East Grand Forks tops St. Cloud Cathedral in Minnesota high school boys hockey 1A championship: Live score recap

Get real-time game and score updates from the 2025 MSHSL boys hockey state tournament Class 1A championship between the Green Wave and the Crusaders.

Jack Butler | Mar 8, 2025

St. Cloud Cathedral hockey senior Connor Stockman carries the puck along his bench versus Orono in the semifinal of the Minnesota state hockey tournament March 7, 2025 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Crusaders advanced to the final with a 4-1 win. / Reid Glenn / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ST. PAUL, Minn. — East Grand Forks pulled sophomore goaltender Noah Schindele when it played St. Cloud Cathedral on January 31. He allowed seven goals on 20 shots as the Green Waves went on to lose 11-7.

“Mentally, it was a rough one for me,” Schindele said.

Minnesota high school boys hockey state tournament: Championship scores, live updates, recaps (3/8/2025)

On Saturday in the Class 1A MSHSL boys hockey state championship, Schindele saved 37 shots as No. 4 East Grand Forks won 2-1 in overtime against No. 2 St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders (20-9-2) for its third state championship in program history.

At the postgame press conference, a reporter asked the Green Waves what the difference was between the two games. Senior defender Cole Bies responded with a couple quick sentences, but he then looked at Schindele as if to pass the question to him like it was his to answer.

“Coming into this game, I felt I had to show a little bit too,” Schindele answered. “It was unreal today. I’m glad it wasn’t like it was before.”

Schindele didn’t allow a goal until there were 47 seconds left in the third period.

“He’s an unbelievably calming presence when he’s in the zone like that,” East Grand Forks head coach Tyler Palmiscno said. “We’ve seen it a handful of times. […] From the second or third shot on net, I could tell that he was going to be rock solid. That doesn’t mean he was going to give up one goal out of 37 [shots], but they were going to have to earn it. We don’t win today without Noah Schindele. I know that.”

Schindele’s only goal he allowed was the game-tying goal. St. Cloud Cathedral freshman Bo Schmidt scored the goal for the Crusaders. They had a 6-on-4 advantage after they pulled their goalie and the Green Waves committed a penalty. Schindele got a piece of Schmidt’s shot, but it slipped through him and across the goal line to force overtime.

“We had an opportunity,” Palmiscno said. “That’s what I looked at it like. We had an opportunity to win the title. You can’t look in the past. You have to face directly what’s in front of you.”

In overtime, senior Green Wave forward Jace Van Eps was in the left corner of the Crusader zone when he flung a puck at St. Cloud Cathedral goalie Keaton LeGrande. It deflected off LeGrande and into the net for the sudden-death victory.

“I saw out of the corner of my eye that the goalie was a little bit out of position, and I thought I could kind of bank it off his leg there,” Eps said.

Eps, who Palmiscno introduced at the press conference as an “East Grand Forks hero for life,” played his best for the Green Waves when the section playoffs began. So did Schindele and the entire East Grand Forks team after a 10-13-2 regular season.

“I think that once the puck dropped in the section playoffs, all of a sudden we hit a gear, as a group of 20, led by a senior class that was very driven," Palmiscno said.

Despite the inconsistent season, the Green Wave kept focus on their goal to win a section title and a state championship. When it came to prepping for St. Cloud Cathedral again, Palmiscno’s strategy was simple. Much of it fell on Schindele's shoulders.

“Our goal today was just to keep them under 11,” he joked.

East Grand Forks tops St. Cloud Cathedral in OT in 2025 Minnesota high school boys hockey Class 1A championship: Live score recap

Teams are on the ice for introductions. Puck drop will be closer to 12:10 p.m.

FIRST PERIOD UPDATES

East Grand Forks wins the opening face-off and we're underway in the Class 1A championship.

St. Cloud Cathedral with a shot off the crossbar in the opening two minutes.

Nine minutes remain in the first period and EGF has a 8-1 advantage in shots-on-goal.

No goals or penalties in the first period with four minutes remaining.

END OF FIRST PERIOD: St. Cloud Cathedral 0, East Grand Forks 0

St. Cloud Cathedral closes the period with a push but no goals. East Grand Forks has an 11-8 shots-on-goal advantage.

SECOND PERIOD UPDATES

The second period is underway.

POWER PLAY FOR EAST GRAND FORKS! Griffin Sturm gets called for interference 17 seconds into the period.

St. Cloud Cathedral is back to full strength.

POWER PLAY FOR ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL! EGF's Cole Bies gets two minutes for holding — 13:38 remaining in the period.

EGF is back to full strength.

GOAL EAST GRAND FORKS! Cooper Hills puts a loose puck in the crease across the goal line. Jace Panzer and Tucker Lovejoy with the assist. East Grand Forks lead 1-0 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the period.

POWER PLAY FOR ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL! EGF's Judd Pesch is called for hooking — 2:27 remains in the second period.

EGF kills the penalty. The Crusaders put a couple shots on goal, but the best chance came when the Green Wave's Panzer almost scores on a short-handed breakaway.

END OF SECOND PERIOD: East Grand Forks 1, St. Cloud Cathedral 0

St. Cloud Cathedral with a much stronger second period, but its the Green Wave who capitalize on an opportunity in the period. St. Cloud Cathedral has a 24-19 shots-on-goal advantage through two periods,

THIRD PERIOD UPDATES

The third period is underway.

Ten minutes remain in the third period and the Green Wave still have a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes remain and St. Cloud Cathedral is still looking for the tying goal. EGF goalie Noah Schindele with a series of saves to keep the Crusaders out. He has 31 saves so far.

St. Cloud pulls its goalie with over one minute remaining.

POWER PLAY FOR ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL! EGF's Cooper Hills is called for tripping with 1:06 remaining in the third period. The Crusaders will have a 6-on-4 advantage.

GOAL ST. CLOUD CATHEDRAL! Freshman Bo Schmidt tied the game with 47 seconds remaining. He scored from below the left face-off spot. The puck slipped through Schindele's pads and in. Assist by Caden Johnson and John Hirschfeld.

END OF THIRD PERIOD: East Grand Forks 1, St. Cloud Cathedral 1

The first overtime will be an 8-minute sudden-death overtime period.

OVERTIME UPDATES

Overtime is underway.

GOAL EAST GRAND FORKS! Jace Van Eps slides a goal past the Crusaders' goalie, Keaton LeGrande, from behind the left goal line. East Grand Forks wins. Jace Panzer with the assist.