Class A QF: North Branch vs. #2 St. Cloud Cathedral

[karl(east)]

NORTH BRANCH VS. #2 ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL
11:00 Wednesday
-The Tourney opens with a season-long frontrunner in Class A welcoming a new entrant. These teams have no recent history against each other.

North Branch (19-7-2, Unranked, 2-seed in 5A)
First State appearance
Key section win: 3-2 over 4-seed Chisago Lakes, 3-1 over 3-seed Princeton
-The Vikings are new to the Tourney and may have arrived ahead of schedule, as they have a strong sophomore core. Cody Croal (14) is the star of that young group, but Joey Kircher (9) and Tucker Sachs (38) are also among their top four scorers. Jacob Richards (15) is their senior leader, and Jake Turek (35) will get the nod in goal. They don’t have a ton of depth, though they do have a goal-scoring defenseman in Justin Sachs (18), plus a freshman, Alex Langevin (16), who produces some. That defense and Turek will face a stiff test against Cathedral, and needs to come up big for the Vikings to stick around.

St. Cloud Cathedral (24-4, #5, 1-seed in 6A)
State appearances: 9 (last in 2017)
Key section win: 4-1 over #4 Alexandria
-With Hermantown out of the way, the Crusaders probably have the most top-end talent of anyone in the field. The top line, which features Blake Perbix (27), Jack Smith (20), and Nate Warner (8), who missed much of the season with an injury but is playing now, is loaded with skill, and they also have strong depth up front. The defense, led by Reid Bogenholm (2), Jon Bell (4), and C.J. Zins (15), can also move the puck well and contribute to the cause. Senior Noah Amundson (30) has the goaltending job. While they lost 6-2 to Mahtomedi without Warner a few weeks ago, they have the skill to pull off their first trip to the Class A title game and finish the deal. They also enter the Tourney on a strong note after taking care of the team that beat them a season ago, Alexandria, in the 6A final.

[elliott70]

Every tourney needs an upset, so I am cheering for the public school.

[MrBoDangles]

NORTH BRANCH VS. #2 ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL
11:00 Wednesday
-The Tourney opens with a season-long frontrunner in Class A welcoming a new entrant. These teams have no recent history against each other.

North Branch (19-7-2, Unranked, 2-seed in 5A)
First State appearance
Key section win: 3-2 over 4-seed Chisago Lakes, 3-1 over 3-seed Princeton
-The Vikings are new to the Tourney and may have arrived ahead of schedule, as they have a strong sophomore core. Cody Croal (14) is the star of that young group, but Joey Kircher (9) and Tucker Sachs (38) are also among their top four scorers. Jacob Richards (15) is their senior leader, and Jake Turek (35) will get the nod in goal. They don’t have a ton of depth, and their defense does very little scoring; freshman Alex Langevin (16) is the most productive of their blueliners. That defense and Turek will face a stiff test against Cathedral, and needs to come up big for the Vikings to stick around.

St. Cloud Cathedral (24-4, #5, 1-seed in 6A)
State appearances: 9 (last in 2017)
Key section win: 4-1 over #4 Alexandria
-With Hermantown out of the way, the Crusaders probably have the most top-end talent of anyone in the field. The top line, which features Blake Perbix (27), Jack Smith (20), and Nate Warner (8), who missed much of the season with an injury but is playing now, is loaded with skill, and they also have strong depth up front. The defense, led by Reid Bogenholm (2), Jon Bell (4), and C.J. Zins (15), can also move the puck well and contribute to the cause. Senior Noah Amundson (30) has the goaltending job. While they lost 6-2 to Mahtomedi without Warner a few weeks ago, they have the skill to pull off their first trip to the Class A title game and finish the deal. They also enter the Tourney on a strong note after taking care of the team that beat them a season ago, Alexandria, in the 6A final.

Justin Sachs is the main blueliner

[karl(east)]

NORTH BRANCH VS. #2 ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL
11:00 Wednesday
-The Tourney opens with a season-long frontrunner in Class A welcoming a new entrant. These teams have no recent history against each other.

North Branch (19-7-2, Unranked, 2-seed in 5A)
First State appearance
Key section win: 3-2 over 4-seed Chisago Lakes, 3-1 over 3-seed Princeton
-The Vikings are new to the Tourney and may have arrived ahead of schedule, as they have a strong sophomore core. Cody Croal (14) is the star of that young group, but Joey Kircher (9) and Tucker Sachs (38) are also among their top four scorers. Jacob Richards (15) is their senior leader, and Jake Turek (35) will get the nod in goal. They don’t have a ton of depth, and their defense does very little scoring; freshman Alex Langevin (16) is the most productive of their blueliners. That defense and Turek will face a stiff test against Cathedral, and needs to come up big for the Vikings to stick around.

St. Cloud Cathedral (24-4, #5, 1-seed in 6A)
State appearances: 9 (last in 2017)
Key section win: 4-1 over #4 Alexandria
-With Hermantown out of the way, the Crusaders probably have the most top-end talent of anyone in the field. The top line, which features Blake Perbix (27), Jack Smith (20), and Nate Warner (8), who missed much of the season with an injury but is playing now, is loaded with skill, and they also have strong depth up front. The defense, led by Reid Bogenholm (2), Jon Bell (4), and C.J. Zins (15), can also move the puck well and contribute to the cause. Senior Noah Amundson (30) has the goaltending job. While they lost 6-2 to Mahtomedi without Warner a few weeks ago, they have the skill to pull off their first trip to the Class A title game and finish the deal. They also enter the Tourney on a strong note after taking care of the team that beat them a season ago, Alexandria, in the 6A final.

Justin Sachs is the main blueliner

Thanks, edited to reflect that. Not sure how I missed him.

[Mite-dad]

Cathedral was my pick to win it all over a month ago so I think they win this game of course. I think they win pretty big.

[elliott70]

I wonder, are people voting for North Branch because they think they will win or because they want them to win?

[Where is F3?]

I wonder, are people voting for North Branch because they think they will win or because they want them to win?

Want. With Hermantown out, SCC is the new Public Enemy #1. Or is it Private Enemy #1?

[elliott70]

I wonder, are people voting for North Branch because they think they will win or because they want them to win?

Want. With Hermantown out, SCC is the new Public Enemy #1. Or is it Private Enemy #1?

Yes the private enemy< Mahtomedi must be the public enemy.

[east hockey]

I wonder, are people voting for North Branch because they think they will win or because they want them to win?

Yeah, these polls turn out to be kind of a popularity poll sometimes.

Lee

[grindiangrad-80]

Midway through the 1st it looks like North Branch has weathered the early jitters and underdog role and could slowly become a dangerous team.

St. Cloud is in a battle.

[elliott70]

North Branch is playing the game the way they need to, but they will give up goals and will lose.
If they can get a bounce and get the ref to stay out of the way??? who knows.

[HockeyStorm]

Awful officiating that period, North Branch player gets crosschecked on a partial breakaway no call and 2 bad interference calls - especially the 1st one took away their early momentum.

[grindiangrad-80]

3-0 is going to be a tough hill for North Branch now.

[pekyman]

SCC the new STA.
Hopefully Mahtomedi, the new HT, can beat them.
I'm pulling for GW!

[TheNightman]

SCC the new STA.
Hopefully Mahtomedi, the new HT, can beat them.
I'm pulling for GW!

Cathedral is headed in that direction. They should be even better next year.

[blueline_6]

Unfortunate this game is going in the direction of a blowout, NB looked like they were going to make this a game early on.

[StanleyCup55]

It’s the class A QFs what do you expect... OT? Anyone can look at these two teams results from the season on the hub and see it was going to be a blowout. It’s typical class A quarterfinals. Get ready for three more of them all day long today!

[GPGT]

Was hoping North Branch could get it rolling..

Never seen them play, other than when east used to bounce them across the ice 20 years ago

Hopefully they can get the program going and actually get a local rink..

Their goalie is very impressive

[pekyman]

SCC walks through sections with a combined score of 21-1, then blows through the quarter final 7-0, for a total of 21-1 goal advantage thus far.
When HT was in 5A they had competitive games with SCC, but HT stopped this private from advancing to state at least twice.
No team in 6A except maybe Alex, is going to give this team a game in the future.
Glad Mahtomedi beat Totino.
I wish this would have been a game between NB and Alex...

[Stang5280]

It’s the class A QFs what do you expect... OT? Anyone can look at these two teams results from the season on the hub and see it was going to be a blowout. It’s typical class A quarterfinals. Get ready for three more of them all day long today!

That hasn’t been true the past few years, with most of the quarterfinals being close and a few upsets sprinkled in. I posted this elsewhere before, but here are the Wednesday game scores from the past two years.

2018 State Tournament
Hermantown 4-2 Monticello
Alexandria 1-0 EGF
Orono 6-1 LDC
Mahtomedi 4-2 Mankato East

2017 State Tournament
Hermantown 3-2 Luverne
Cathedral 6-3 EGF
Northfield 3-1 Mahtomedi
Monticello 3-2 Delano

Unfortunately I don’t think that will be the case this year, except for the Greenway vs Delano game.

[Doc Holliday]

Often times, the QF's in Class A are ones that go the way this one did. But, more often than not, the Friday afternoon semis are a lot of fun & a great atmosphere, so that's kind of the tradeoff.

I think it's awesome for North Branch. Hopefully this launches them to bigger things.

Probably looking at similar scores for the next 2 QF's....should have a good one for the late show & then great semis on Friday.

[grindiangrad-80]

Greenway deserves a ton of credit, not only for beating Hermantown, but for making this tournament a lot more interesting.

[MrBoDangles]

Tough go with Cathedral.. Competitive 1st period even after dealing with a 2 on 0 broken up by a great defensive play by the ref, a couple head scratching calls that usually never get called and some missed golden opportunities. One team gained confidence and the other didn't... A couple breaks NB's way and it could have been different, but they would have had to play a nearly perfect game to have won.

Nice 5-2 victory this morning over Minnesota River and advance to the consolation championship to try for some hardware.