“It was depressing for a long time,” said senior Blake Biondi. “And we came together as a group this summer.”

After Wednesday’s quarterfinal game, the Hawks appeared comfortable and right back where they belong. Hermantown, this year’s 3-seed in the Class 1A tournament, beat unseeded Monticello 7-1.

Biondi, a Mr. Hockey finalist, scored a pair of goals in the first period, about three minutes into the game and with 50 seconds left in the period for a 2-0 lead, before completing

Monticello’s Alex Opatz congratulates teammate Riley Ronayne on his third period goal which spoiled Hermantown goaltender Jacob Backstrom’s shutout bid on Wednesday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center. (Photo: Tim Kolehmainen / Breakdown Sports USA)

his hat trick with 22.8 ticks remaining in the second for a 4-0 lead. His goals in the first helped give the Hawks some breathing room, said Hermantown coach Patrick Andrews.

“I think it was important to get one right away and then at the end of the first, too, to kind of get some separation going in the second,” Biondi said.

The game was a rematch of the 2017 Class 1A championship game, when Hermantown won back-to-back championships as a top seeded facing an unseeded Monticello team (then Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake). Hermantown won all three state tournament games in overtime that year, beating the Moose 4-3 with 19.4 seconds left in the second overtime.

Monticello’s (20-8-1) goal came from junior Riley Ronayne when he sent the puck on net from center ice, and it bounced into the back of the net. “Pure luck,” Eric Nelson said.

Even with his team coming out on the losing side of Wednesday’s game, Nelson said anticipation for Friday’s semifinal between Cathedral and Hermantown – a game he said could have been a state-championship match-up – should be high.

“You’ve got two high-powered offenses,” Nelson said. “So, it should be a battle, a toe-to-toe battle. A heavyweight fight.”

Andrews said “Friday’s going to be a riot” in the semifinal against Cathedral. Biondi agreed that it’s going to be a great semifinal game, adding that they’re hungry and ready for the Crusaders.

Cathedral and Hermantown (22-3-4) will play in Friday’s first semifinal game after having skating to a 5-5 tie back on Jan. 3. Cathedral scored three goals in the third period, the last coming with 25 seconds left in regulation, to tie the game. It was a result that Zach Kilen, who scored a pair of goals Wednesday, called unfortunate from the Hawks side.

“We were up on them going into the third period,” Kilen said. “Just kind of laid back, thought we had it.

“We’re looking forward to a rematch with them.”

St. Cloud Cathedral opens title defense with dominating win over Mankato East/Loyola

Looking at the boxscore, it’s true that St. Cloud Cathedral had a blow-out victory with the 11-2 score.

A pair of 11s prepare to engage in Mankato East/Loyola’s Jake Schreiber (L) and St. Cloud Cathedral’s Ethan Cumming in the Crusaders’ 11-2 state quarterfinal win over the Cougars on Wednesday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center. (Photo: Tim Kolehmainen / Breakdown Sports USA)

But the game was actually tied 1-1 in the first period.

That lasted for a little less than five minutes though, before 2-seed Cathedral put on an offensive clinic to start the defense of its Class 1A title. The Crusaders (24-3-1) started the third period with running time and had 10 players tally goals in the first Class 1A quarterfinal game Wednesday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center.

“We have a lot of smart hockey players who can hit the open guy easily,” said Mr. Hockey finalist Blake Perbix, who had three assists and scored a power-play goal for a 6-1 lead.  

The Crusaders got a shorthanded tally 1 minute, 42 seconds into the game from senior defenseman Reid Bogenholm to get out to a quick 1-0 lead. But on the same penalty, the Cougars tied it up about a minute later with a power-play goal from junior defenseman Jake Schreiber.

Keeping the game 1-1 lasted a few minutes before the Crusaders scored a trio of even-strength goals before the end of the first period to take a 4-1 lead.

Crusaders coach Derrick Brown was happy his team stretched the lead from 2-1 to 4-1 pretty quickly in the first.

“I felt like after that we kind of put it in cruise control, and the guys did a lot of really good things,” Brown said. “We got some really good diversity. We got scoring from all four liens today. As a coach, you feel real good about that moving forward.”

Not only did the Crusaders have the scoring depth, they were able to mix up their lines and get all 20 players some ice time, including junior goaltender Ian Strong, who played the final 6:54 of the game after Grant Martin made nine saves in the game.

The Cougars got another one back late in the second period from Parker Anthony, but Cathedral scored two more times before the period was over – 40 seconds apart – to take a 9-2 lead into the second intermission on goals from Jack Smith, his second of the game and 25th of the season in only 15 games played and junior Cullen Hiltner.

In the running-time third period, sophomore Chandler Hendricks scored his first goal of the season to hit the double-digit goals mark for his team in the game.

“I just tipped it, and no one was on me,” Hendricks said. “And then I cellied.”

It was another victory for the Crusaders against the Cougars this season, with Cathedral winning 9-3 on Dec. 28 during holiday-tournament play. Fries called the Crusaders power play, which went 2-for-2, “deadly.”

“That team’s on first right now,” said Cougars coach Adam Fries. “They come at you hard. They come at you fast.”

The Cougars (14-14-1) have yet to win a state quarterfinal game in three trips. They’re 1-5 so far in state tournament play, also playing in the 2006 and 2018 tournaments. They won the 2018 consolation semifinal before losing to Thief River Falls in the consolation championship game.

“There’s never been a team in Mankato that’s brought back even a consolation championship,” Fries said. “I think that’s important for our guys. Why don’t we be the first? Let’s go out there and compete.”

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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 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 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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