East Grand Forks defeats St. Cloud Cathedral for Class 1A boys hockey state championship

Jace Van Eps can add a new title to his name after scoring the championship-winning overtime goal Saturday against St. Cloud Cathedral: “East Grand Forks hero for life.”

That’s how his coach, Tyler Palmiscno, introduced the senior forward to the media in the postgame news conference following his team’s 2-1 victory in the Class 1A championship game against the defending champion Crusaders.

Van Eps scored the winner 1 minute, 46 seconds into overtime, helping the No. 4-seed Green Wave roll to an upset of the No. 2-seed Crusaders. After sophomore forward Jace Panzer’s shot was deflected, Van Eps rushed to the corner of the zone and chased after the rebound.

“Just try to beat the guy to the puck, and then saw out of the corner of my eye, the goalie was a little out of position,” Van Eps said. “Thought I could kind of just bank it off his leg there and see what happens. It was a win in our favor, for sure.”

Van Eps won the race to the puck, then took a sharp-angle shot from just below the goal line in the corner. He scored right in front of the Green Wave fans.

“Oh, that’s something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life,” said Van Eps, who was mobbed by teammates along the glass following the goal.

Six of Van Eps' 14 goals this season were scored across the six section and state tournament games. He scored a goal in each game in the Class 1A tournament in St. Paul.

Palmiscno quipped in the news conference, looking at Van Eps: “What were you waiting for?”

Saturday marked the team’s third state title, and the first since the Palmiscno-coached teams won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. East Grand Forks (16-13-2) is the first No. 4 seed to win the Class 1A championship since Mahtomedi in 2020.

The Green Wave won the title behind a pair of upset wins: over top-seed Hibbing/Chisholm in the semifinals after being down 5-2 in the game, and then knocking off the No. 2-seed Crusaders.

The Green Wave took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Cooper Hills in the second period, but had to regroup for overtime after St. Cloud Cathedral freshman Bo Schmidt tied the game on a 6-on-4 advantage with only 47.2 seconds left in regulation.

It was déjà vu for Palmiscno. In the 2015 championship game against Hermantown, the Green Wave led 4-2 until Hermantown scored a pair of goals just seconds apart to tie the game with 16 seconds remaining in regulation. Tanner Tweten, perhaps another East Grand Forks hero, scored the winner at 3:34 in overtime.

“The message today was almost identical to that message,” Palmiscno said. “I told them, ‘if we would’ve said at the first meeting of the season that you are headed to overtime with an opportunity to win a championship, would you take it? ... You would’ve.’”

St. Cloud Cathedral (20-9-2) was looking for its third state championship, having won in 2019 and 2024. The Crusaders also won the consolation bracket in 2023.

On Saturday, the Crusaders didn’t get the bounces they needed, coach Robbie Stocker said, despite his team controlling play for a majority of the game. The Green Wave kept the Crusaders' top players from scoring, blocking shots and getting 37 saves from sophomore goaltender Noah Schindele.

“That’s how it goes,” Stocker said. “We’ve been rolling along pretty well there in the playoffs, pucks have been going in the net for us. We had 38 shots on goal, and to only have one go in is just tough.”

The Green Wave, who ended the regular season with a record of 10-13-2, have a “next-shift mentality”, Palmiscno said.

“I think that once the puck dropped in the section playoffs, all of a sudden we hit a new gear, as a group of 20, led by a senior class that was very driven.”