Wes Gervais is making the most of his opportunities. 

Not only on the ice with the Cadet hockey team, but as a member of the St. Thomas Academy community. 

Gervais transferred from Edina after his freshman year and stated his case for admission to the St. Thomas Academy brass, citing in a letter his desire to be a Cadet. 

“The education, the athletics, they’re second-to-none,” Gervais said of the school on Thursday night after the Cadets dispatched Rosemount 3-1. “The faculty really care about developing you as a person.”

Gervais, a senior, is also doing an exemplary job developing as a goaltender, stopping 42 of 43 shots in the win over the Irish, who entered the game ranked as high as No. 6 in Class AA.

The Irish (10-2) peppered the Cadet net in the second period after mustering 11 shots in the first, outshooting the Cadets 23-6 in the second frame. Granted, a number of those shots came from the perimeter of the St. Thomas Academy zone, but 23 shots are still 23 shots. 

“I think they just got a quick jump on us and we just had to hunker down and stay focused,” Gervais said. “I think we responded pretty well in the third.”

Despite being outshot, the Cadets (8-3-1) took a 1-0 lead into the third after junior forward Will Soderling scored his second goal of the season. A goal by Ryan O’Neill in the third stretched the Cadet lead to 2-0. 

“In the third period we went back and made a couple of adjustments, and I think it played out better for us,” St. Thomas Academy co-head coach Tom Vannelli said.

Jackson Sabo scored for Rosemount with 4:29 to play in regulation, but Gervais and the Cadet defense stood tall and never allowed the Irish a clear scoring chance in the final two minutes of play. St. Thomas Academy senior forward Brendan McFadden iced the game with an empty-net goal and Gervais concluded the period with nine saves on ten shots. 

The win is Gervais’s third of the season, as the Wisconsin-Madison bound student stopped 18 of 19 shots in a win over Prior Lake on Dec. 29. He says that he and fellow senior Muzzy Donohue will split time as the season progresses. 

“He’s a great partner, and we’re going to go back-and-forth,” Gervais said. “We cheer for each other and have a good relationship.”

Vannelli said that the Cadet coaching staff is thrilled about having two quality netminders on their roster. 

“What we’ve got now is two very good goaltenders,” Vannelli said. “It’s not a surprise, but we’re very excited that we can count on those guys,” Vannelli continued, adding that Gervais’s patience has paid off for him. 

“(Wes) has just been a class act from the day he got here. (He) waited his turn, worked hard, and when it came, he’s been very good.”