A hat trick by Burnsville senior forward Cade Borchardt — his third in three games — helped the Blaze clinch its first state tournament berth since 2007 with a 7-1 victory over St. Thomas Academy on Thursday in the Class 2A, Section 3 final.

"This is the best moment of my life," Borchardt said. "I can't even put this into words. It's unbelievable."

After a scoreless first period at Ridder Arena in which the Blaze killed two penalties, Burnsville (16-10-3) struck with three goals in the second.

"It was important that we were able to kill those [penalties] off. It gave us some confidence that, 'Hey, we can play with these guys,' " Blaze coach Janne Kivihalme said.

Borchardt scored his first goal on a power play late in the second period. Burnsville senior forwards Eric Otto and Gavin Wagner had scored earlier in the period.

"We pumped those three away,'' Borchardt said, "and it sparked us."

The Cadets (16-7-5) scored at the 13:16 mark in the third period on a goal by junior defenseman Jackson Shogren. But Burnsville scored four more goals, including two more from Borchardt.

"It feels good. We've been in this game for a long time … and we figured sooner or later we were going to get through it," Kivihalme said. "And we got it through today."

KAITLIN MERKEL

Farmington 6, Lakeville North 2: The Tigers scored four goals in a 4-minute, 55-second span in the second period to upset the defending state champs in Section 1. Wyatt Jensen and John Siebenaler recorded a goal and two assists each in that outburst. The Tigers are going to the state tournament for the first time since joining Class 2A. The Panthers got back into the game with goals from Taylor Schneider late in the second period and Reed Smith early in the third. Andy Meyer put the game away for the Tigers with two empty-net goals. Gavin Enright stopped 20 shots for the Tigers.

Grand Rapids 6, Duluth East 5: Alex Adams scored with seven seconds left in the Section 7 title game to complete the Thunderhawks' comeback and defeat the 2015 state tournament runner-up. Jonah Bischoff scored two goals in 44 seconds to erase a two-goal deficit in the third period. Ash Altmann scored two goals for the Greyhounds. Blake McLaughlin and Drake Anderson gave the Thunderhawks a pair of one-goal leads in the first period. Auston Crist tied the game at 2-2 before Ryan Peterson gave the Greyhounds their first lead in the second period. Gabe Holum stopped 29 shots for the Thunderhawks, who reached the state tournament for the first time since 2007.