying and game-winning goal.

“I like playing on the big stage with my family over here,” said Lawson. “And bringing the whole community down is awesome and it’s special to us.”

For the No. 1 seeded Zephyrs, it’s a tough end to their season considering how close they were to getting to the state championship game.

“I thought this was the group that would push us over the top,” said Mahtomedi head coach, Jeff Poeschl. “They certainly have the talent and it’s obviously disappointing.”

With Greenway’s win, they head to the state title game to face St. Cloud Cathedral in Class A on Saturday, with puck drop at 12 PM.

Photo Gallery by Tim Kolehmainen of Breakdown Sports USA for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Tim on Twitter at @BreakdownUSA.

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They capitalized when it mattered and the St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders are a win away from a state championship.

“We have so many high-end kids,” said head coach Derrick Brown following the win. “And today, we were opportunistic. We found ways to get the puck to the back of the net. At the end of the day, the scoreboard reads 6-2, but they really did give everything they had. I’ll give them a ton of credit. They brought up the intensity and the pressure. “

St. Cloud scored two goals on their first four shots, courtesy of Jack Smith and Ethan Cumming and skated with a 3-1 lead with only 9 shots on goal after the first period.

East Grand Forks turned it on in the second, with 16 shots on net which also included a 48 second 5-on-3 advantage but couldn’t convert either power play.

They did end up scoring towards the end of the frame on even-strength but they still trailed 4-2 heading into the second intermission.

“For us, that 5-on-3 power play that they had, I think that was kind of the momentum turner of the game,” said Brown. “We got through that and then after that, we felt pretty good about our chances the rest of the game.”

On the other end of the ice, East Grand Forks disagreed that failing to capitalize on the 5-on-3 was the turning point. Instead, the team was never able to make it a one-score game.

“I’m not going to say it was the turning point,” said head coach Tyler Palmiscno. “It could’ve made it a different game but we were never able to get it back to one goal.”

St. Cloud added two more goals including an empty-netter in the final period to seal the win.

Meme of the year

There was a funny moment before puck drop as Crusaders defenseman Jon Bell took a spill during introductions. He eventually assisted on his team’s second goal but he’s aware his tumble is going viral.

pic.twitter.com/bSj8OZH8Eq

— eli swanson (@eswany33) March 8, 2019

“All I can say about that, is it’s the high school meme of the year,” said Bell after game.

With their win, St. Cloud Cathedral will play the winner of Mahtomedi vs. Greenway in the Class A title game on Saturday.

Photo Gallery by Tim Kolehmainen of Breakdown Sports USA for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Tim on Twitter at @BreakdownUSA.

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It had been eight years since the last time a game had gone to triple overtime at the state tournament.

Despite blowing a two-goal lead, the Eden Prairie Eagles finished the job with 57 seconds to spare in the third overtime period when Jack Jensen netted the game winner sealing the 3-2 victory.

“We were all exhausted,” said Jensen. “And it was who’s going to get the bounce here? And I saw John in the corner and no one was really on me and I’m like he might pass it here. Just dish it and I got to bury this and luckily it went in far side. I didn’t know what to do at the moment and I was just in shock.”

Thank goodness the game finished too because due to MSHSL rules, if no one had scored in the third sudden-death overtime, the game would’ve been suspended and resumed at 8 AM the next day to accommodate the next session of games. 

Eagles Head coach Lee Smith threw together the line that scored the game-winning goal when the Eagles sealed it.

“Couple times this year, I’ve put together the line of Mittelstadt, Jack (Jensen) and Rudrud,” said Smith. “It was the right time to try it with a minute left. Because if we didn’t score there, it was going to be coming back tomorrow. I figured we had to use all the weapons we could right there.”

The Eagles poured on 66 shots on net and Lakeville South goaltender Henry Welsch stood on his head making 63 saves which was two off from a tournament record, set in 1996 by Apple Valley goalie Karl Goehring.

“Just taking one shot at a time,” said Welsch on his performance. “We each got our own and they ended up score.”

Lakeville head coach Janne Kivihalme was extremely proud of his team’s performance.

“I’m extremely proud of the entire team,” said Kivihalme “And how hard they competed. I think our team defended really well. There was a lot of shots that kept them outside. So our guys were coming back and defending well.”

With the win, Eden Prairie moves onto face theBlaine Bengals in the semifinal round.

Photo Gallery by Jonny Watkins for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Jonny on Twitter at @jwatkinsphotog.

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Blaine’s top line is well documented. Between Carsen Richels, Bryce Brodzinski and Cole Hansen, the trio combined for 187 points in the regular season.

Brodzinski, who’s a Mr. Hockey Finalist, opened the scoring in the first period with a rocket from the slot. Something that runs in his family as his Dad and two older brothers, Michael and Johnny, were prolific shooters themselves.

“Well, my dad runs a shooting school,” said Brodzinski. “So everyday I have to go down there and help him out with it. He puts me through all of his drills. So it’s everyday shooting 200 pucks (really) helps out.”

Shorty thereafter, Hansen found the net twice and then Richels made it 4-0 in the second period to give the Bengals a commanding lead.

“It was huge, you’ve got to score goals,” said Blaine head coach Chris Carroll. “These three have been together ever since day one. Even in preseason scrimmages as we were trying to figure things out and that’s kind of their roles and we have other guys who are just as impactful. Certainly these guys are really good at scoring goals. We need them and we need everybody else.”

“Obviously it’s not a surprise to us,” said Richels of Hansen scoring twice in the win. “He does it all the time in practice, he’s a goal scorer. So I thought he got his two tonight and he earned them.”

White Bear Lake didn’t roll over though, they answered back with a pair of goals from Grant Hofeld and Sam Newpower to make it a two-goal game heading into the second intermission.

They also shut down the dominant Blaine scoring line after an adjustment between periods.

“We moved our orange line,” said White Bear Lake head coach Tim Sager. “Our white line was struggling today and we had to make that change and anytime they were coming on we tried to match that younger line against them. We knew it was going to be a battle between those guys. You give them an inch, they’re going to take a mile.”

Unfortunately, the Bears weren’t able to tie things up. They had plenty of chances including two power-play opportunities but couldn’t convert on either.

“It’s a little disappointing, but our guys didn’t mail it in,” said Sager. “We had some great chances. If we could’ve gotten a couple of power play goals… we knew exactly what they were going to do.”

With the win, Blaine will play the winner of Lakeville South and Eden Prairie in the semifinal round on Friday. 

Photo Gallery by Jonny Watkins for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Jonny on Twitter at @jwatkinsphotog.

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The Green Wave may have jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but head coach Tyler Palmiscno wasn’t pleased with his team’s effort.

“The first two periods, I thought we fought it,” said Palmiscno. “We fought pucks and we got outworked and we got out competed. Even when the score was 3-0, I didn’t think we were really sharp in what we wanted to do.

So go figure, Minnesota River rallied and made it a one-goal game after a a pair of goals from Jade Reicks heading into the second intermission.

That’s when East Grand Forks sophomore Landon Parker took things over for his team in the early stages of the third period. After Bulldogs goaltender Andrew Regner misplayed the puck behind his own cage, Parker capitalized with a fancy toe drag in front of the net, netting a short-handed goal. 

Parker knew the exact kind of move he wanted to pull on Regner.

“Yeah, I got a couple that I usually go-to,” said Parker. “But that one looked right at the time, so I went with that.”

Sixty-three seconds later, Parker once again found himself alone in front of the net and he scored for the second time in similar fashion.

“If I go backhand top shelf, he’s got me with the glove a couple of times. So I thought I’d hit him with the left side and it worked out.”

“When Landon’s on, he attacks the net with some jam,” said Palmiscno with a grin. “The first two periods, I thought we fought it. So for him to take off like that, I thought it was huge and I liked his attack mentality as he went towards the net.

“We knew after our first two periods, we were playing a little soft,” said Parker. “We knew we had to comeback in the third period and kind of make a statement and come out fast and hard and it ended up working out for us.”

With the win, East Grand Forks moves onto the semifinal round to play the No. 2 St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders on Friday, March 8.

The Green Wave will be looking for revenge too as the Crusaders bested them 7-2 in the regular season.

And they can’t wait for the rematch.

“As a competitor, you always want a shot at redemption,” said East Grand Forks senior Tanner Mack.

Photo Gallery by Jeff Wegge for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Jeff on Twitter at @JWeggePhoto.

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It took them awhile to get things going, but once Jackson Savoie’s unorthodox goal found the back of the net, the Crusaders never looked back.

Savoie, who was positioned behind his own goal line, shot the puck of the back of the goaltender’s leg and the puck trickled in to give the Crusaders the 1-0 lead.

“I just wanted to crash the net,” said Savoie. “Because you know in the beginning of the game you’re not quite settled in yet. So luckily getting shots on net and luckily it bounced off his leg and I was pretty much behind the goal line. So we got lucky on that one.”

Savoie was born in Minnesota but spent time living and playing in Jacksonville, Florida before moving back to Minnesota when he was in tenth grade and his family still lives in the south. Meanwhile, Savoie lives with his Grandmother and this is his second State Tournament appearance.

“In my sophomore year, I had the ability to play third line in the tourney with these guys so that was really cool. It’s really fun to be here playing for a high school instead of traveling all around Florida.”

“Couple of them know about The Tourney because my sister and family still live back in Florida. I live up here with my Grandma. So they kind of talk about it and know how kind of a big deal it is up here for that.”

The Crusaders poured it on in the second period with five goals in the frame, which included a hat-trick from junior Nate Warner. All three of Warner’s goals came within ten minutes of each other, including a short-handed tally.

Jack Smith and Luke Schmidt also scored for the Crusaders.

North Branch head coach Matt Cottingham believed Warner’s short-handed tally was a bit of gut punch.

“That short-handed goal kind of took over a little bit,” said Cottingham. “Instead of focusing on the next play and the next face off.”

The Vikings surprisingly held a 10-9 shot advantage after the first period and trailed 1-0. However, the Vikings were only able to put on six goals over the next two periods as St. Cloud ended up outshooting them 36-5 the rest of the way.

With the win, St. Cloud Cathedral moves onto the semifinals and will face the winner of Minnesota River vs. East Grand Forks.

Photo Gallery by Jeff Wegge for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Jeff on Twitter at @JWeggePhoto.

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Mustangs ride four-goal final period to second straight 1A title

For the second consecutive season the No. 2 Breck Mustangs and the No. 1 Warroad Warriors met in Class A title game.

Despite the Warriors dominating shots on goal, the Mustangs prevailed for a 6-1 win.

Eighth grade goaltender Uma Corniea hasn’t even started high school and yet she’s already helped Breck to two state titles.

“No one does it alone,” said Corniea. “We are a team and you have to have all six people play at their best to win game.”

Breck, which averaged over six goals per game in the regular season, netted the first goal from senior Carly Beniek. Warroad tied things up less than two minutes later but were never able to capture the lead.

The Mustangs took things over in the second period for good and ended up scoring five-unanswered goals in the victory. Elly Klepinger, Olivia Mobley, Sadie Lindsay, Carly Beniek and Ashley Halverson all found the back of the net for Breck.

Mobley, who scored five goals at the State Tournament this year said winning it all again never gets old.

“They’re both such an honor,” said Mobley. “It’s so unbelievable and the feeling’s the same. These girls, and this team; it’s been awesome and it’s just as sweet.”

Breck goaltender Uma Corniea makes one of her 41 saves in helping lead the Mustangs to a 6-1 win over Warroad in Saturday night’s Class 1A championship game at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Tim Kolehmainen – Breakdown Sports USA)

Warroad put 42 shots on net but only lit the lamp once. There was a moment in the third period where it appeared the Warriors had cut the deficit to 3-2, but the officials blew the puck dead despite replay clearly showing Corniea never controlled the puck.

Minutes later in the Warroad defensive end, the same official ruled a penalty shot, which the Mustangs converted. Warriors head coach David Marvin felt it changed the course of the game.

“She makes a mistake, everyone makes them,” said Marvin. “And then goes down to the other end, can’t find her whistle and then all of the sudden comes up with a penalty shot? The sequence is terrible.”

Even though Marvin disagreed with the calls, he credited the Mustangs as the better team at the end of the day.

“We had a lot of shots,” said Marvin. “We didn’t get the same quality shots that they got on Quinn. We weren’t playing bad and it was 3-1. Breck’s a good hockey team; congrats to them.”

Between the two schools, eight players were selected to the All-Tournament team.

• Breck Goaltender, Uma Corniea
• Breck Defenseman, Katherine Solohub
• Breck Forward, Olivia Mobley
• Breck Forward, Carly Beniek
• Warroad Goaltender, Quinn Kuntz
• Warroad Forward, Hannah Corneliusen
• Warroad Defenseman, Genevieve Hendrickson
• Warroad Defenseman, Kaitlyn Kotlowski
• Rochester/Dover Forward, Emma Schmitz
• Proctor/Hermantown Defenseman, Ella Anick
• Fergus Falls Forward, Jade Zierden
• Fergus Falls Defenseman, Hallie Sheridan

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The Proctor/Hermantown Mirage certainly gave the No. 1 seed Warroad Warriors a run for their money. Although the Mirage trailed after the first period, they rallied for two goals and dominated play in the second.

They had the best team – and probably the best goaltender – on the ropes heading into the final period of play.

“It couldn’t have gotten much worse,” said Warriors head coach Mike Marvin. “We were terrible and they were really good.”

Proctor/Hermantown took things over in the second period with a pair of goals Dehli Heikes and Alyssa Watkins and led 2-1 heading into the intermission.

Typically, Kuntz is a tough netminder to beat. Of the 29 games she played this season, there was only three instances in which she allowed more than one goal.

“We talked about there’s 51 minutes in a hockey game,” said Mirage head coach Glen Gilderman. “If we get all 22 of you who are involved to go hard for that amount of time, will be in good shape.”

However the Warriors turned it on for four unanswered goals from Hannah Corneliusen, Kaitlyn Kotlowski and Genevieve Hendrickson, rallying their team to a 5-2 victory

Marvin didn’t believe doubt was creeping in but knew something had to change. 

“I don’t know if there’s doubt, it’s reality,” said Marvin. “We better get going or we’re going to be in trouble. We knew we could do it, but it was a matter of it was in the cards today and it was thankfully.”

Warroad’s win sets up a rematch of last year’s Class A final with the Breck Mustangs. Something that Corneliusen say’s the team is ready for.

“It’s a really good opportunity for us,” said Corneliusen. “Because we’ve been working towards it all year. Looking at that game taught us a lesson that we have to go right away and we can’t wait until the third period and we’re looking forward to the next game against Breck.”

Warroad and Breck will drop the puck at 4 P.M. on Saturday in St. Paul.

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Coming into the semifinal round at the 2019 girls’ state tournament, the West Tonka White Hawks hadn’t lost a game all season posting a 23-0-5 record.

But the Breck Mustangs – last year’s state champs in Class A – had other plans as they trotted to a 11-1 win in dominating fashion with six goals coming in the first period alone.

“The first period is a testament to moving the puck and crashing the net,” said coach Steve Persian. “We really wanted to set the tone and we knew this team would be coming at us. There’s a reason they’re in the state tournament; they’re well coached and we thought if we came out with a lot of urgency it would dictate the flow for us.”

Both Sadie Lindsay and Olivia Mobley had hat tricks while eight different players lit the lamp for the Mustangs.

“We had a couple of awesome moves and it was fun,” said Lindsay. “Our defense really got the puck up well and got it to us in front of the net. So from there it was just on us.”

White Hawks goaltender Taylor Smith was a brick wall in the regular season having allowed just 28 goals in 26 games while posting six shutouts and is finalist for the Ms. Goalie award. But the senior wasn’t quite as sharp on Friday.

“I don’t know, they just really knew how to put the puck in the net,” said Smith who faced 42 shots in the loss. “I think it’s just tough when they get ahead like that staying mentally strong and coming back and staying in your zone when you see the score up like that.”

“Just because that was the score,” said co-head coach Claire Goldsmith. “We didn’t feel it was due to Taylor’s lack of effort or anything. So we didn’t want to deprive her of that.”

With the win, Breck moves on to the Class A title game for the chance to repeat as state champions.

“It’s awesome,” said Mobley. “We’re all really excited in the locker room. It’s a dream a lot of us have had for a long time and it’s such an honor to go back and fight for the title again this year.”

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