John Hirschfeld scored with 6:07 left in overtime to lift St. Cloud Cathedral to a 4-3 victory over Warroad on on Friday in a state Class 1A semifinal at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Hirschfeld's goal on a rebound capped a flurry of close-range opportunities for the Crusaders. The goal was Hirschfeld’s second of the game and 28th of the season.
Hirschfeld forced the overtime period with his goal on a dazzling solo rush with 1:09 remaining.
Ryan Shaugabay scored a power-play goal with 6:23 left in regulation to put Warroad ahead 3-2. Shaugabay scored on the rebound of a Ryan Lund shot. The play went under a lengthy review, presumably to determine if Cathedral goaltender Nick Hansen had covered the puck before Shaugabay popped it into the net.
Sophomore defenseman Griffin Sturm and senior forward Cole Hwang scored 4:51 apart in the second as Cathedral rallied from a 2-0 first-period deficit. Sturm’s goal came on a power play and Hwang’s came with 2:06 left in the period.
Junior forward Taven James and Lund each scored rebound goals for the Warriors (23-5-0), ranked No. 4 in Class 1A.
James’ goal was his 21st of the season while Lund’s was his 20th.
No. 2-1A St. Cloud Cathedral (24-4-1) had several high-quality scoring chances denied by Warroad goaltender Ben Norris, who finished the first period with 11 saves. Cathedral’s Nick Hansen had six saves.
St. Cloud Cathedral beat Warroad 3-2 in Warroad on Nov. 25 in the teams’ lone regular-season meeting.
John Hirschfeld fought his way past star Warroad defenseman Ryan Lund on a dazzling solo rush to score the tying goal with 1:09 remaining, foreshadowing to Hirschfeld’s heroics in the overtime period.
25 - Minutes of penalties called on the two teams, who combined for 11 infractions.
3 - Overtime games Warroad has played in out of their last four state tournament outings, dating to last season.
5 - Game-winning goal scored by Cathedral’s John Hirschfeld this season, including three in the Crusaders’ last six games.
We still believed in each other … we overcame adversity. That’s all that matters.
— St. Cloud Cathedral junior forward Joey Gillespie on the video review determination of a goal - initially waved off by the on-ice officials - by Warroad's Ryan Shaugabay that put the Warriors ahead 3-2 late in the third.