His message to his team was the same in 2015 as it was this past Saturday when the Green Wave’s 1-0 lead turned into a tie game in the final minute of regulation.

“I told them, ‘if we would’ve said at the first meeting of the season that you are headed to overtime with an opportunity to win a championship, would you take it? … You would’ve,’” Palmiscno said.

Like 2015, the 2025 East Grand Forks team won the state championship in overtime, beating St. Cloud Cathedral, 2-1.

The overtime hero – “East Grand Forks hero for life,” as Palmiscno put it – was senior forward Jace Van Eps, scoring 1 minutes, 46 seconds into overtime to upset the No. 2-seed and defending champion Crusaders. East Grand Forks (16-13-2) is the first 4-seed to win the Class 1A state title since Mahtomedi in 2020.

Sophomore forward Jace Panzer took the initial shot from near the blue line on the winning play, and Van Eps raced into the corner after the puck kicked out wide.

“Just try to beat the guy to the puck, and then saw out of the corner of my eye, the goalie was a little out of position,” Van Eps said. “Thought I could kind of just bank it off his leg there and see what happens. It was a win in our favor, for sure.”

Van Eps took a sharp-angle shot from behind the goal line in the corner. It seemed to fulfill the old hockey cliché: Put pucks on net, good things happen.

St. Cloud Cathedral’s Mason Layne (5) in front of the net while the puck gets past goaltender Keaton LeGrande in overtime. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“I don’t really talk to these kids about throwing it on net from the corner of the rink, Jace,” Palmiscno said, in a bit in jest at the postgame press conference before turning serious. “Just get pucks on net. Panz did a really good job. Shoots it low on net from the corner of the O zone.”

The goal secured the first state championship for the Green Wave since it won back-to-back titles in 2014-15. East Grand Forks also avenged an 11-5 loss to Cathedral on Jan. 31.

The championship-winning goal was the 14th of the season for Van Eps, but he saved up most of his scoring for the postseason, scoring six goals in six games across the section and state tournaments.

For Van Eps, he said he “wasn’t too happy” with himself throughout the regular season. He also knew the gravity of the season possibly coming down to one play ending a high school career in earlier postseason games.

“Obviously, this is how we want to end it,” Van Eps said. “I think us seniors really started to realize that, just like coach said. Couldn’t be happier now.”

Tough schedule prepared EGF for the state tournament moment
Two of the past three Class 1A championship games have been decided in overtime. Mahtomedi defeated Warroad 6-5 in double overtime in 2023. East Grand Forks was battle-tested in overtime this season, too. Including Saturday’s victory, the Green Wave finish the season with a 4-2-2 overtime record. They also won their Section 8 championship in overtime, upsetting Warroad, ranked No. 1 in the season’s final Let’s Play Hockey rankings.

East Grand Forks senior Cooper Hills (15) skates by the bench to get congratulations after his second-period goal made it a 1-0 game.(MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The Green Wave were a sub-.500 team at points during the season, starting 0-3 and then 2-5-1 in their first seven games of the season. They had another stretch from mid-to-late January when they went just 1-6. East Grand Forks faced strong competition throughout the season, facing teams like Orono, Mahtomedi and Warroad, plus Class 2A foes St. Thomas Academy, Class 2A champion Moorhead and Wayzata, which ended up as three losses during the January stretch.

“Our schedule was difficult,” Palmiscno said. “Our No. 1 goal every day is just to be the most competitive team in the state of Minnesota.

“That doesn’t mean we’re the most skilled. That doesn’t mean we’re the fastest. But we’re going to be the best version of ourselves, and we’re going to work to beat our opponent, bar none.”

The playoffs were a different beast for the Green Wave as a 10-13-2 team. A section title needed three victories, and then three more wins for a state title. They rolled to a perfect 6-0 to finish the season. Their previous season-long winning streak this season was four games in December and early January.

At the state tournament, East Grand Forks shut out Northern Lakes 3-0 in the quarterfinals. Then it pulled off an epic comeback in the semifinal, knocking off top-seed Hibbing/Chisholm 7-5. The Green Wave was down 5-2 in that game before scoring four goals in a 2:45 span on the game clock at the end of the second period and start of the third period.

St. Cloud Cathedral John Hirschfeld (6) celebrates Bo Schmidt’s (17) game-tying goal late in regulation. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

They finished off with another upset of St. Cloud Cathedral (20-9-2), also looking for its third overall championship. Cooper Hills gave East Grand Forks a 1-0 lead at 7:16 of the second period.

They held onto that until the final minute of regulation when Cathedral freshman Bo Schmidt tied the game with his third goal of the tournament. Cathedral outshot the Green Wave 38-31 in the game, with sophomore Noah Schindele tying his season-high mark with 37 saves.

“That was awesome to see them push through a little adversity and tie it up at the end,” said Cathedral coach Robbie Stocker. “Ultimately not enough in the end but great resilience by our group to fight back.”

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Tweten’s OT winner thwarts furious Hermantown rally

St. Paul — Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith, who has guided the Eagles to two state titles in his tenure, said after his team’s quarterfinal win over Blaine on Thursday night, “The only chance you have of winning a state tournament is your top guys playing big.”

East Grand Forks’ top guys played plenty big — particularly in the game’s biggest moment — in Saturday afternoon’s Class 1A state championship tilt at Xcel Energy Center. Tanner Tweten scored 4:26 into overtime to lift the Green Wave (26-4-0) to a second consecutive state title with a 5-4 win over perennial bridesmaid Hermantown.

Grant Loven’s pass from behind the Hermantown net found Tweten streaking through the slot and the junior’s one-timer went in, much to the delight of the legions of East Grand Forks fans on hand.

East Grand Forks’ top line of Tweten, Loven, and Dixon Bowen combined for three goals and six assists giving the Green Wave more than a chance to finish on top.

“I always knew we had it in us,” Bowen said. “All year long we played our systems and we did it the best today against Hermantown and ended up winning. It’s very special.”

The runner-up finish for Hermantown (27-3-1) is its sixth straight, matching its number of consecutive title game appearances. The difficulty of the defeat was not lost on Hermantown’s opponent.

“Some of our players know some of their players and, you know, you just feel for them,” Bowen said. “They worked extremely hard and they’ve had a great season and you just feel for them.”

But the Hawks did not go down without a fight, staging a stunning come comeback in the final 33 seconds to force the extra session.

Wyatt Aamodt  and Eric Gotz scored 17 seconds apart in the game’s waning moments with Hermantown goaltender Luke Olson on the bench for an extra attacker. The momentum seemed firmly behind the Hawks at that point but Green Wave coach Tyler Palmascino quickly calmed his team in the brief intermission prior to overtime.

“All I said was ‘If I would have told you at 8 a.m. this morning that we’ll be 4-4 going into overtime, would you take it?’ and of course they would, you have a chance to win the game” Palmascino said. “We felt like we played a pretty damn good period for 16 minutes and they made some plays, give Hermantown credit, they made a couple plays there at the end and, you know, we made one more play than they did.”

The Hawks outshot the Green Wave 31-25 but never was able to grab a lead at any point in the contest.

“I thought we outplayed them at certain times of the game and had our chances and we didn’t capitalize when we did,” Hermantown coach Bruce Plante said.

Second line forward Austin Monda scored two goals of his own, including a huge third-period breakaway goal which, at the time, appeared to give the Green Wave the breathing room they needed.

With his team nursing a 3-2 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Monda picked off a pass in the high slot in his own zone and was off to the races. The senior went in alone on Hermantown Olson and roofed a backhand shot for his 12th of the year.

The goal took on added importance after Aamodt and Gotz’s late-game heroics.

The Hawks came out flying in the in the opening period, peppering Weber with 12 shots, but it was the Green Wave which carried a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Tanner Tweten opened the scoring at 4:26 poking in a loose puck Olson thought he had frozen to the left post but Tweten found an opening to pot his 20th of the year. Later in the period, Tweten’s backdoor feed from the left circle found Austin Monda all alone near the weak-side post for his second of the tournament and 11th of the year at 12:03.

Weber, meanwhile, did his part keeping Hermantown off the board in the game’s opening 17 minutes, making back-to-back stops on Hawks’ star Ryan Kero and later turning away a Pionk deflection with the Green Wave shorthanded.

“We had a lot of great chances, especially early,” Plante said. “We came out of that first period with nothing … so it made it tough fighting uphill the whole game.”

“Josh is one of the calmest goalies I’ve ever been around,” Palmascino said. “It’s amazing how when he’s in the eye of a storm he has the ability to stay calm in net. He’s now a goaltender that’s won two section titles and two state titles; I think that’s pretty rare.”

But Hermantown responded in lightning quick fashion to open the middle frame, scoring twice in 4:02 to draw even with East Grand Forks. Parker Hawk — the player with the most Hermantown name of all-time — got things going at 1:28, on a shot Weber probably wants back, and Pionk tied it just 2:34 later.

Pionk turned the corner on a defender in the right circle where his backhand pass through the slot intended for linemate Cole Koepke was blocked by Green Wave defenseman Trevor Selk. But the puck caromed off Selk right back to Pionk who caught Weber leaning away from the right post and buried his 35th goal of the season.

The Green Wave’s top unit struck again, though, at 10:14 of the second to carry 3-2 lead into the third.

Loven drove to the net from the left corner where Olson thwarted his stuff-in attempt but the puck ricocheted through the crease to an awaiting Dixon Bowen who scored his third of the tourney and 22nd on the season.

“Their level of play just rises in the moment,” Palmascino said. “When the game’s on the line, they have the ability to raise their level of play and it’s rare to have a group like that.”

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Green Wave is ‘Loven’ it after junior’s hat trick in win over Zephyrs

St. Paul — To be a two-time defending section champion going for a second consecutive state title puts a gigantic target on a team’s back, according to East Grand Forks Coach Tyler Palmiscno, who added that his Green Wave (25-4-0) have worked hard all year.

“Today, we battled hard,” he said. “We wanted to make it a man’s game.”

No. 3-seed East Grand Forks used its physical play and a hat trick from junior Grant Loven on the way to a 5-2 win over No. 2-seeded Mahtomedi (25-3-2) in the Class 1A semifinals Friday at the Xcel Energy Center.

The Green Wave will look for one more win Saturday in order to capture a second consecutive state title.

Loven, who came into the game with 11 goals on the season, had his hat trick by the second intermission. His first tally came on a 2-on-1 when he shot the puck past the blocker of Mahtomedi goaltender Will Swanson.

His second goal was a second-effort shot off his own rebound as he crashed the net. With 3:06 left on the clock in the second, hats came over the boards from the Green Wave faithful as Loven put his team ahead with the eventual game winner.

Going into the locker room up 3-2 was a huge deal for his team, Palmiscno said.

“I was lucky enough to put it in,” Loven said. “Got us the lead, I guess.”

Mahtomedi came back to tie it twice on goals from Joe Forciea and Timothy Kuivinen. The Zephyrs registered 20 shots on goal. The play was physical from the start, with multiple scrums and a couple coincidental minor penalties.

“I think it was effective in that it took us off our game a little bit,” said Mahtomedi Coach Jeff Poeschl. “They were very physical. When you play a physical game, it’s a very exhausting game. I don’t think they intimidated us, but I think they wore us down, physically.”

But it was junior Trevor Selk’s goal early in the third that sealed the game and another trip to the title game for East Grand Forks. It was just his second goal of the season. He was out for about six weeks with an injury and was medically cleared to play yesterday morning, according to Palmiscno.

Selk said afterward that he was going to help his team either way. The help came in the form of a goal, which he credited his teammate Dixon Bowen for a good screen.

“It felt great putting the puck in the back of the net,” Selk said. “Six weeks is a long time not to play.”

Hat trick aside, Loven said that Selk’s goal was the one to really set East Grand Forks apart. Still, Palmiscno said Loven has been good for the past six weeks, filling in at different positions with Trevor’s void.

The quality of the game on the ice seemed to match the atmosphere at the X. The lower bowl was packed with fans, and the upper level seats opened up not long after puck drop.

Palmiscno asked Poeschl the size of his community. Poeschel told him 7,500.

“I said, ‘I think they’re all here,’” Palm said. “Their student section was huge.”

Poeschl agreed.

‘’For decades, this is the premiere tournament,” he said. “I think single A has grown in its strength.”

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Dixon Bowen’s three points lead Green Wave into the state semifinals

ST. PAUL — One down, two to go.

East Grand Forks got one win under its belt with a 4-0 victory in the Class 1A quarterfinals Wednesday against New Prague at the Xcel Energy Center.

“Our goal was to win a hockey game,” Coach Tyler Palmiscno said.

The No. 3-seeded Green Wave from East Grand Forks (24-4-0) are in the hunt for their second consecutive state title. This marks the third year in a row they’ve been to the state tournament. Even with the experience, the first game of the tournament is always tough, Palmiscno said, “just because it’s still new.”

“You still have that nervous energy,” he said.

As a defending state champ, East Grand Forks senior goaltender Josh Weber acknowledged the nerve-wracking excitement is still there this time around.

“We’re here to try to win another one,” Weber said.

The scoring didn’t get started until the second when senior Dixon Bowen got his team a 1-0 lead with his 26th goal of the season. He got a pass, skated through the neutral zone and to the net, putting the puck upstairs.

Bowen led his team with 11 of the 32 shots on goal, with of those coming in the first period. The Green Wave outshot the Trojans 32-17.

“I was just happy getting chances,” Bowen said.

New Prague came oh-so-close to tying the game just before the second intermission, ringing a shot off the iron.

East Grand Forks senior Cooper Jerome has two goals this season. One of them gave his team a 2-0 cushion early in the third period. A bouncing rebound came out front, then junior Braden Shea’s follow-up shot just snuck through the pads of New Prague senior goalie Conner Wagner.

As the puck trickled behind, Jerome spotted it and poked in past the line. The Green Wave coach called it a “huge goal” from his third line.

The Green Wave sealed the deal on the power play late in the third period. Sophomore Nick Derrick perched himself in front of the crease and was there for the deflection off junior Grant Loven’s shot from the circle.

Down 3-0, New Prague left the net empty for the final 1:43 of the game. East Grand Forks players missed on a few opportunities, but Bowen finally scored with 36.6 seconds left.

Wagner helped keep his team in the game with the scoreless first period and early second. He made 28 total saves. He also said the game was closer than the score.

“I had confidence in the team,” he said. “You’re just loving the game and having fun.

“The 3-0, I think it could’ve been less. We played really good.”

His coach, Chris Lonke, talked about momentum swings during the game. He said his players worked hard, and he thought the zone time with their opponent was even at times.

“You just have to take momentum or get it back,” he said. “Just wasn’t mean to be today.”

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SAINT PAUL—Coming into the 2014 Boy’s Class A state hockey tournament, we knew we would have a new champion to be crowned. After St. Thomas Academy won the previous three Class A state championships, they made the move up to AA, leaving the throne unattended.

Hermantown advanced Friday to play in its fifth consecutive state championship game, all four of which the Hawks finished second. East Grand Forks blew by St. Cloud Cathedral, giving the Green Wave a shot at their first-ever state championship.

When the first period began, the Hawks appeared to be playing tight, and didn’t register a shot on goal until six minutes into the game. Though, after a series of Green Wave penalties, Hermantown started getting their opportunities.

With just 32 second remaining in the first period, the Hawks struck first. Scott Wasbotten gave Hermantown the 1-0 lead when he threw a puck out front from behind the net, which deflected off a Green Wave defender’s stick, and squeaked through the legs of EGF goaltender Josh Weber.

“To kill off those penalties and come out of that period only down 1-0 and give up a goal that was kind of flukey, that was a win for us,” Green Wave head coach Tyler Palmiscno said.

Wasbotten’s goal would be the only scoring of the first period and, with few shots throughout the period, it could have been assumed this would be a low scoring, defensive battle type of game. That was certainly not the case.

The Green Wave were explosive in the second period, putting five goals on the board and shutting the Hawks out. Dixon Bowen knotted the game at one apiece for EGF when he received a perfect one-touch pass from Tanner Tweten, springing him on a partial breakaway. Bowen split the Hawks defenders and cut to his backhand before tucking the puck into the net for the goal.

Then just over a minute later, Eddie Eades buried a goal from the high slot to give EGF the lead, and it seemed to be all Green Wave from then on.

Of the goal, Palmiscno said “Eddie’s, that was the one I thought told us we could really win this game.”

Green Wave forward Jace Pesch added a power play goal when Grant Loven collected a Hawks turnover behind the net and threw it out front to Pesch, who one timed the shot that squeaked just past Hermantown goaltender Adam Smith.

The Hawks could’t stop the bleeding, and the Green Wave added two more in the period from Loven and Corbin Reed, both of whom gathered loose pucks and fired them past Smith to push the lead to 5-1 heading into the third.

“They were great,” Hermantown coach Bruce Plante said. “They were nasty physical, and fast, they played great and stuck it to us.”

In a much more even third period, the Hawks were able to outshoot the Green Wave, and even gain a little momentum when Parker Hawk scored 2:31 into the third to pull the score to 5-2. But EGF kept pouring it on, and pulled away in this one with a slick breakaway goal by Cale Mack, and a Tweten power play goal, giving the Green Wave a 7-2 lead.

Jared Zeleznikar was able to bury a Hawks goal late in the game, but it was too little, too late for Hermantown. In a 7-3 victory, EGF skated to their first state championship in school history.

“This senior class set this goal five, six years ago,” Palmiscno said. “They set this a long time ago and then they get up and work for it, so it’s special”

Eades expressed his excitement after the game.

“It’s pretty special obviously to be the first,” he said. “We kind of did it maybe for all the times we came up a bit short.”

This time the Green Wave didn’t come up short, and were rewarded with the opportunity to celebrate in a team yard sale as the final buzzer rang, and then their Class A state championship trophy, the pinnacle of high school hockey, to finish a great season.

On the other side, the Hawks placed second for the fifth consecutive season. Plante was much more positive after this loss, though, than he has been after the championship losses the past four years.

“It feels a lot better losing to [East Grand Forks] than anyone else we’ve lost to,” Plante said. “They’re the same kind of simple program we are.”

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SAINT PAUL—The quest to reach the Class A state championship game is over. After the Hermantown Hawks took down the New Prague Trojans earlier today, the Hawks waited in anticipation to see who their opponent in tomorrow’s title game would be.

The No. 1 seeded East Grand Forks Green Wave faced off against the No. 4 seeded St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders in what was a defensive battle.

The Green Wave got the scoring started early, finding the back of the net just 2:36 into the game when Colton Poolman fired a wrist shot from the point through a screen. EGF carried much of the play after that goal, though the Crusaders were still knocking on the door at times.

In what was a much more evenly played second period, SCC managed to tie the game. At the 12:57 mark of the second, Cathedral’s Matson Courrier made a beautiful back-door pass, threading the needle for Erik Gadbois to bury the puck to even the score. The Crusaders carried a bit of momentum after the goal, but the last minute of the second featured a number of great scoring opportunities for EGF.

While the Crusaders had managed to make a game of it, the Green Wave proved to be too much. At the 4:19 mark of the third period, Tanner Tweten scored his third goal of the tournament on a two on one rush, burying a beauty of a pass from Grant Loven. Green Wave junior forward Dixon Bowen said of the play, “Tweten finished it off for us, and that gave us some good momentum.”

SCC head coach Eric Johnson remained proud of the Crusaders for the game they gave the Green Wave.

“They made a play, and it was a good play” he said, “we gave them a good game and we’ll bounce back tomorrow.”

Watching this game, it was clear EGF was deserving of the No. 1 seed. They moved the puck constantly, almost always looking to pass before shoot, but still managed 36 shots on goal.

The Crusaders did all they could, and created enough opportunities to take the game to overtime, but always seemed to be just inches away from catching a break. SCC goaltender Zach Fritz was outstanding, stopping 34 of 36 shots, giving his team a chance to advance.

East Grand Forks will advance to its first state title game in school history on Saturday at 12 p.m., while the Crusaders will face off against New Prague in the third place game.

Heading into the championship game, EGF head coach Tyler Palmiscno sounded confident, “We’re more mature than last year” he said, “out of our 20 guys on our roster 14 or 15 are back from last year.”

The Green Wave players know what kind of special opportunity is ahead of them in tomorrow’s game, and won’t take it for granted.

“This is what we’ve been working for all the way up since youth hockey” said senior defenseman Eddie Eades, “to get a shot at it is pretty special.

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