State tournament notes: Replay rulings kill Greenway's early momentum

St. Cloud Cathedral players raised their sticks in celebration of their tying goal as the red goal light flickered.

To their surprise, a wave of the referee's arms meant play continued. Moments later, Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin scored to go ahead 2-0 in the first period of the Class 1A championship game.

"You're thinking, 'Are we really going to be down 2-0 after we tied up the game?' " Cathedral coach Derrick Brown said.

Relax, Coach. Instant replay had the Crusaders' back.

The referee missed an obvious goal, but the cameras did not. Luke Schmidt's goal was awarded and the second Greenway goal was wiped off the books.

"I've been kind of anti-having the instant replay down here because we don't have it all year," Brown said. "I'm a big proponent now of this instant replay because it truly did change the game."

St. Cloud Cathedral standout Nate Warner played through a painful shoulder injury (torn labrum) starting at the end of the regular season and throughout the playoffs. The junior forward, committed to play at Minnesota, is scheduled to undergo surgery on March 18 and will be out of action for the next four or five months.

Blaine's breakaway drills at practice came in handy twice in the third-place game against St. Thomas Academy.

Both Cam Shoberg and Cole Hansen each scored on penalty shots, believed to be the first time in a state tournament game two penalty shots were awarded.

"You don't see that too often so I was like, 'Wow,' " Hansen said.

He watched Shoberg approach from the left side and score between the goalie's legs but decided to "do my own thing" and come down the right side and finish with filthy stick work.

Lakeville South goaltender Henry Welsch set a record with 131 saves in a state tournament. The senior broke the mark of 124 set by Doug Long of St. Paul Johnson in 1970.

Blaine, with goals from five players, posted a 5-1 victory against St. Thomas Academy. In Class 1A, junior forward Colin Hagstrom scored twice as Mahtomedi defeated East Grand Forks 7-3.

Duluth East posted a 5-0 shutout of Lakeville South for the consolation title. Jacob Jeannette scored a goal and added three assists. Greyhounds goaltenders Lukan Hanson and Brody Rabold co-authored the shutout.

In Class 1A, Delano outlasted North Branch 2-1. Delano goaltender Aaron Kruse stopped all 10 shots in the third period.