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March 8th, 2025 | 12:00 PM CT | Class A Championship | @ Xcel Energy Center, St Paul MN

#2 (5A) St Cloud Cathedral Crusaders (20-8-2)
St Cloud Cathedral is back in the Class A Championship game after they cruised past Orono in the Semifinal round. They will now be looking to win back to back titles as they take on East Grand Forks. Cathedral did crush EGF up at their place not too long ago but this is a different team. The Crusaders have been on their mission as since the start of the playoffs they have now outscored teams 26-3 through 5 games on their way back to the State Title Game and they look for title #3.

Crusaders Leaders- Seniors #6 John Hirschfeld (25-53-78 pts), #24 Joey Gillespie (23-46-69 pts) & 9th grader Bo Schmidt (17-18-35 pts) lead a very powerful SCC offense and they seem to play their best in the biggest games and they have been great all year. Junior #21 Griffin Sturm (19-29-48 pts) leads the SCC blueline group and he is one of the top defenders in all of Class A again this season.

Crusaders Goalie- Junior #1 Keaton LeGrande (19-6-2) 2.49 GAA .900 SV% has been the Crusaders main guy in net this winter. He has been at his best in the playoffs as he has 3 shutouts in 5 playoff games now.

Crusaders Hot Wood Stick- Cathedral is known for their Big Three and that is rightfully so as those players are elite and have carried SCC for much of the year. However, during their explosive playoff run Senior #13 Jaeger Wood (23-20-43 pts.) continues to have one of the hottest sticks in the state as he has 13 points in five playoff games and has now gone over 100 points in his Cathedral career and he will be key vs EGF as he adds needed secondary scoring to the Big Line for SCC to match up with a deep East Grand Forks team.

Crusaders Special Teams- The Power Play is at 32.1% and Penalty Kill is at 72.8 %

#4 (8A) East Grand Forks Greenwave (15-13-2)
East Grand Forks gets back to their first championship since they won back to back titles in 2014 & 2015. They have been on a roll of late as they upset the State’s #1 team in sections and then knocked off the top Tourney seed in Hibbing. Now they will face Cathedral, a team who crushed them at their place during the year. They will look to flip the script in this one as the State’s Preseason #1 Class A team will now look to fulfill those expectations and win State title number three.

EGF Leaders- Seniors #7 Hunter Varnson (9-24-33 pts) & #9 Jace Van Eps (13-12-25 pts) and Juniors #6 Tucker Lovejoy (19-10-29 pts) & Sophomore #17 Jace Panzer (10-15-25 pts) lead the way up front. Seniors #2 Cole Bies (7-16-23 pts.), #11 Judd Pesch (3-9-13 pts) & #27 Nick Corbett (2-11-13 pts) anchor the blueline as they all have tons of varsity hockey experience under their belt.

EGF Goalie- Sophomore #1 Noah Schindele (14-10-2) 2.59 GAA .888 SV% won the job in net as the year went along but goaltending always seems to be the Achilles heel of EGF, but Schindele has been at his best in the playoffs.

EGF’s “Man’s Game” - Coach Tyler Palmiscno famously referred to EGF's style of play as a “Man's Game”. The Greenwave employ a rough and tough style as they will play a heavy game as they try to hit and check their opponents into submission using waves of depth that will not blow you away with skill and flash but they will make you earn every inch of ice. This is going to be a fun test to see how well they can slow down the big line of SCC the first time they met it did not go well as Cathedral put 11 on them it will be different this time

EGF Special Teams- The Power Play is at 22.3% and Penalty Kill is at 81.9 %

Man I don't know who to go with.
Head says SCC, but EGF has come on in the tournament.
SCC is after a repeat, and I don't remember if EGF has won at all.

raidergrad72 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 11:55 am Man I don't know who to go with.
Head says SCC, but EGF has come on in the tournament.
SCC is after a repeat, and I don't remember if EGF has won at all.

2014 & 2015

Lee

east hockey wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 11:56 am

raidergrad72 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 11:55 am Man I don't know who to go with.
Head says SCC, but EGF has come on in the tournament.
SCC is after a repeat, and I don't remember if EGF has won at all.

2014 & 2015

Lee

Thank you!

0-0 after 1. SOG 11-8 EGF.
They seem to be feeling one another out.

Like the hustle & quickness of EGF, but SCC did turn it on a little more.

How did SCC not score on that flurry!

EGF finally scored about mid 2nd period. 1-0.

Still 1-0 end of 2. SOG 24-19 SCC.
Lots of close calls this period.

Exciting game with the back-and-forth!

&#@:&#!

Green Wave just got screwed, big time.

Congrats East Grand Forks!

TTpuckster wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 2:11 pm Green Wave just got screwed, big time.

And they overcame it. Great win and championship!

Lee

Refs gotta be breathing sigh of relief, because they almost cost EGF title.

We had to leave with about 3 min. left in regulation, but listened on 1440 AM.
The guys on the station weren't the most exciting but at least there was a way to keep up.
I'll have to watch the DVR tomorrow to see that call.
Congrats to EGF!

They should have called the knee on knee against Cathedral earlier. Then I think they evened it up with the check in the back to Hirschfeld but they felt they needed to call the 3rd one. Unfortunately that looked more like a hip check and was the least obvious of the 3.

Congrats to EGF. Well earned championship.

Probably the worst call in history of the tourney

Don't see that type of winning goal much.

Interesting how these two teams don’t get crap for playing single A, with how many championships and appearances they’ve had, why do they get a pass?

TTpuckster wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 2:11 pm Green Wave just got screwed, big time.

No worse than Hibbing did in the semis. And this isn't a complaint, it's a compliment. EGF saw that the refs were gonna swallow the whistles and not call a major unless a player was actually murdered on the ice, so they let rip with the dangerous hits. By the same token, I can't blame SCC for seeing the same thing and taking a chance to injure an opponent also. The refs let it go on in these games, so they are the only ones to blame.

And I'm not saying Hibbing lost because of the non-calls. EGF found a way to battle through it, and Hibbing could have also; it wasn't the reason they lost.

Congrats to EGF on their championship. I had them #1 with a bullet pre-season and couldn't believe how mediocre they looked during the regular season, but they pulled it together at the right time and got it done. Holding a team to one goal after they scored 11 on you a month earlier is insane.

Tulls29 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 4:28 pm Interesting how these two teams don’t get crap for playing single A, with how many championships and appearances they’ve had, why do they get a pass?

They get a pass because they are not in the path of Hibbing making it to state. Only Hermantown gets that wonderful distinction. If EGF of SCC were in 7A a certain poster would have a tantrum and start tearing their program apart. Congratulations to EGF now move to AA.

pekyman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 5:30 pm

Tulls29 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 08, 2025 4:28 pm Interesting how these two teams don’t get crap for playing single A, with how many championships and appearances they’ve had, why do they get a pass?

They get a pass because they are not in the path of Hibbing making it to state. Only Hermantown gets that wonderful distinction. If EGF of SCC were in 7A a certain poster would have a tantrum and start tearing their program apart. Congratulations to EGF now move to AA.

As usual peks, you're wrong. I attempted to make an EGF thread last year, similar to the famous Hermantown one, investigating how EGF was suddenly competing with the best in AA at the youth levels annually, but I was told there were no transfers or open enrollees, and that EGF uses a "magical Swedish squirt practice". Then it got locked almost immediately. So I was out there fighting for you, brother, but it wasn't meant to be.

Don't forget peky, when I was criticizing STA, you were my best friend, but once the lens got turned on Hermantown, man, did your tune change. So don't pretend I'm the only one who is biased.

Either way, I'm glad I still live in your head rent-free after all these years, especially because I don't think about you at all.