Most hockey coaches tell their players to ignore everything that’s going on beyond the boards and glass surrounding the rink. They expect a focus solely on the sheet of ice, and the work that needs to be done there.
In the final game of his initial season at St. Thomas Academy, Cadets coach Mark Strobel took a decidedly different approach.
Before playing for third place in the 2025 Class AA state tournament at the arena then known as Xcel Energy Center, Strobel flashed back to his time on the ice for Hill-Murray and winning the 1991 tournament (the final one-class affair) at the old St. Paul Civic Center.
“I remember even in the third-place game we get to see Edina, and it was going to be a war. We had beat them twice last year and they were probably not happy and there’s some crossover of kids,” Strobel recalled before a recent preseason practice. “And I said, ‘Just do me a favor in the warmups. Just look around a little bit, and just have fun with this. And then once I get into crazy coach mode, then we’ll dial in. But you have to enjoy that.’”
There was plenty to enjoy for the Cadets last season, as they went 24-7-0 and got back to the state tourney for the first time since 2021, beating Cretin-Derham Hall in a tight section finale after falling in the same round in each of their previous two shots under former coach Mike Randolph.
With a core of offense returning, and at least two good options to choose from in goal, tryouts and final cuts were tough for Strobel and his staff this season, most notably with nine potential hockey players on the football roster at STA, which went to the state semifinals.
The Cadets open the 2025-26 season this week with most prep hockey watchers ranking them in the state’s top three for Class AA, and the players aiming for nothing less than the program’s first state title since the Cadets won five Class A championships between 2006 and 2013, then made the jump to the higher-enrollment class a decade ago.
“We’ve been there, right on the doorstep and finally took the hill, as coach Strobel talks about a lot,” said Cadets senior Cole Braunshausen, the team’s top returning scorer after notching 60 points in 31 games last season. “It really ignited the fire and gave us a taste of what we really want to achieve this year. We’ve still got two more games to win, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Strobel came back to the prep ranks after a dozen seasons as a college assistant coach at UMD, Omaha, Ohio State and his alma mater, Wisconsin. With the Badgers, he put together a forward-heavy power play unit, and while waiting for a puck-moving quarterback type to emerge for the Cadets, expects to install something similar this season, at least early on.
“We’ve got some guys that are very good defensively, and they’re going to be stalwarts and they’re going to be able to block shots and get the puck north,” Strobel said. “I don’t know if we got like a super dynamic defenseman there. We had five forwards on our power play last year and it was like 36%, so I think I might start with that this year.”
Offensively, things will run through Braunshausen, who brings a level of energy that sometimes masks his undersized frame.
“He’s our battery. He’s our engine. He goes all the time,” Strobel said. “He’s not afraid to play physical on the bigger kids. His compete is off the charts.”
There’s no questioning the size, or compete level, from Peter Murray, a 6-foot-2 senior forward who was on the radar of NHL Central Scouting per their most recent report. Speaking at the team’s arena across the street from their Mendota Heights campus, Murray said he is prepared for the extra attention that could be paid to him, and to the Cadets, this season.
“I worked hard his offseason and made a big jump, so I think that’s all just a result,” Murray said, recounting a summer spent focusing on strength training and work with a skating coach. “But it’s a result of the coaching and the people who helped me get here.”
Having played for Hill-Murray, and then at Wisconsin, Strobel said he is used to hearing boos when his teams have taken to the ice at rinks in the Twin Cities. It’s no different for STA, which — like most private schools — has been tagged with a reputation of being privileged wealthy kids.
Raised in a single-parent family on St. Paul’s East Side, Strobel recounts learning the game with his twin brother Mike at Frost Lake Park, and doing custodial work after school to help his mother afford private school tuition. Indeed, the rink’s student parking lot at this single-gender school where military uniforms are the everyday dress code has its share of Land Rovers and other high-end vehicles. But the coach stresses character as a way to combat preconceived notions about who the Cadets are.
“In the end, how you play and how you conduct yourselves will truly determine if they’re warranted in what they’re saying,” Strobel said. “And if you guys go out and you don’t take stupid penalties and you play hard through the blue lines and see a guy is down and you help him up on the other team, then they’re going to start changing their mentality. But we embrace what that is because, again, not everyone knows what goes on here.”
The players hear the boos, too, and have taken a slightly different attitude, embracing the dark side of opponents’ perceptions of the Cadets.
“We have a saying that we’ve had for a while: ‘Be the villain,’” Braunshausen said. “Everyone’s going to have a hero. We kind of decided, no one really likes us, so good. We kind of like it that way.”
STA opens the season with a pair of Metro East Conference road games, visiting Tartan on Thursday and Simley on Saturday before their home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 25 versus Holy Angels.
Last weekend in MN high school sports: Mounds View/Irondale girls hockey stays perfect
State football roundup: Blocked kick powers Waseca to Class 3A Prep Bowl
Adapted Soccer: Dakota United defends its state title
State swimming: Como Park’s Lueck wins 50 free, Biebl and Aarness also take titles
High School Football: Saturday’s state semifinal predictions
