Warroad’s Rodrick Jackson played a one-two with Gavin Andersen before slamming a shot off Hibbing/Chisholm’s goalie Gavin Lamphere. The rebound bounced to Mooney Shaugabay on the backside for the overtime winner.

Gloves flew, sticks soared, and the Warriors faithful reached a fever pitch inside Grand Casino Arena. Third-seeded Warroad upset No. 1 Hibbing/Chisholm 5-4 to snag its first Class A state championship since 2005 in an all-time classic.

Warroad head coach Jay Hardwick said overtime goals do not tend to be as well-worked as Shaugabay’s title-winning goal.

“It’s just a mess around the net or hits somebody’s skate and goes in,” Hardwick said. “It’s not always pretty like that. But we got it up the ice, and you put the puck in those guys’ hands, and they’re going to make plays.”

Shaugabay said this win is dedicated to all those who came before this team and “fell short” of winning a state championship.

“There’s no way to describe it,” Shaugabay said. “This community has been so good to us for all the years of struggling, and to finally get it done for them is absolutely surreal.”

Someone’s Class A title drought was bound to end in St. Paul. The last championship for the Warriors (25-5-1) came in 2005, with a roster that included Stanley Cup champion T.J. Oshie. The Bluejackets (26-3-2) topped the mountain last in 1973.

The foes met in the 1994 Class A championship game, when Warroad topped Hibbing, 5-3, and that was also the last time the Bluejackets were in the title game.

Warroad sophomore Conner Lund fired a shot from the top of the right circle, pinging off the post and in to give the Warriors the lead 74 seconds into the game. Lund’s father, Tom, was on the 1994 state championship Warroad team and scored in the title game.

Hibbing/Chisholm could not find a breakthrough against the Warriors’ senior goaltender Patrick Kennedy despite leading the period with 12 shots on net.

The Bluejackets received their reward for their offensive pressure with 8:36 left in the second period. Sophomore defender Whitaker Rewertz got the puck from his goaltender and made a sweeping solo move the length of the ice, beating Kennedy to tie it.

Warroad’s Ayven Hontvet provided an immediate response, 45 seconds later, to re-establish the Warriors’ lead. With just over a minute to play in the period, Shaugabay slid a perfect pass from the right-side corner across the crease where Andersen tapped it home to hand Warroad its first multi-goal advantage.

Kennedy became a brick wall in the second period following Hibbing/Chisholm’s goal, making 21 saves, including seven in the final minute.

The Warriors lost their starting goaltender, Finn Hanson, due to an injury in the section final. Hardwick said Kennedy is a “Cinderella story,” with the way he performed to not only get his team to the championship but in the biggest game of his life.

“He played unbelievable the whole tournament,” Hardwick said. “Today, especially the second period, I don’t even know how he made some of those saves.”

The middle period produced a track meet with end-to-end action, finishing with 34 shots on goal and three goals combined.

Bluejackets senior forward Isaiah Hildenbrand ditched his defender and drove to the front of the net. Kennedy repelled his first effort, but Hildenbrand recovered the rebound in a scrum around the crease and backhanded it in, making it 3-2 with 14:13 to play.

Rewertz, trailing the play, skated into the slot and went against the grain with a snipe to the top right corner, tying the game for the second time with 4:36 left in regulation.

Hibbing/Chisholm senior forward Benny Galli, 51 seconds later, had his first shot blocked. But his follow-up found the back of the net.

The Warriors pulled Kennedy with 1:13 left, Broden Hontvet made a brilliant setup pass to the front of the crease, where Andersen redirected it past Lamphere, tying it again with 46 seconds left in regulation time.

Warroad snapped its championship drought exactly 1 minute into overtime as Shaugabay put home a backside rebound.

Andersen said it will be the “best bus ride ever,” as the Warriors make the trek back to the top of Minnesota on top of the state of hockey.

Warroad’s Broden Hontvet carries the first place trophy to their fans after defeating Hibbing/Chisholm/VCA 5-4 in overtime to win the Class A championship game of the State Boys Hockey Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Saturday, March 7, 2026. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)
Hibbing/Chisholm/VCA’s Aven Nickila, left, and Isaiah Hildenbrand take a moment together on the ice after losing to Warroad 5-4 in overtime during the Class A championship game of the State Boys Hockey Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Saturday, March 7, 2026. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

Related Articles

Boys hockey: Moorhead takes down Edina, heads to Class AA title game

Boys hockey: Minnetonka rallies in Class AA semis, defeats Rosemount in OT

Boys hockey: Mahtomedi unable to crack Hibbing/Chisholm goalie in Class A state semis

Boys state hockey: Edina defeats Andover in quarters on McConnell hat trick

Boys state hockey: Lakeville South ousted by Moorhead in 2A quarterfinal

Amery allowed an early pair of back-to-back goals and couldn’t capitalize on later opportunities in falling to Northland Pines 4-0 in the Division 2 title game of the Wisconsin boys state high school hockey tournament Saturday.

Bolstered by the early lead, Northland Pines goalie Everett Leslie turned away 24 shots. The fourth-seeded Warriors, who were shut out for the first time this season, also hurt themselves with 12 penalties, including 11 in the final two periods.

“I thought if we could get one and make it difficult on them, who knows what can happen?” Amery coach Matt Humpal said. “We had some chances. There were a couple where I’m looking right down at the goal, right in line, and they just missed. Wide-open nets.

“We didn’t do that very much this year,” he said. “We scored a lot of goals. And to get shut out in a game, kudos to their goalie.”

Amery (20-9) lost to Tomahawk 5-3 in the title game last year in its first trip to state. The Warriors earned a return trip after starting this season 5-5. Northland Pines (22-6), with just three seniors on its roster, won its first state title since 1989 in a single-division tournament.

Northland Pines set the tone with a pair of goals 47 seconds apart four minutes in.

Josh Graves, who had two goals in the Eagles’ 3-2 comeback win over Somerset/St. Croix in the semifinals, took a centering pass in the slot and punched it in for a 1-0 lead with 3:28 gone.

The Eagles quickly made it to 2-0 when Bodie Bakken flipped the puck out while falling to the ice behind the Amery net. Jazek Jantzen tapped to Michael Schmidt for another goal from the slot.

Amery, which upended top-seeded Waunakee 3-1 in the semifinals, was unable to recover despite stretches of controlling play.

“Any time you go up 2-0 like that, you kind of have the ability to dictate how the game is played,” Northland Pines coach Zach Otto said. “Especially going into the third period. We knew all we had to do was not let any red jerseys behind us.”

The Warriors were whistled for seven penalties in the second period, and that eventually cost them. Amery killed the first 5-on-3 situation, but the Eagles capitalized 10 seconds into the second two-player advantage when Graves scored on a rebound to make it 3-0 with 6:09 left in the period.

Five minutes into the final period, Carter Meyer kept the Warriors within three with a save on a penalty shot by Graves, who scored the third-period tying goal against Somerset/St. Croix Falls on a penalty shot.

Northland Pines punctuated the victory with a long empty-net goal by Cooper Saari with 1:07 left.

“I figured we were going to get one like always,” said senior tri-captain Jacob Maxon. “We scored quite a few goals this year, so I wasn’t expecting to get shut out. But it’s hard to get goals when you take as many penalties as we did.”

Under the penalty induced pressure, Amery goalie Carter Meyer registered 29 saves, including 22 over the final two periods.

Amery had the final six shots of the first period, and Leslie had two point-blank saves in the closing minutes of the second.

“Hats off to them. They put the pressure on us,” Otto said. “There was definitely points of the game where they controlled parts of it.”

“They had some great opportunities that went wide of the net, as well, and then when Evrett is shutting down prime opportunities, too, it’s always nice.”

Related Articles

Boys hockey: Moorhead takes down Edina, heads to Class AA title game

Boys hockey: Minnetonka rallies in Class AA semis, defeats Rosemount in OT

Boys hockey: Mahtomedi unable to crack Hibbing/Chisholm goalie in Class A state semis

Boys state hockey: Edina defeats Andover in quarters on McConnell hat trick

Boys state hockey: Lakeville South ousted by Moorhead in 2A quarterfinal

The Tommies’ NCAA tournament hopes were dashed Saturday in Sioux Falls, S.D., as fifth-seeded St. Thomas fell 63-51 to North Dakota State in the Summit League women’s basketball tournament semifinals.

The Tommies had hoped to make a Cinderella run of sorts to punch the program’s first-ever ticket to the Division-I Big Dance in legendary coach Ruth Sinn’s final season on the bench. But the top-seeded Bison had other ideas.

The Tommies simply couldn’t generate enough offense against the Bison. While St. Thomas shot 60% from deep, it attempted just five free throws and turned the ball over a whopping 22 times, which generated 25 points going the other way for the Bison.

St. Thomas scored just seven points in the second quarter.

Avery Koenen, the conference’s player of the year, led North Dakota State with 31 points and eight rebounds.

Still, the Tommies trailed by just five to open the final frame. Yet an 8-0 Bison run over the first 75 seconds of the fourth quarter effectively put the game out of reach.

Jada Hood paced the Tommies with 17 points, while Alyssa Sand added 15 points and seven rebounds.

The Bison swept their three matchups against St. Thomas this season. North Dakota State, the league’s regular season champion, will play for the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament bid on Sunday at 3 p.m.

It’s possible Saturday marked Sinn’s final game on the St. Thomas sidelines, though the Tommies (16-16) could feasibly still play in a postseason tournament.

Related Articles

Men’s hockey: Tommies avoid upset in CCHA playoffs

Women’s basketball: St. Thomas cruises into Summit League semis

Men’s basketball: Tommies win Summit playoff opener

Men’s hockey: Lucas Wahlin has been everything St. Thomas hoped he’d be

Women’s basketball: Tommies hope to bring longtime coach Ruth Sinn to the Summit