2025 BHS Class A State Tournament Preview

[ClassAGuy]

2025 BHS Class A State Tournament Preview

The 2025 Boys Hockey Class A Tournament features some familiar faces and some new blood coming to St. Paul this year and this looks to be shaping up to be a very good overall Class A Tournament. With no real dominant team this year in Class A and all 8 teams finishing in the Final Top 20 A Ranking this should be one of the better Wednesday through Saturday Tourneys in Class A history that we have seen.

5 Storylines and Notes on the 2025 BHS Hockey Class A State Tournament

Youth Hockey State Champs Ready to Replicate Success
Two of the BHS Hockey Class A teams in this year's field come in having championship pedigree from their youth hockey days. East Grand Forks Senior class when they were in middle school were able to win back to back A Bantam State Titles coming up through the youth ranks and they will want to replicate that now in St Paul. Hibbing/Chisholm’s 9th grade, Sophomore & Junior classes were able to win both the A Pee Wee & A Bantam State titles in the same year. The Blue Jackets are young and talented and have gone through two of Class A’s Top five teams just to get here and they are ready to replicate their youth hockey success as well at the X this coming week.

Coaching Legend Back at State in a New Class
This offseason Northern Lakes made a big splash when they hired coaching Legend Mike Randolph to take over their young and growing program. Things started out with a bang as he became the State’s all time wins leader when the Lightning won their opener and though they went through some adjusting they come into the Tourney (15-5-1) since the beginning of the new year. Now Coach Randolph will do something new as he will be behind the bench as a Head Coach for the first time in Class A and it's his 19th appearance overall which ties him for the most ever for a Head Coach with the late great Willard Ikola.

A competitive Class A Wednesday Quarterfinals?
One of the knocks on the Class A State Tournament is the blowouts produced on Wednesday in the Class A Quarterfinals between the seeded and unseeded teams. Now gone is the unseeded version, and this tournament field would appear to be one of the more even we have seen as all 8 teams finished ranked in the Top 20 of the Final A Rankings and with no huge gap this year between the top 2 or 3 and the rest of the Class A field it would appear we should be in store for the best Wednesday we have seen since the epic upset Wednesday of the classic 2017 BHS Hockey Class A Tourney.

Class A’s Mr Hockey Hot Stick
Only one BHS Class A Player was able to make the 10 finalists for Mr Hockey this year but St Cloud Cathedral’s John Hirschfeld is a very deserving recipient. He is also on one of the most ridiculous hot streaks we have seen in Class A history coming into the tourney as in his last 10 games, of which Cathedral went (9-1-0), he has an eye popping 14 goals and 30 assists for 44 points to average 4.4 points per game. He is now finally healthy after dealing with an injury to start the year and he will be a fun player to watch as he tries to carry his team to back to back titles this coming week.

Alumni Head Coaches
This Class A tournament features 4 of the 8 teams being coached by alumni Head Coaches. Aaron Jaminck of Hibbing/Chisholm, Tyler Palmiscno of East Grand Forks, Robbie Stocker of St Cloud Cathedral & Tony Sandbulte of Luverne all are coaching the teams they once wore jerseys for in high school this week. It's a really great trend to continue to see this year as even with new teams we have Alumni coming back to the community and teaching the game they love to the next generation of program stars where they once grew up and attended.

Section 1A Champions Northfield Raiders
Head Coach: Mike Luckraft 11th year
Record: 22-4-2
Road to State: W 7-0 La Crescent-Hokah, W 5-0 Albert Lea, W 2-0 Rochester Lourdes
State Tournament History: 4th appearance- 2017, 2023, 2024, 2025

Meet The Raiders: Head Coach Mike Luckcraft brings Northfield back to the Class A State Tournament for the third straight year and for the 4th time ever with all appearances happening under his watch in the last eleven years. The Raiders have been the dominant team in Southern Minnesota all year as they won the Big Nine Conference again and went unbeaten in Section 1A play as they were able to shut out all three opponents outscore teams 24-0 through their 1A sectional playoff run to return back to St Paul looking to do some damage. They are led up front by their top line of Seniors #7 Will Cashin (30-30-60 pts) & #21 Griffin Kennelly (18-19-37 pts) and Junior #9 Michael Steward (14-29-43 pts.) who has been their big scoring line all year. Northfield does have plenty of other offensive weapons to team them up with their line of all Juniors #19 Christian Whiteman (5-8-13 pts), #22 Oliver Benjamin (7-11-18 pts) & #14 Charlie Becker (4-8-12 pts) and their young guns line of Sophomores #18 Wade Gilbertson (5-6-11 pts) & #17 Brody Jenson (10-8-18 pts) and 9th grader #20 Miles Kennelly (9-22-31 pts) have all been contributing to an offense that averages 5 goals a game and comes into the Tourney looking deep and dangerous. However, the strength of this year’s Raiders group is on the backend as they play extremely well in their own end which makes them a very dangerous team coming into the Tourney. The blueline is led by their two elite young defenders in Junior #4 Bridger Riley (4-42-46 pts) & Sophomore #2 Ben Geiger (20-34-54 pts) who have been magnificent. Add to them Senior #5 Joey Fogarty (3-811 pts) and Juniors #5 Ashton Pumper (3-9-12 pts.) & #8 Carter Simon (1-3-4 pts.) and there is plenty of depth and talent in the D-core. In the net Goalie Senior #1 Max Frank (16-4-1) 1.96 GAA .904 SV%has been excellent so far in their playoff run as he comes in with three straight shutouts through the 1A Sectional. All the pieces are in place for this team to make some noise at state and they will be a dangerous Quarterfinal opponent for whoever they draw on Wednesday at the Xcel as they want to play on Friday this year.

Section 2A Champions Orono Spartans
Head Coach: Mitch Hall 1st Year
Record: 15-10-3
Road to State: W 6-2 Hutchinson, W 4-3 OT Delano, W 4-3 Minneapolis
State Tournament History:12th appearance- 1992, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2018 (State Title), 2023, 2024, 2025

Meet The Spartans: Head Coach Mitch Hall in just his 1st year at the helm brings Orono back to State for their 12th overall appearance. The Spartans played a very challenging schedule and while they struggled to win against most Class A elites they played everyone tough and now come into the Tourney battle tested and playing their best hockey of the year. Orono offensively does have some good Tourney experience especially with their big line of Senior #9 Trey Landa (21-29- 50 pts) and Juniors #34 Jackson Knight (33-29-62 pts.) & #16 Rory Kvern (13-25-38 pts), who are dangerous every time they hit the ice. They also get good production from their second line of Seniors #28 Ethan Pagel (18-12-30 pts) & Lachlan Hoffman (7-17-24 pts) and 9th grader #38 Ryan De Lange (6-5-11 pts). Add to them a third line of Seniors #13 Bennett Moen (4-2-6 pts) & #13 Talan Reuter (2-4-6 pts) and Junior #19 Boston Foster (0-4-4 pts) and Orono will want to play a heavy game and if they can play their style without going to the box they can wear on opponents as the game goes on. The Spartans are led by big talented Junior #3 Luca DeCubellis (5-18-23 pts.) on the blueline as he already has two Tourney’s under his belt and knows what to expect. Add to him Seniors #2 Miller Willams (3-9-12 pts) & #4 Jacob Pfeifer (2-5-7 pts) who both also played at State last year. Senior #11 Cruz Fey (1-10-11 pts), Junior #22 Nicholas Nugent (1-5-6 pts) & Sophomore #17 Jacob Bradstock (0-2-2 pts) rounds out the defensive core. In goal, Senior #31 Evan Schmidt (11-10-3) 2.69 GAA .906 SV% has been playing his best hockey late in the year and he has been the key component to their (5-1-1) month of February with his solid play in net. This is a team coming to state looking to do some damage and win their program’s 2nd ever State Title in their programs 3rd straight appearance.

Section 3A Champions Luverne Cardinals
Head Coach: Tony Sandbulte 6th Year
Record: 22-4-2
Road to State: W 9-0 Redwood Valley, W 3-2 Mankato East, W 3-2 2OT Mankato West
State Tournament History: 4th appearance- 2014, 2017, 2023, 2025

Meet The Cardinals: Head Coach Tony Sandbulte after leading the Luverne High School Girls to six straight State Tournament berths returned to the boys side as he was the architect of building the boys into a power from for 2008-2013 before leaving for the girls. Now this year he returned to bring his Cardinals back to the State for their 4th time overall. This version of Roll Cards Roll was a team on a mission as they were they were the only #1 seed upset in the Section Semifinals a year ago. However, they made sure that was not going to happen again as they were able to get comeback wins vs both Mankato Schools to head back to state and avenge last year's playoff upset. The Cardinals employ a mainly two line attack led by the top line of Juniors #21 Maddux Domagala (34-39-73 pts), #8 Landyn Lais (28-37-65 pts.) & #6 Blake Sauer (15-17-32 pts) who along with a second line led by Seniors #13 Blaik Bork (19-27-46 pts) & #7 Alex Schlosser (10-15-25 pts) and Sophomore #22 Will Bergman (7-6-13 pts) get a ton of minutes and have carried the scoring load much of the season. They do sprinkle in a third line of Seniors #14 Levi Gonnerman (9-7-16 pts) & #20 Marcus Vortherms (3-4-7 pts) and Sophomore #12 Colton Haubrich (6-4-10 pts). On the blueline they are led by two outstanding underclassman defenseman as Junior #2 Jaxon Lais (13-31-44 pts) & Sophomore #4 Ben Hartquist (16-39-55 pts) are both excellent players. They also get a ton of minutes out of Seniors #10 Layke Miller (1-9-10 pts) & #16 Sage Viessman (2-4-6 pts) as they have been the main four guys who see ice defensively. In the net they have Junior #1 Gavin Hoven (18-4-2) 2.19 GAA .919 SV% who has been excellent for them and he is usually at his best when facing a ton of shots which will most likely be the case at State. Luverne will have a very tough task on their hands as they will most likely draw the Top Seed in the Quarterfinal Round and they will need to be at their best if they hope to stay competitive within that game. Luverne has historically done well at St Paul and they will try to be the first Southwest MN school to win a QF game.

Section 4A Champions Mahtomedi Zephyrs
Head Coach: Jeff Poeschl 28th year
Record: 11-15-2
Road to State: W 5-0 South St Paul, W 10-3 St. Paul Highland Park, W 3-1 Chisago Lakes
State Tournament History: 16th appearance- 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 (State Title), 2022, 2023 (State Title), 2024, 2025

Meet The Zephyrs: Head Coach Jeff Poeschl has guided the Zephyrs back to St. Paul for the 8th time in the last 9 years and for their 16th appearance overall. Mahtomedi played a schedule filled with tough AA teams that they hoped would mold them into a contender by season's end which has become commonplace in recent years. However, it has been a struggle this year as they don’t score much and come in below .500 but they will be a scary low seed to face on Wednesday. The Zephyrs have rolled four lines led by their top line of Seniors #10 Winston Wright (11-10-21 pts), #14 Laken Decker (13-8-21 pts) & #25 Ryan Lipovitz (5-4 9 pts). They have good young scoring line of Junior #16 Brayden Fuerst (3-8-11 pts), Sophomore #8 Devin O'Donnell (12-15-27 pts) & 9th grader #22 Brock Gutterman (7-12-19 pts). They add to that depth lines in Senior #4 Mac Appert (4-6-10 pts) and Junior #12 Blake Loida (3-2-5 pts) & Sophomore #20 Zach Zins (3-8 11 pts) along with the line of Senior #28 Shey Sorenson (1-8-9 pts), Junior #11 Kaden Gagnelius (1-6-7 pts) & Sophomore #17 Will Seevers (7-9-16 pts) to try and wear teams down. The defensive unit led by Senior #2 Joey Pipes (3-7-10 pts) & Junior #23 Cody Loida (4-13-17 pts). Add in Junior #7 Cael Brummel (2-3-5 pts.), Sophomore #9 Trevor Rogosheske (1-9-10 pts.) & 9th grader #3 Ryker Dunbar (2-11-13 pts) and there is lots of youth in a remade defensive core but they have improved throughout the year. In the net Senior #35 Wes Strub (7-9-1) 3.24 GAA .907 SV% & Junior #30 Jackson Chesak (4-6-1) 2.63 GAA .922 SV% have shared the net for most of the year and the rotation has continued into the playoffs as they both have made starts during the postseason. This is always a team that is well coached and prepared to make a tourney run around this time of year and don’t be fooled by the record as this team has played everyone in the Tourney field tight and will be a scary matchup for a high seed on Wednesday.

Section 5A Champions St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders
Head Coach: Robbie Stocker 4th year
Record: 18-8-2
Road to State: W 6-0 Princeton, W 10-3 Little Falls, W 7-0 Monticello
State Tournament History: 13th appearance- 1993, 1994, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 (State Title), 2020, 2023, 2024 (State Title), 2025

Meet The Crusaders: Head Coach Robbie Stocker has done a remarkable turnaround job, after inheriting a complete mess, he helped the Crusaders come full circle and in only his 3rd year he won a State Title. Now he brings Cathedral back to State for the 3rd straight year and the 13th time overall and he has his Defending Champs red hot as they rolled through a tough Section 5A with ease and they come in looking like favorites to repeat. The Crusaders have a potent lineup led by their big top line of Seniors #6 John Hirschfeld (25-51-76 pts) & #24 Joey Gillespie (20-45-65 pts) and 9th grader #17 Bo Schmidt (15-18-33 pts) who have been dynamic and explosive all year and have been a match up nightmare for everyone they face. They have also gotten notable secondary scoring as the year has gone along from their second line of Seniors #13 Jaeger Wood (21-18-39 pts) & #7 Caden Johnson (8-12-20 pts) & #20 Ryan Sturm (1-6-7 pts) who have added some punch behind the big line. Their third line of Juniors #32 Noah Klein (0-2-2 pt.) & #11 Caleb Trant (1-0-1 pts) and 9th grader #23 Talen Ruprecht (1-1-2 pts) gets spotted in occasionally but serves a more defensive role. Defensively they are led by Junior #21 Griffin Sturm (19-27-46 pts.) and he is as special as they come, a phenomenal skater and playmaker from the back end. Add to him Seniors #15 Connor Stockman (1-11-12 pts), #5 Mason Layne (1-2-3 pts) & #34 Ian Bacik (0-3-3 pts) and they have been a work in progress all year as a defensive unit. In the net they have Junior #1 Keaton LeGrande (17-6-2) 2.65 GAA .894 SV% who has been up and down but has played his best late in the year. The Crusaders played a tough Class A Schedule and did struggle with consistency early in the year. However, they have found their game of late and have the best top end talent in Class A and they enter the Tourney having won 11 of their last 13 games and look like a good pick to go back to back as State Champs and win their 3rd State Title overall.

Section 6A Champions Northern Lakes Lightning
Head Coach: Mike Randolph 36th year
Record: 19-8-1
Road to State: W 18-1 Wadena Deer Creek, W 7-2 Breckenridge/Wahpeton, W 4-3 Alexandria
State Tournament History: 2nd appearance- 2021 & 2025

Meet The Lightning: Head Coaching Legend Mike Randolph engineered yet another State Tourney run, his 19th such run which is tied now for most State History, as the Lightning really found their footing in the second half of the year and went an impressive (15-5-1) since the calendar turned to 2025 and they were able to make just their 2nd overall appearance at State. Northern Lakes has really brought into the defensive mindset of Coach Randolph who tinkered with the lineup all year. Upfront they employ two centers Seniors #24 Drew Paulbeck (38-23-61 pts) & #25 Wyatt Balmer (4-30-34 pts), who was defender to start the year, and these two anchor the forwards playing every other shift. They use three sets of wings Senior #7 Easton Anderson (9-17-26 pts) & Sophomore #16 Josiah Reier (11-17- 28 pts), Senior #9 Jerome Martin (17-16- 33 pts) & Junior #14 Jacob Peterson (14-12-26 pts.) and Sophomores #29 Parker Fulton (11-11-22 pts) & #26 Griffen Hannah (4-9-13 pts) make up the wing pairs. Defensively, Senior #13 Preston Verness (4-9-13 pts.) & Sophomore #27 Grant Vershey (1-14-13 pts) make up the top defensive pair and both are strong defenders. Add to them the defensive pairs of Junior #19 Leyton Cable (0-11-11 pts.) & Sophomore #12 Bodie Nybakken (1-8-9 pts) and Sophomores #4 Kyler Rikala (0-1-1 pt) & #5 Derek Berg (0-1-1 pt) have all grown and become stronger throughout the year which has been key to give them good defensive depth. In the net Sophomore Sam Suja (18-6-1, 1.95 GAA & .923 SV%), a transfer from Colorado, has been excellent in net all year and he has 8 shutouts on the year and he keeps Northern Lakes in every game that they play. The Lightning played more like a Coach Mike Randolph team and bought into the 2-3 forecheck as the year went on. This group of Seniors and Sophomore had loads of success in the youth ranks as they both placed high at A Bantam State and now they are looking to use that experience to help them make the big step of playing in St Paul as none of these current players were on the State team in 2021 but this team comes in playing its best hockey now.

Section 7A Champions Hibbing/Chisholm Bluejackets
Head Coach: Aaron Jamnick 1st year
Record: 19-9-0
Road to State: W 11-0 North Shore, W 5-3 Hermantown W 4-3 OT Cloquet/Esko/Carlton
State Tournament History: 14th appearance- 1952 (State Title), 1967, 1970, 1973 (State Title), 1974, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2011, 2025

Meet The Bluejackets: Head Coach Aaron Jamnick in his first year guided Hibbing/Chisholm back to State for the first time since 2011 and for the 14th appearance overall. This group of Hibbing youngsters entered the High School ranks with extremely high expectations and after some growing pains last year they caught fire late in the year and they battled through the toughest Section in Class A and return to St Paul for the first time in 14 years. They are led up front by their top line of all underclassman in Juniors #8 Tate Swanson (20-36-56 pts) & #5 Isaiah Hildenbrand (12-29-41 pts) and 9th grader #2 Cole Swanson (17-30-47 pts) who have come on strong late in the year. The Bluejackets have good depth as their 2nd line of Senior #3 Jace Kampsula (18-13-31 pts) & Junior #12 Benny Galli (13-14-27 pts) recently got Junior #19 Kelin Elsner (10-5-15 pts) back from injury and if he is 100% he will center these two and they provide the team with elite secondary scoring. Their third line of Senior #17 Tyler Raatsi (1-2-3 pts), Junior #18 Hunter Gustavsson (5-4-9 pts) and Sophomore #4 Joey Gabardi (3-6-9 pt) gives them a strong three line attack. The Hibbing backend is as good as you will see in Class A as they have three fabulous defensemen in Junior #9 Ethan Sundvall (12-26-24 pts), Sophomore #28 Jackson Strukel (3-5-8 pts) & 9th grader #40 Whitaker Rewertz (9-9-18 pts) who all have good speed and elite skill which allows this team to get out of their end with the best of any in the State. They did lose Junior #21 Dylan Vesel (1-10-11 pts) to season ending injury in the playoffs but Juniors #24 Landon Krampotich (3-6-9 pts) & #26 Mason McDonald (0-5-5 pts) have stepped up in his absence. Add to them Goaltender Senior #30 Rex Walli (14-5-0) 2.27 GAA .900 SV% who is playing excellent in net and has been a wall in the playoffs. Hibbing finally returns to St Paul after over a decade plus wait with a young and exciting team that will look to take home State Title #3 by the weekend's end.

Section 8A Champions East Grand Forks Greenwave
Head Coach: Tyler Palmiscno 14th year
Record: 13-13-2
Road to State: W 7-0 Bagley/Fosston, W 7-3 Crookston, W 3-2 OT Warroad
State Tournament History: 14th appearance- 1971, 1980, 1982, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2013, 2014 (State Title), 2015 (State Title), 2017, 2019, 2021, 2025

Meet The Greenwave: Head Coach Tyler Palmiscno brings his Greenwave back to State for the 1st time since 2021 and the 14th time in program history. East Grand Forks started the year as the preseason #1 team in Class A but they got out of the gate slowly and had an overall disappointing year. However, they won the games that matter and they knock off the #1 team to get back state. EGF is led by their 1st line of Senior #15 Cooper Hills (6-21-37 pts.), Junior #6 Tucker Lovejoy (17-9-26 pts.) & Sophomore #17 Jace Panzer (8-15-23 pts.) as this line has been their big producer down the stretch line. They have good depth Seniors #9 Jace Van Erps (11-12-23 pts), #7 Hunter Varnson (8-24-32 pts) & #16 Noah Frize (0-2-72 pts) have been giving them a veteran presence and steady production during this playoff run. They have also gotten growing offensive contributions from the line of Senior #8 Jordan Nowacki (0-2-2 pts) and Juniors #14 Nolan Meulebroeck (6-7-13 pts) & #10 Braden Overgaard (2-3-5 pts) to add some depth scoring and make them more dangerous. Defensively are led by Seniors #2 Cole Bies (5-15-20 pts.), #11 Judd Pesch (2-9-11 pts) & #27 Nick Corbett (2-11-13 pts) who all have played big minutes since they were Sophomores. and are very good in their own end and can jump up in a rush at any time to be dangerous. They did lose elite defender Sophomore #26 Max Bies (3-5-8 pts) to injury but Juniors #18 Cole Schmiedeberg (6-2-8 pts) & #4 Brody Schmaltz (1-0-1 pts) and Sophomore #25 Ryan Clauson (1-3-4 pts) have stepped up in his place. In the net Goaltender Sophomore #1 Noah Schindele (12-10-2) 2.69 GAA .898 SV% has stepped up big in the playoffs This team looks to now fulfill those preseason #1 expectations that many had for them and come to St Paul and take home State Title #3 by the end of next week’s play.

[ClassAGuy]

BHS 2025 Class A State Tournament Schedule

Class A Quarterfinal Games (3/5/25) @ Xcel Energy Center
11:00 AM #2 (5A) St Cloud Cathedral vs #7 (4A) Mahtomedi
1:00 PM #3 (1A) Northfield vs #6 (2A) Orono
6:00 PM #1 (7A) Hibbing/Chisholm vs #8 (3A) Luverne
8:00 PM #4 (8A) East Grand Forks vs #5 (6A) Northern Lakes

Class A Consolation Games (3/6/25) @ Mariucci
10:00 AM Loser of QF Game #1 vs Loser of QF Game #2
12:00 PM Loser of QF Game #3 vs Loser of QF Game #4

Class A Semifinal Games (3/7/25) @ Xcel Energy Center
11:00 AM Winner of QF Game #1 vs Winner of QF Game #2
1:00 PM Winner of QF Game #3 vs Winner of QF Game #4

Class A Third Place Game (3/8/25) @ Xcel Energy Center
9:30 AM Loser of SF Game #1 vs Loser of SF Game #2

Class A Consolation Championship Game (3/8/25) @ Mariucci
10:00 AM Winner of Consolation Game #1 vs Winner of Consolation Game #2

Class A Championship Game (3/8/24) @ Xcel Energy Center
12:00 PM Winner of SF Game #1 vs Winner of SF Game #2

[east hockey]

Tough pairing for Randolph's boys in the quarterfinals!

Lee

[ClassAGuy]

Tough pairing for Randolph's boys in the quarterfinals!

Lee

They know each other. When EGF & Northern Lakes Seniors were 2nd year Bantams they played in the State Title Game.

Greenwave roughed them up that day see how much both club have progressed in their 3 years of High School Hockey now

[ClassAGuy]

Quick Snapshot of Wednesday Opening Round
- SCC vs Zephs- Just played OT 2 weeks ago
- NFLD vs Orono- They meet again for the 3rd straight year they play at State very even teams
- Hibbing vs Luv- High end skill North vs South, Luverne draws 7A Champs for the 4th time in 4 appearances.
- EGF vs NL- A Bantam State Title Rematch from when they were freshman

This could be a fun Wednesday! Only time will tell!

[ryguyMN]

Thanks for the write up. Mulling over attending the Class A semis on Friday.