sports

About the Cadets: St. Thomas Academy won’t rely on offense to carry it to a third consecutive state championship. The Cadets have built their 24-victory season around a defense that has only given up 32 goals. “That’s something we’ve never done,” coach Greg Vannelli said. “We’re not really an offensive power. We’re more just a team that is really tough to score on.” If the Cadets build a lead, it’ll be tough for anyone to come back on them. They showed this against a pair of Class 2A qualifiers, Hill-Murray and Edina. Senior goaltender David Zevnik has a .942 save percentage (487 saves) and a pair of state championships for experience. Offense won’t be a problem for the Cadets, who have scored 150 goals spread out among 18 players who contributed points.

About the Eagles: It’s been 30 years since St. Cloud Apollo has skated in the state tournament. The unranked Eagles pieced together an interesting path to St. Paul by winning more on the road (10-3) than they did at home (6-7). A record performance helped land the Eagles back in the tournament. Senior winger Jared Christen set school records with 43 goals and 39 assists. Freshman Nick Althaus defends the net for St. Cloud Apollo. He has a .871 save percentage, stopping 603 shots.

Did you know? If St. Thomas Academy wins a state title, it will be the first time since Bloomington Jefferson in 1994 that a boys’ team has won in three consecutive years.

JASON GONZALEZ