St. Thomas notches 2nd Class A boys' hockey title

As if winning a second consecutive Class A boys state hockey title wasn't motivation enough, St. Thomas Academy had the additional incentive of keeping top-seeded Hermantown from recording just the fifth perfect season in the Minnesota State High School League play since 1967.

The Cadets made it look easy.

Junior Alex Johnson notched two goals and two assists and David Zevnik made 20 saves as second-seeded St. Thomas Academy (26-5-0) won its second straight championship and third in five years with a 5-1 victory over the Hawks at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

"Whenever you're going against an undefeated team it's always fun to try to knock them off," Johnson said. "I definitely felt like we were the underdogs there."

St. Thomas jumped ahead at 2:53 of the first period when a rebound deflection off the stick of Hawks defenseman Brian LeBlanc slid past goaltender Matt Mensinger. The goal was credited to Matt Perry.

Johnson scored his first goal less than three minutes later and added a power play tally at 7:26 of the second period. Peter Krieger beat Mensinger 11 seconds later, and Austin Sattler made it 5-0 with a goal at 10:08.

Sattler and Perry also tallied two assists.

"We had a hard time with matchups -- they have three first lines and we have one first line," Hermantown coach Bruce Plante said. "When we have to put our twos and threes out we're up against first lines and our kids don't ever see that."

Zevnik, who entered the contest with 85 shutout minutes through two state tournament games, gave up a 5-on-3 goal to Hawks defenseman Jared Kolquist at 11:34 of the second period. But by then, St. Thomas had the game well in hand.

"I'm very lucky, we have outstanding defense," Zevnik said. "They block so many shots. Our forwards are back-checking and picking up the extra guy and they are doing a great job. That's the reason we were able to do it."

The junior goalie ended the season having allowed just five goals on 202 shots over his last 11 contests. The Cadets finished the season on a 15-game winning streak.

"Goaltenders make coaches look like geniuses," St. Thomas Academy co-head coach Greg Vannelli said. "About in mid-January for some reason things just clicked."

Hermantown (30-1-0), which also lost the 2010 championship game to St. Thomas Academy, has finished as runner-up three straight years. A victory would have given the Hawks their first undefeated season, the first for any school since Red Wing won the 1997 Class A title at 28-0-0.

Hermantown lost to St. Thomas Academy 5-4 in overtime of last season's title game, and fell 2-1 to Breck in 2010.

"Obviously it's not how we drew it up all three years," Hawks senior Jared Thomas said. "But most guys don't even get to play here and I've been here three times in three high school seasons. I'm looking at that as a positive."

The five goals allowed were a season high for Hermantown. Mensinger finished with 25 saves.

In Class AA, Benilde-St. Margaret's faces off against Hill-Murray in the championship game on Saturday at 7 p.m.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)