Cates brothers provide the offense in 4-1 Stillwater win over Farmington

St. Paul – Coming off a game where he scored perhaps the definition of a highlight-reel goal, what would Stillwater’s Noah Cates do for an encore in the state tournament?

For starters, a three-point game in the state tournament.

Noah, a junior forward, and his older brother, Jackson Cates, led the second-seeded Stillwater Ponies (27-1-1) to a 4-1 victory over the Farmington Tigers (18-9-1) in the Class 2A quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center. Noah had a goal and two assists, while Jackson scored a pair of goals.

But they recognized there’s more work to be done.

“I don’t think we’re satisfied yet,” Jackson said.

Jackson, committed to play at Michigan Tech University, has 26 goals on the season and 60 points. Noah has 24 goals and 63 points. Noah scored the monstrous spin-o-rama goal for the 1-0 overtime victory in the section final over Hill-Murray.

“Beginning of the season, we wanted three banners,” Noah said. “We got two, we want one more.”

Stillwater took home its first Suburban East Conference title this season, plus a Section 4 title. It’s Stillwater’s second trip to the state tournament.

After taking a 2-0 in the first period, the key was Stillwater’s third goal, coming just 26 seconds into the third period. Junior defender Jesse Bjugstad set up Noah perfectly for an easy shot into the back of the net.

“I just saw the goalie way out of the net,” Noah said.

Bjugstad came into the zone looking to shoot, but “Noah was wide open over there,” Bjugstad said, who finished with two assists, giving him 20 for the season so far.

That quickly made it 3-0 and was essentially a back-breaker for the Tigers, who were buzzing in the second period but had nothing to show for it. Stillwater coach Matt Doman and his players knew what an important goal that next one would be, after going up 2-0.

“They make that 2-1, you’re talking about a different game,” Doman said. “That’s a big swing. Getting that third one made a big difference for us.”

Jackson added his second tally of the game at 8:06 of the third period, all but icing the victory at that point with a 4-0 lead.

Stillwater’s lead extension seemed to extinguish any carry-over momentum Farmington had after the second intermission.

Farmington had its chances in the second period but couldn’t quite finish. Senior captain Erik Holmstrom scored Farmington’s lone goal with 7.4 seconds left in the third period. But it wasn’t enough to combat the skilled offense of Stillwater, a team that boasts four players with 20 goals or more.

“We had a couple breakdowns that led to goals,” Holmstrom said.

Farmington coach Greg May said he thought the first two periods were a pretty even game. It’s Farmington’s first trip to the state tournament since 2000, when the Tigers played in Class 1A.

A bounce here or there in the quarterfinal against Stillwater might have made the difference, May said.

“We wanted to do something special while we were here,” May said.“ I thought that we… deserved to be tied with them at least (after the 1^st). They buried their chances, we didn’t today.”

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Lakeville North rolls over Farmington for Section 1AA title

ROCHESTER – With six future Division-I hockey players, the Lakeville North boys’ hockey team has no shortage of talent. But even with a star-studded lineup that includes the three Poehling brothers, it wasn’t a senior DI commit who led the Panthers back to their third consecutive title appearance.

But instead it was sophomore wing Henry Enebak. 

Enebak scored three goals to lead the Panthers to a 6-1 victory over the Farmington Tigers in the Section 1AA final at the Rochester Recreational Center on Thursday night. Lakeville North returns for its third straight trip to the Xcel Energy Center where they look to avenge a state final loss to Edina. 

After scoring a goal in the first period, Enebak shut the door on the Tigers’ hopes of a comeback in the third when he scored two goals. Even though Farmington trailed by a three point margin, their fans didn’t show it. But when Enebak lit the lamp twice just minutes apart, he silenced the electrified Tiger crowd. 

Enebak and the team knew a fast start in the final period would provide a state tournament berth.

“We were in the locker room between the second and third and we knew we needed to do something to take their energy away,” Enebak said. “We knew it was going to be tough and they were going to come out on all cylinders so it was big to get [the goals].”

It wasn’t just the third period that the Panthers came out firing on all cylinders. Lakeville North’s offensive attack asserted itself early when senior forward Nick Poehling started off the scoring as he sped down the ice and rocketed the puck into the Farmington net from just outside the circle. 

Despite a goal from the Tigers in the first 30 seconds of the second period, Lakeville North didn’t lose focus on their ultimate goal. Jack Poehling tallied two goals and combined with Enebak’s hat trick performance, the Panther offensive firepower proved too much for Farmington.  

Now headed back to the Xcel Energy Center for ‘the Tourney’, the Panthers aren’t about to let their number one ranking get to their heads as they look to win their first state championship in school history.

“They have a great appreciation of where we’ve come from,” Lakeville North head coach Trent Eigner said. “I don’t think they take anything for granted. Our juniors and seniors especially have put in a lot of time and effort to get our team to this point and they take a lot of pride in our effort on a nightly basis.”

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