Box Score: St. Thomas Academy vs. St. Cloud Cathedral - 2008 Class A Semifinal

St. Thomas Academy 9, St. Cloud Cathedral 2 (Final)

St. Thomas Academy | 3 | 4 | 2 || 9 |
St. Cloud Cathedral | 0 | 1 | 1 || 2 |

Shots:

St. Thomas Academy | 4 | 14 | 15 || 33 |
St. Cloud Cathedral | 8 | 2 | 12 || 22 |

Scoring:

1st Period:

St. Thomas Academy: 0:17, James Saintey 2 (Ryan Walters, Conor Rooney)
St. Thomas Academy: 12:46 Ryan Walters 4 (James Saintey, Rob Vanelli)
St. Thomas Academy: 13:10 Jon Schreiner 1 (Christian Isackson, Justin Crandall)

St. Thomas scores quickly to take a 1-0 on a goal by James Saintey.

Nice recovery by St. Cloud Cathedral after giving up an early goal. Crusader Nate Schmidt, Minnesota Gopher recruit, has had a couple of really nice hits on the Cadets.

Just after it looked like St. Cloud Cathedral was settled down and would give St. Thomas Academy a good game, the Cadets strike not once but twice within 24 seconds.

The difference right now is the goaltending. The Cadets have only had four shots on goal but they netted three of those four shots to take a 3-0 lead after one period. Kurt Altrichter has been challenged by the Crusaders but he has come up big with some nice saves.

I do not think the Crusaders are out of it yet. They put on the most pressure in the first period. They will need to score the first goal in the second period if they are going to have a chance to get back in this. Crusader goaltender Nick Maiers will need to recover from a disastrous first period and shutdown the Cadets the rest of the way.

2nd Period:

St. Thomas Academy: 2:19, Justin Crandall 1 (Isackson)
St. Thomas Academy: 10:56, Noah Gavin 1 (Isackson, Crandall)
St. Cloud Cathedral: 12:20, Stephen Rindelaub 2 (Sam Lommel, Jon Larkin)
St. Thomas Academy: 13:55, Noah Gavin 2 (Isackson)
St. Thomas Academy: 14:36, Conor Rooney 1 (Walters, Schreiner)

Justin Crandall scores. Seven shots on goals, four goals. Not a good day in net for Maiers.

St. Cloud Cathedral could not cash-in on a power play.

Now, the Crusaders were called for goalie interference. The Cadets go on the power play. Nate Schmidt rang a shorthanded try off of the post behind Altrichter. That would have been a big morale boost for the Crusaders if he would have put that one in. They are back to five-on-five hockey.

I was about to say that Maiers is settling in and standing up to some big pressure BUT Christian Isackson and Noah Gavin converted on a 2-on-1 rush. Gavin put the puck past Maiers after a nice pass from Isackson.

Cathedral scores! Stephen Rindelaub. The veteran senior gets the Crusaders on the board.

Bad goal allowed by Maiers. Noah Gavin scores from the blue line just throwing the puck at the net. The puck did knuckle towards the goal but Maiers reaction to grab the puck seemed nonchalant.

And, before I could type the above paragraph, Conor Rooney scores for the Cadets and the rout is definitely on.

Third Period:

St. Thomas Academy: 0:21, Rob Vannelli 1 (Gavin)
St. Cloud Cathedral: 4:46, Rindelaub 3 (Larkin, Lommel)
St. Thomas Academy: 5:55, Ryan Walters 5 (powerplay) (Rooney)

Goals aplenty. Complete domination by St. Thomas Academy in this game since they scored their second goal back in first period.

Matt McNeely has now come in to replace Kurt Altrichter in goal for St. Thomas Academy. He came in with 11:05 remaining after the Cadets score their ninth goal.

Now it is a matter of figuring out who should get the three stars of the game. I am going to give all three to St. Thomas Academy players but Stephen Rindelaub should get at least an honorary star for scoring the only two goals for St. Cloud Cathedral. Several Cadet players deserve mention but I can only pick three.

Saves: Kurt Altrichter (St. Thomas Academy) 14 | Matt McNeely (St. Thomas Academy) 6 | Nick Maiers (St. Cloud Cathedral) 24

FollowThePuck's Three Stars:

1. Ryan Walters - St. Thomas Academy
2. Christian Isackson - St. Thomas Academy
3. Noah Gavin - St. Thomas Academy