St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders Claim Second Class A Title

Let the celebration begin in The Granite City as Andrew Dwinnell scored two goals to lead the St. Loud Cathedral Crusaders to a 3-1 win over the top seeded Hermantown Hawks in the Class A boys hockey championship game Saturday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.  

It was the second state title for the Crusaders and first since 2019 in 12 trips to state.  

St. Cloud Cathedral scored the lone first period goal when John Hirschfeld fed Dwinnell at the left point and he fired it into the net.  

Neither team would tally in the second period as St. Cloud Cathedral played solid defense.  The Crusaders would solidify the championship, sending two goals past the goal line.  The first came when Dwinnell received a drop pass from Joey Gillespie and he would score his second goal.  It would be Gillespie who found the net for St. Cloud Cathedral's final goal when he got a centering pass from Hirschfeld and he tapped it in.  There would be no shutout for St. Cloud Cathedral as Hawks head coach Pat Andrews pulled goalie Dane Callaway for a sixth attacker and it would pay dividends as AJ Francisco scored off a pass from Drew Nelson.  But that was all the Twin Ports power could do as the Crusaders held on to claim the Class A title trophy.  

St. Cloud Cathedral concluded the season with a record of 26-4-1 and Hermantown ended their season at 20-9-2.  

Defense was a part of the Crusaders success as they blocked 17 Hawks shots.  

Jake Geiger of Northfield was the recipient of the Herb Brooks Award, which is given to the player who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late coach.