St. Paul, MN – The end of a long season came to a close for the 1A and 2A combatants at the 2025 Minnesota High School Hockey Championships at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN.
In its 81st year of competition, with crowds bursting at the arena, the action was fierce and enjoyable. The long season has come to an end and two new champions have been crowned.
In the Class 1A Final, goaltender Noah Schindele saved 37 shots as No. 4 seed East Grand Forks (16-13-2) won 2-1 in overtime against No. 2 seed St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders (20-9-2) for the victory, its their third in hockey program history.
The battle was about as even as it could be for a team which had a highly competitive schedule and found itself entering the tournament with a 500-record.
The only blemish on Schindele’s afternoon was the game-tying goal when St. Cloud Cathedral’s Bo Schmidt scored for the Crusaders. With a two-man advantage strengthened due to puling their goalie for the extra attacker, St. Cloud Cathedral went to work.
Schmidt’s shot was enough to get through Schindele glove, despite him getting a piece of the effort, but got through and over the goal line to bring the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, Jace Van Eps was in the corner to the left of the Crusader goal when he turned and fired the puck on net, catching St. Cloud Cathedral goalie Keaton LeGrande off-guard.
The fired puck went off LeGrande and into the net for the championship-clinching goal.
In the post-game press conference, Eps said, “I saw out of the corner of my eye that the goalie was a little bit out of position, and I thought I could kind of bank it off his leg there.”
Coach Palmiscno raved of Eps performance and place in school history while also discussing his club’s march through the playoffs.
“I think that once the puck dropped in the section playoffs,” Palmiscno said, “all of a sudden we hit a gear, as a group of 20, led by a senior class that was very driven.”
Despite a record a champion is less likely to have achieved, the team kept their focus on the objective of winning sectionals and then advancing to the state tournament where anything can happen.
Both teams opened the game with end-to-end rushes and glorious chances to take the lead.
St. Cloud hit a cross bar just two minutes into the game and got off to an 8-1 edge in shots at one point during the period. East Grand Forks had several golden chances and nearly lit the lamp before Crusaders goalie Keaton LeGrande made a few stellar saves to keep the game scoreless through one frame.
But the Green Wave’s persistence finally paid off when Cooper Hills sent a loose puck he found in the crease across the goal line to take the lead. Jace Panzer and Tucker Lovejoy with the apples on a goal coming just less than ten minutes left in the period.
East Grand Forks took the 1-0 lead in the third period despite St. Cloud Cathedrals 24-19 edge on shots.
As the game came to a close with just five minutes remaining, East Grand Forks goaltender Noah Schindele hadto be sharp with a series of saves to keep the slim lead.
A tripping call against Cooper Hills in the St. Cloud Cathedral zone led to a power play and the face-off inside the Wave zone with just under a minute in regulation.
That’s when Freshman sniper Bo Schmidt tied the game with just 47 seconds left. His drive from the left dot eluded Schindele’s pads setting off a frenzy in the arena. Caden Johnson and John Hirschfeld had the helpers.
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.
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