Senior defenseman Chase Foley scored with 1 minute, 40 seconds left in overtime at Ridder Arena to vault Class 2A, No. 5 St. Thomas Academy past Eden Prairie 5-4 and into the Schwan's Cup Gold Division boys' hockey championship game Wednesday night.
Foley fired a shot through the pads of goaltender Andrew Dietrich to give the Cadets the victory over the Class No. 11 Eagles in the semifinal matchup.
Carson Jones forced overtime for the Eagles by scoring with 2:22 left in regulation. Jones' goal marked the third time the Eagles rallied to tie the score, but they never led.
Brendan McFadden and Luke Herzog scored in the first period to give St. Thomas Academy an early 2-0 lead, but Eden Prairie rallied with goals by John Mittelstadt and Jack Jensen in the final 1:31 of the opening period to tie the sore.
St. Thomas Academy's Cade Huntley and Eden Prairie's Chris Konin exchanged goals in the first 2:30 of the second period, and power-play goal by the Cadets' Ryan O'Neill made it 4-3 entering the third.
In the other Gold Division semifinal, Class 2A, No. 2 Minnetonka defeated Hill-Murray 4-2. Luke Loheit had a goal and an assist to lead the Skippers. Joe Molenaar, Mitchell McGannon and Jack Bayless also scored for the Skippers. Joey Petronack and Joseph Quast scored for the Pioneers.
Schwan's Cup Silver Division: Class 2A, No. 9 Cretin-Derham Hall defeated Class 1A, No. 7 Breck 5-1 in the semifinals. Joey Gimberlin scored two goals and had an assist to lead the Raiders. Niko Castro had a goal and an assist, Nick Davison and Matthew Gleason had a goal each and George Maguire had 25 saves for the Raiders. Will Torgerson scored a goal and Linden Olness stopped 28 shots for the Mustangs. The Raiders will face Minneapolis in the final. Minneapolis upset Class 1A, No. 1 Mahtomedi 3-1 in the other semifinal.
Bronze Division: Minnehaha Academy defeated Spring Lake Park in a shootout 3-2 after the two teams tied 2-2. Zach Proulx sent the game to overtime for the Panthers with 2:54 left in the third period. Cole Knutson got the Redhawks on the board first 1:06 into the game. Zach Zemlicka tied the score with 1:02 left in the first period. The Redhawks reclaimed the lead 3:11 into the third period on a goal by Eli Smith. Tommy Sedgwick had two assists for the Redhawks. The Redhawks will face Hudson (Wis.) in the final. The Raiders defeated Rogers 3-0 in the semifinal.
