Class A QF: #5 St. Cloud Cathedral vs. #4 East Grand Forks

[karl(east)]

#5 ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL VS. #4 EAST GRAND FORKS
8:00 Wednesday
-Two Class A Tourney regulars collide for the right to face Hermantown in the semis. These teams tied 4-4 in a December meeting. East Grand Forks won their lone State matchup, a 2-1 game in a 2014 semifinal.

St. Cloud Cathedral (20-6-2, #6, 1-seed in 6A)
State appearances: 7 (2 in a row)
Key section win: 3-2 over #8 Alexandria
-Two big-time forwards, Jake Van Halbeck (4) and Michael Spethmann (19), lead the Crusaders into battle. A couple of potent freshmen, Nate Warner (8) and Mack Motzko (18), provide some scoring depth, along with veteran Connor Beltz (11). Jeron Hirschfeld (10) is the standout in a fairly balanced group of defensemen. Jake Levinski (1) will start in net. They’ve played everyone but Luverne in the field and have the Cardinals’ former coach, so there won’t be any secrets here, though if they win this first round game, their Hermantown meeting wound up an ugly 7-1.

East Grand Forks (17-8-2, #7, 1-seed in 8A)
State appearances: 8 (first since 2015)
State championships: 2 (2014, 2015)
Key section win: 5-1 over 3-seed Warroad
-The 8A champion hasn’t lost a first round Tourney game since 2006, but will face their largest test in a while this season. This East Grand group doesn’t have the firepower of their back-to-back state champions, though there are some kids on this team who have done it. Two lines handle most of their scoring, with productivity from Nick Lund (14), Hunter Olson (8), Coby Strauss (21), and Bauer Brown (9). Defenseman Casey Kallock (18) might be their top player, and they’ll bring the usual Green Wave grinding style. Tucker Brown (30) is the goaltender. If they get through Cathedral they do have a strong track record against Hermantown, albeit with far more talented teams.

[TTpuckster]

Green Wave by 2 with an ENetter.

[blueblood]

Best game of the day:

SCC - 5
EGF - 4 (OT)

[TTpuckster]

ttt, here we go....

[elliott70]

Best game of the day:

SCC - 5
EGF - 4 (OT)

Hmmmm.......
They have a long way to go to challenge the first 3.

[BlueLineSpecial]

"Hi mom. Hi dad." "Hi grandpa". Aren't these people AT THE GAME???

[TTpuckster]

"Hi mom. Hi dad." "Hi grandpa". Aren't these people AT THE GAME???

[TTpuckster]

The Green wave look uptight and are coughing up the puck too much.
They better settle down in the 2nd.

[Browniemagoo]

Just voted for EGF, immediately gave up a shorty.

[Sparlimb]

I wonder if Cathedral brought their white jerseys. They are going to need them on Saturday.

[TTpuckster]

Gee, I wonder if the Green Wave are getting screwed by that one ref. Some pretty poor penalty calls.
The only one I agree with is the high stick,

Then on that short handed rush by the green wave Hunter Olson gets pulled down and.......no penalty. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[TTpuckster]

I wonder if Cathedral brought their white jerseys. They are going to need them on Saturday.

Nope. You are going to see a forechecking machine by the GW in the 3rd.

[ryguyMN]

Three low seeds win today. Pretty crazy for Class A!

[karl(east)]

"Hi mom. Hi dad." "Hi grandpa". Aren't these people AT THE GAME???

Well, they do show it up on the video board, too.

Fun game, and surprisingly enough, the one with the largest margin of victory. EGF got in their own way often with the penalties, and while they had some chances to make it interesting as the 3rd period rolled along, they just couldn't pop one. 8A doesn't make the semis for the first time since 2006.

I'm guessing SCC will give Hermantown a better game than they did in the 7-1 regular season meeting. There's some good talent there.

[Mite-dad]

Cathedral looked fast compared to all the teams in the A tournament and they transition quickly. At least on my television. I don't think they are incredibly deep on defense though. Could be their Achilles against a team that can maintain some zone time.

[SCBlueLiner]

I thought the same thing, Cathedral looked like they were flying out there.

[TTpuckster]

Cathedral looked fast compared to all the teams in the A tournament and they transition quickly. At least on my television. I don't think they are incredibly deep on defense though. Could be their Achilles against a team that can maintain some zone time.

They did.
They were definitely ready to go.
On the other hand, EGF looked tentative the whole game.
No movement, and their defense played very poorly.
I know they can play better than that, so we will see how SCC does against Hermy.
I wish them well.