It will be an all-Lake Conference final on Saturday night in the Class 2A State Tournament championship. 

Edina used a dominant first period to edge St. Thomas Academy 6-3 in a game that turned into a slugfest of skill and strength in the latter stages. 

“It’s the last thing you ever wanna do is get down three to that kind of team,” St. Thomas Academy co-head coach Greg Vanelli said after the game. It wasn’t 'Plan-A' that’s for sure.”  

The Hornets raced to a 3-0 lead after the first period on goals from Brett Chorske, Liam Malmquist, and Jett Jungels. The goals by Malmquist and Jungels were particularly demoralizing for the Cadets (25-4-1), with both tallies coming on breakaways and highlight-reel shots. 

The biggest thing (about the goals) is momentum,” Edina coach Curt Giles said. “(St. Thomas Academy) is a really good hockey team, so we needed to get a jump on them,” Giles continued. “Any time you can get an opportunity to get three goals in that first period is a bonus.”

The scoring settled in the second as the Cadets made some adjustments, both tactical and emotional. 

“We certainly addressed our determination and intensity,” Vanelli said. “You’ve got to get back to some basic hockey, and I thought we did a better job at that in the last two periods.”

Luke Herzog put the Cadets on the board just over a minute into the second frame, but Jungels tallied his second goal off a fortunate bounce off a Cadet defender’s skate to extend the Edina lead to 4-1. Malmquist scored twice more in the third to complete the hat trick, with St. Thomas Academy goals from Rob Christy and Carter Henry alternating with the Hornet scores. 

In terms of preparation for tomorrow’s game against Eden Prairie, a team the Hornets (26-2-1) have beaten three times by a combined score of 18-5, Giles said that his squad will be facing a vastly different Eagle group than they met during the regular season. 

“Lee’s a really good coach,” Giles said, referring to Eden Prairie’s bench boss, Lee Smith. “He went through this season kind of finding some ways, finding some lines and finding some chemistry, finding a goaltender. He found all of that all towards the end of the season going into the playoffs,” Giles continued. 

“We don’t expect anything but the best from Eden Prairie."