On Saturday, St. Paul Academy hosted Luverne in a clash of two top Class A teams at Drake Arena in St. Paul. Luverne came into St. Paul undefeated and SPA was 4-1-0 with a recent loss to Mahtomedi. The game would feature two of the state's best Freshmen, Devlin McCabe from SPA and Jaxon Nelson from Luverne. The young guns wouldn't be the story Saturday, it would be the play of Will Kelly, who had registered only one point in the first four games. On Saturday he had two key goals, the first was on a tip-in that was the game winner and another on a pretty catch, drop and shoot goal that gave his team a late insurance goal when Luverne was forging a comeback in the third.

St. Paul Academy, who dress 17 underclassmen, got on the board in the first period when Luverne Goalie Connor Crabtree fanned on a clearing attempt that was intercepted by Spartan forward Riley Bowman who quickly found Justin Jallen and the Junior buried it top shelf to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, Luverne knotted the score when SPA had a costly turnover behind their own net and the Cardinals leading scoring, Chaz Smedsrud, knocked in a loose puck past SPA Freshman Goalie Andy Beran. With three minutes to go in the second period, Luverne's Nick Behrend streaked down the left wing and fed Kasyn Kruse who was cut off by Beran on a spectacular save to keep the scored tied at 1. Late in the second, SPA had a chance to go up at the break when Riley Bowman beat a Cardinals defender and found an open Jordan Moradian whose shot was stonewalled by Luverne Captain Goalie Connor Crabtree. 

Early in the third, the Spartan's Matt Dahlseide found himself on an odd man rush that eventually turned into a 2 on 0 break when a Luverne defender fell down. Dahlseide held Crabtree long enough to get him to commit and then slid it to Jack Johnston who finished it off to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead. This was the first of three goals for SPA in three minutes. After Kelly's tip in, Evan Dahlseide beat Crabtree on a sizzling slap shot and even more hot was his celebration that spanned close to 100 feet of sliding. 

After Dahlseide's goal, Luverne Coach Derrick Brown called timeout to settle his team who had been playing with the Spartans but could not get find a goal. The Timeout must have worked, sixteen seconds later, Jaxon Nelson found Smedsrud who made a slick toe pull move around a SPA Defenseman and rifled it past Beran to cut the lead to 4-2. 

The Spartans won the game with a young and inexperienced team that will show signs of promise on one night and then falter the next. On Saturday the young Spartans served notice to the rest of the Class A teams that they are team of the future by beating a State Tourney team last year and likely again this year. 

Saturday's Stars

Will Kelly, St. Paul Academy - the Sophomore forward lead the Spartans with 2 clutch goals on Saturday.

Matt Dahlseide, St. Paul Academy - had three assists and was great on both ends of the rink. 

Chaz Smedsrud, Luverne - made his presence felt all day for the Cardinals, scored both goals and is on pace to lead the state this year in points.