ISANTI, Minn. — With a combination of strong goaltending and finesse on the power play, the St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders pulled off the upset against the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets, 4-1 on Saturday in the Section 5A semifinal.
On paper, the Bluejackets had a much more successful season compared to the Crusaders, but simply weren't able to find the back of the net on Saturday. That was similar to a previous meeting when No. 2-seeded Cambridge-Isanti and No. 3-seeded Cathedral played nine days ago, resulting in a 2-1 win for the Crusaders.
The first period had the Crusaders up early with a 2-0 lead after goals from seniors Collin Hess and Nolan Widman.
With multiple opportunities on the power play for both teams in the second period, Cathedral's Collin Hess would find the back of the net again to increase the lead to 3-0. Cambridge-Isanti took five penalties in the second period which kept them a man short for a large chunk of time.
Special teams was a big factor again in the third, with both teams taking three minor penalties a piece. The Cathedral power play would find the back of the net again, this time from Landon Swenson, before the Bluejackets would score their lone goal of the night from Luke Pierson.
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The Bluejackets tried to rally in the third but simply could not get past sophomore goaltender Nick Hansen, who stopped 33 of 34 shots on goal during the game.
The Crusaders advanced to the Section 5A Championship game with a chance to punch their ticket to the state tournament.
On the other side of the bracket for the section, No. 1-seeded Little Falls was also upset in the semifinals, so No. 3-seeded Cathedral will play No. 4-seeded Monticello for the Section 5A title. The game will be on Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. in Elk River.
