Cathedral ties state hockey championship in final minute of regulation, but loses in OT

SAINT PAUL — With less than one minute left in regulation, St. Cloud Cathedral scored its first goal of the 2025 Class 1A Minnesota state hockey championship.

The goal by freshman Bo Schmidt was enough to force overtime against East Grand Forks, but under two minutes into the extra period, Green Wave senior Jace Van Eps squeezed a shot past junior goalie Keaton Legrande, winning the game 2-1.

“We just knew we had to get the puck in into the corner area and just keep battling, and eventually we were going to get one in,” Cathedral senior John Hirschfeld said in the postgame press conference. “I mean, we were out playing them in the second and the third — at least what I felt. We knew we were going to get a bounce eventually, and obviously we did. It didn’t end up our way at the end of the game, but just how it goes sometimes.”

The winning shot came from deep in the corner, sliding through the few inches between LeGrande’s right skate and the post as he repositioned from squaring up on the breakaway. LeGrande, who had three shutouts in the postseason, collapsed after the winning goal. He made 29 saves over the course of the game and was named all-tournament before receiving his second-place medal.

“Sometimes it happens,” Stocker said. “It’s not fair. Flukey goal like that goes in; there's nothing you can really do to prevent it — that’s just how hockey goes sometimes.”

He said the Green Wave (16-13-2) “play the right way.” They last made the tournament in 2021, and 2025 is their first championship since going back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.

Hirschfeld and classmate Joey Gillespie were also named to the all-tournament team along with junior defenseman Griffin Sturm. The trio lead Cathedral (20-9-2) in scoring this year and played long shifts all week.

Saturday’s championship game at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul was just the fourth time all year Cathedral failed to score multiple goals. The Crusaders put 38 shots on goal.

Though Schmidt wristed the puck into the net with 47.2 seconds left in regulation, the play was set up by Hirschfeld. The Mr. Hockey candidate somehow got the shaft of his stick on the puck to deflect an attempted clearance down to senior Caden Johnson, who got the puck to Schmidt on the left wing for his third goal of the state tournament. Cathedral was playing 6-4 on the powerplay with an open net.

“We just went back to the same faceoff play that we've run,” Stocker said. “We work on six-man all throughout the playoff stretch, and the guys did a great job executing it. It was awesome to see them push through a little adversity and tie it up."

Stocker felt like Cathedral controlled most of the game and said sophomore goalie Noah Schindele was “on fire.”

“They played a great game as the underdog, right?” he said. “They blocked a ton of shots, they did a nice job in front of their goalie clearing pucks. We just didn't have the bounces going our way today, and that's how it goes. We've been rolling along pretty well during playoffs. Pucks have been going in the net for us, and sometimes it just goes cold, but we did things the right way.”

The last time the defending champion Crusaders were held scoreless in both of the first two periods was the last time the team was shut out — Jan. 9 on the road against last year’s championship opponent Hermantown.

“Today, we couldn’t score right away, so obviously it took a little bit of confidence away from the group, them getting the first one,” Hirschfeld said. “They had F3 high and played with three defense basically.”

When Cathedral bussed north to East Grand Forks on Jan. 31, the Crusaders beat the Green Wave 11-5.

“They played a lot more structured this time, a lot more physical,” Gillespie said. “They were on their marks a lot more.”

Both teams had high preseason expectations, but struggled at times throughout the year. The championship was EGF’s eighth overtime game this season, including its 3-2 Section 8-1A championship win over Warroad (20-7-1). Coach Tyler Palmiscno called Schindele “an unbelievably calm presence.”

“We had an extremely difficult season, but we never lost sight of what our end goal was, and that was to win a section championship and then win a state title,” he said. “I would say Jan. 15 there were very few people in Minnesota that thought that we would have that trophy in our locker room right now. I’m not even saying that we really believed it, but I know that we believed if we kept showing up and kept going to work, good things happen when you commit to those principles.”

“We just found ways. I’m really proud of this group,” he said.

Both coaches discussed previous championships won by dominant teams — the Wave in 2014 and 2015 and the Crusaders in 2024. They talked about feeling pride, especially for the resiliency that this years’ squads showed.

Cathedral graduates 10 seniors from a program Gillespie called “a family.” Committed to play for the Vermont Catamounts, Hirschfeld ends his career with 224 points, a program record among several to his name.

“Obviously I wanted to come back and win a state championship, but that’s not what it was all about,” Hirschfeld said. “It was playing with my teammates and classmates.”

Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.