Crusaders players cherished the Paw Patrol character Rubble plush dog for their “Dawg of the Game” award so much that senior goalie Nick Hansen brought it to the Class 1A state tournament championship postgame press conference. The dog and the state championship trophy adorned the Crusaders’ table as they talked about their 3-1 win over the Hermantown Hawks in the Class 1A boys’ state hockey title game on March 9.

“I think the whole team was dawgs today,” Hansen said.

Otherwise, the award “scattered” throughout the team, as Stocker said.

Cathedral goaltender Nick Hansen made 28 saves in the Class 1A championship game. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

St. Cloud Cathedral needed a full team effort against the Hawks, the last team to beat the Crusaders this season. It started with Andrew Dwinnell scoring at 3:48 of the game, assisted by John Hirschfeld and Joey Gillespie.

The Crusaders survived a defensive battle in the second period, which spilled into the first half of the third period before Dwinnell turned a behind-the-back pass into a goal for a 2-0 lead. Dwinnell said that they practiced that one.

“It’s a play we always work on in practice,” Dwinnell said. “We do lots of zone entry drills, and my linemates are usually the first ones on the puck and the first ones in the zone, so I feel like I’m trailing play a lot.”

Gillespie extended the lead, putting the Crusaders up 3-0 at the 12:18 mark of the third period. It marked the 10th straight game with three or more goals for the Crusaders and the 14th in the final 15 games of the season.

“They’re sneaky good. They don’t really overpower you, it’s just all of a sudden they have a three-on-two or a two-on-one from inside the dots,” said Hermantown coach Patrick Andrews.

Hermantown tried to chip away with an empty net late in the game, but the Hawks couldn’t muster more than a goal, which came from Alexander Francisco. That’s despite the fact that the Hawks outshot the Crusaders 29-21.

“Obviously, they have a good goalie and against any good goalie, you have to get to the paint,” Hawks forward William Esterbrooks said. “They kept us outside pretty much the whole game.

“We weren’t able to get inside in front of his eyes very well. We did end up scoring one, and it was in the paint. I would have liked to have done that a little more.”

Andrew Dwinnell fires a puck over Hermantown goaltender Dane Callaway. Dwinnell scored twice in the title game. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Hansen simply dominated in goal with 28 saves and a .966 save percentage. He didn’t play in the previous meeting against Hermantown due to a shoulder injury, a time he called the most challenging in his young hockey career.

“It’s the longest break I took from being on the ice, probably since I started playing 10-12 years ago now,” Hansen said. “So it was really hard for me, but the guys around me made sure to keep my confidence up and get ready to go back in.”

That first Hermantown game back on Jan. 11 marked the turning point of the season. The Hawks beat the Crusaders 3-1 on that date, snapped a three-game winning streak for the Crusaders at the time. Hansen returned to goal after that loss, and the Crusaders never lost again.

“That set the tone, when he came back, what this group was going to be,” Stocker said. “I can’t speak highly enough of him as a leader on what he was able to do for this group.”

Cathedral bounced back quickly with a 13-1 rout of Mankato East followed by a 9-1 blowout of Princeton and a 7-1 win over Little Falls. The Crusaders kept winning and capped a Section 5 title run with a 4-1 win over Monticello.

A 5-1 win over Northfield to open the state tournament on March 6 had the Crusaders looking all the more confident, but No. 2-seed Warroad gave the No. 3-seed Crusaders everything they could handle in the state semifinals. Cathedral squeaked out a 4-3 overtime win over the Warriors to advance to the title game. Warroad took third place at the state tournament; Orono won the consolation bracket.

Top-seeded Hermantown had a similar path to the final with a 6-0 blowout of Alexandria followed by a 7-6 overtime win over defending champion Mahtomedi. Andrews acknowledged that it impacted his team for the championship game.

Vince Gebhardt and goaltender Nick Hansen embrace as the Crusaders celebrate their state championship. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“I thought we got better and better as the game went on,” Andrews said. “We started to outshoot them. I really liked our second period, and the third period was fine. Yeah, they got those two goals, and it was kind of weird because I felt like we had the better go of it, honestly.”

In the end, the Crusaders won the Class 1A title for the second time since 2019.

“I think that it’s really good for our area,” Hansen said. “I know that sometimes we can struggle getting numbers out for the team, and to be able to attract more players to play hockey because of what we’re able to do right now, and being able to have more options makes better hockey teams, and better hockey teams win championships.”

The post Class 1A: Crusaders Are The Champs appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The result? Just a hat trick on Hockey Day. No biggie.

“He looked like himself today,” said Hermantown coach Patrick Andrews. “I think he’s back.”

Kohanski’s first goal in the second period against Mahtomedi, ranked No. 4 in Class 1A, put the Hawks up 3-1. He scored early in the third period for another two-goal lead before registering the hat trick with a power-play goal for a 5-3 lead.

Each time the Zephyrs got close, Kohanski made it that much tougher for the opponent in the battle of Class 1A powerhouses. In one afternoon, Kohanski doubled his season goal total.  

“Obviously a difference maker, and we haven’t had him,” Andrews said. “Your whole senior year, you’re watching 90% of it, and then you get to come out on a day like this and have a day. I was really happy for him.”

Being out injured was tough, Kohanski said, adding that you can’t get the time back and he’s trying to make up for it these past few games. Playing without the wrist brace, which Andrews said limited Kohanski’s mobility, came at the right time.

“It felt really good, and I could finally shoot a little bit,” Kohanski said. “Scored a couple goals, so it felt good.”

Kade Kohanski (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Something else that felt really good for Kohanski and his Hawks teammates, ranked No. 2 in Class 1A? Recording a 6-3 victory over Mahtomedi at Polar Lakes Park. Besides the hat trick from Kohanski, Hermantown’s line of the Kauppinen brothers and Wyatt Carlson scored the other three goals. Joshua Kauppinen put the Hawks up 1-0 only 3 minutes, 13 seconds into the game. Carlson added a late empty-netter, and Matthew Kauppinen scored his second goal of the season (to go with his 15 assists) for a 2-1 lead in the second period.

Since the 2015-16 season, Hermantown is now 8-1 against Mahtomedi, including 7-0 in the regular season. The one loss for the Hawks? The 2020 Class 1A state championship game for Mahtomedi’s first state title.

“They’re obviously a big rival for us,” Matthew Kauppinen said. “Especially when we lost to them in state 2020. It’s always a battle, and they’re a good team, so it’s always fun.”

It was pretty fun for the Kauppinen brothers to play together during such a fun, outdoor event like Hockey Day Minnesota. Both Matthew Kauppinen and coach Andrews talked about the honor of Hermantown being included in the festivities.

This is Hermantown’s second time participating in Hockey Day Minnesota. The town hosted the event in 2010, on a day with freezing rain and snow, a contrast to this year’s event with single-digit temperatures that felt below zero. Andrews was coaching bantams in Hermantown at the time, a group that became the shovel crew for Hockey Day, Andrews said.

The coach used the words “gratifying” and “humbled” to describe Hermantown being chosen to play on Hockey Day this year in White Bear Lake.

“It’s really cool to see how it’s grown in 13 years,” Andrews said. “This is pretty amazing. It’s super special to be a part of. We’re just so honored that they asked us to be a part of it, and to play Mahtomedi is a great treat, too.”

The current roster of Hermantown players were pretty young, though some remember that 2010 Hockey Day. Kohanski was only 5 in 2010 but remembers watching many Hockey Days on TV since then. Matthew Kauppinen recalls skating outside before the big high school game.

“It was an honor to be a part of it,” Matthew Kauppinen said, of the 2023 Hockey Day Minnesota. “And then yesterday, we had practice. We all had a lot of fun. And then to bring it today and win, it was super awesome.

“I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”

The post Hockey Day Hat Trick appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.