St. Paul, MN – After the 1A Final combatants were determined, the 2A took to the ice to decide who would play in the 2A Final Saturday night in the second half of Semi-Final Friday.
In the first tilt, #3 seed St Thomas Academy Cadets (23-5) took on the #2 seed Stillwater Ponies (22-6), two evenly-matched teams coming into their match-up with momentum on both sides.
Both clubs traded chances early with Stillwater gaining an upper hand when going on the power play after a tripping penalty on Max Candon after he upended a Stillwater player who was cutting across the slot area.
It didn’t take the Ponies long to convert.
Stillwater was just getting warmed up. While cruising into the zone, Lucas Myers fed Blake Vanek into the zone and dished it off Jonas Kohn who made no mistake in slipping it past Cadet goaltender Cody Nieson.
Not longer thereafter, Stillwater’s Lucas Jarvis to make it 2-0 when the Ponies cruised into the Cadet zone and set-up a moving screen which blocked the view of Nieson and had no chance.
Stillwater had the upper hand, but allowed that grip to loosen when 4 took an ill-advised penalty for hooking with about six minutes to play in the period.
Just before the penalty expired, St. Thomas had a golden chance when a short-side drive nearly snuck past Cal Conway, but he held the low corner shut tight and retained the two-goal lead.
With less than a few minutes left in the period, a dangerous play took place when St. Thomas’ Lane Powers was whistled for boarding, sending Stillwater onto the power play. That lasted all of five seconds when Stillwater’s Matthew Volkman was called for Cross-checking at the other end of the ice, resulting in 4-on-4 play to continue through to the end of the period.
Teams evenly trade chances with the Cadets getting a bit more of an edge in play, but still could not convert and penetrate the Stillwater defense.
They gained some help when John Karkula was sent off forcross-checking with just more than 5 minutes left in the second period.
With just more than three minutes to play and the penalty kill just having expired, Stillwater Blake Vanek forechecked, collected the puck and centered to Brody Dustin who nearly made the score 3-0, but his shot just went wide.
With just more than five minutes into the period, St. Thomas nearly got on the board. That’s when Michael Mikan stripped a pass, dished it off to Jackson Rudh who sent it back to Mikan for the shot. His drive went just wide, but the rebound came out in front where an open net awaited, but no one there to tickle twine.
At that stage the Cadets had doubled up the Ponies in shots
That missed open net loomed large when with just more than eleven minutes to play, Stillwater descended on the St. Thomas net,
Luca Janis fed Matthew Volkman who delivered the puck back to his teammate. Volkman found Trey Fredenberg to extend the lead to 3-0.
What St. Thomas didn’t need was a shorthanded situation, but that is exactly what they received when Cody Kronberg tripped Lucas Myers to put the Ponies on the man advantage with just seven minutes remaining in regulation.
Stillwater nearly surrendered a shorthanded goal, but the marker was disallowed when their goaltender was interfered with in the crease.
With just more than three minutes to play, Blake Vanek fired the puck into an empty net securing the victory and a berth in the 2A Final.
The final game of the day to determine the Final entry into the 2A Final involved #1 seed Moorhead Spuds (25-2-1) against the #5 seed Edina Hornets (20-6-2).
The two power houses spent the first ten minutes of the opening stanza feeling each other out, lots of icings, some rough stuff after the play and generally working to gain an advantage as this was expected to be a tight game.
Then Edina broke through with speed and crisp passing to put the first mark on the board. A nifty passing play penetrated the Spuds’ zone and XXXX slipped one along the ice between the pads to light the lamp.
But Moorehead an answer, in fact two of them to not only tie it, but to take the lead, all within forty-six seconds.
Zac Zimmerman sniped a bad angle shot over the goaltender’s left shoulder, roofing the puck to tie the game.
Just forty-six second later, Mason Kraft propelled a low drive glove side that eluded the Edina netminder, giving the Spuds their first lead of the game.
A little less than three minutes later, the Hornets knotted things up. That’s when Mason West had a puck go off his skate and into the net.
Fifty-two seconds after the tying goal, Mason West achieved the hat trick and a lead for Edina when he sent a drive that beat the goalie along the ice.
The second period began slower than the first period pace with Moorhead looking to get the equalizer and stymie the momentum Edina had generated.
It took awhile, but about twelve minutes into the frame, the Spuds struck.
With Moorhead controlling the play and the puck high in the slot, Brooks Cullen found a rebound off Casey Vandertop’s blocked drive over the glove side shoulder to even things up 3-3.
The teams entered the final regulation period looking for an edge, low shot totals up to this point had the teams in low double-digits.
Edina had a chance after Moorehead’s ASiden Dufault was called for slashing. After several chances, The Hornets could not get the goal to take the lead.
Then with 2:45 left in the period, Edina’s Sam Peckham interfered with a Moorhead player, sending the Spuds on the power play.
That’s all the Spuds needed. With just under a minute to play and thirteen second left I the man-advantage, Zac Zimmerman got his own rebound and sent the puck into the open net behind a sprawling Edina goaltender Chase Bjorgaard to give Moorehead the 4-3 lead.
Saturday in the 1A Final, St. Cloud Cathedral will take on East Grand Forks at Noon while Orono will battle Hibbing for 3rd place at 9:30 AM.
Then in the 2A Final, Stillwater will battle Moorhead at 7 PM while St. Thomas Academy will face Edina for 3rd place at 4 PM.
Dennis Morrell has developed a deeply rooted passion for our game over many decades as a goaltender, writer, photographer, goalie coach, and active Level 3 USA Hockey-certified, on-ice official with over 2,500 games with the whistle. His passion for the game began in the early 70s upon his first glance at players battling for the puck at Clayton’s Shaw Park.
And yes, the ice is perfect.
He has been fortunate to journalistically cover 2 NHL Entry Drafts, 5 NHL All-Star Games, 10 NHL Outdoor Games in two countries and 25 games played in the context of 10 Stanley Cup Final series, witnessing the oldest trophy in sports lifted by the champion 4 times, including when his beloved hometown team, the St. Louis Blues, won their first chalice in 2019.
He has witnessed over 1,000 major and minor professional games in over 250 different arenas. He can be reached at dennis.morrell@prohockeynews.com and you can follow 
him on Twitter at DMMORRELL.
You must be logged in to post a comment.