St. Thomas Academy makes it 4 in a row

St. Thomas Academy forward Will Soderling corralled a pass from defenseman Nick Owens just inside the Burnsville blue line, wound up his stick and paused.

Soderling wanted to wait to shoot until the Burnsville defender in front of him slid past, he said after the game. The move worked. His slapshot found the back of the net, and the goal proved to be all the Cadets needed in a 2-0 victory over the Blaze in the Class 2A, Section 3 championship at Braemar Ice Arena.

"It was kind of a for-real moment," Soderling said, adding that he didn't know at first if the shot went it. "When I just heard the crowd going, I was going crazy."

Tommy Aitken made 29 saves, and defenseman Connor O'Brien scored an empty-netter with 1:34 to go for the fifth-seeded Cadets (18-8-2).

The Cadets clinched their fourth consecutive state tournament appearance and first under new coach Trent Eigner. It came after a 5-7-2 start to the season.

"The kids were just amazingly resilient in what we were trying to accomplish," Eigner said. "Obviously we got our feet under us, and here we are."

The Cadets were outshot 12-11 in the first period Thursday, but outshot second-seeded Burnsville (17-9-2) 12-6 in the second.

Evan Wittchow had 30 saves for the Blaze (17-9-2), which was looking for its first state tourney bid since 2016.

"Proud of the way they battled the whole game," second-year coach Steve Beaulieu said. "We could have used a bounce one way, but we didn't get it, and that's just the way it goes."