Warroad 5, St. Cloud Cathedral 3 | FINAL
Three Stars
1. Brett Hebel - Warroad | GWG goal, 2 assists
2. Michael Pieper - Warroad | 3 assists
3. Jon Larkin - St. Cloud Cathedral | 1 goal, 1 assist
Scoring:
1P: W: Dane Shaugabay PP (Brett Hebel, Michael Pieper) 14:08
___
2P: SCC: Jon Larkin PP unassisted 4:47
2P: W: Brock Nelson PP (Brett Hebel, Michael Pieper) 10:51
2P: SCC: Joe Nessler (Jon Larkin, Bret Schwinghammer) 11:13
___
3P: W: Chris Sylvester (Micky Knox, Nick Stoskopf) 7:15
3P: SCC: Alex Koopmeiners (Kyle Kudak) 8:33
3P: W: Brett Hebel (Michael Pieper) 9:07
3P: W: Dane Shaugabay EN (Brock Nelson) 16:28
Saves: W: Jason Goldsmith 8-4-7 (19) | SCC: Nick Maiers 7-6-4 (17)
Powerplays: Warroad 2-3 | St. Cloud Cathedral 1-2
Notes:
Warroad received their just revenge with a nice, physical win over St. Cloud Cathedral. It was a great game all the way around. The Warriors never trailed the game but the Crusaders kept pace throughout the game. Warroad would score, St. Cloud Cathedral would come right back with an answer. You could see though that Warroad's physical play wore the Cruaders out in the end.
Michael Pieper's play for Warroad at the point and on defense was very impressive. He set up plays perfectly as the forwards in front of the net tipped-in at least two of Pieper's shots with perfection. One of those shots led to Brett Hebel's beautiful game-winning tip-in.
Jason Goldsmith made some game saving stops in the third period that kept the momentum in Warroad's favor.
Warroad will have their hands full in the championship game facing Breck. Both teams are very physical and very stingy on defense. Breck may have more depth on offense. That may be the only difference between them. It should be a classic championship game for the Class A crown on Saturday
St. Cloud Cathedral's Jordan Palusky appeared to be hurt toward the end of the first period. He apparently had a hip pointer and seemed to be find in the second and third period. However, the Crusaders leading scorer was hardly noticed on the offensive end. Palusky and Nate Schmidt were held to ZERO points in the game.
St. Cloud Cathedral had a great season and should be very good again in 2010 as they will almost everyone back. They will now face Little Falls for third place at 9 AM Saturday morning. This is a matchup that central Minnesota would have liked better in the championship game.
