A key line change by East Grand Forks coach Tyler Palmiscno produced the goal that carried his team into the championship game.

Tanner Tweten’s third-period goal held up as the game-winner in a 2-1 victory against St. Cloud Cathedral. The No. 1 Green Wave (27-2-1) advanced to its first title game since 1999 when it was runner-up.

Up until the shift when Tweten scored, Palmiscno matched his second line against the top St. Cloud Cathedral line. Something told him to mix it up.

“I just felt like we needed a breath of fresh air against that line,” Palmiscno said.

All three members of the first line — Dixon Bowen, Grant Loven and Tweten — factored into the goal. Loven’s pass across the slot to an eager Tweten created the go-ahead score.

“Tanner has raised his level the last two games for sure,” Palmiscno said. Tweten scored twice in the quarterfinal victory against Orono. “That was a big goal.”

Trailing 1-0 on Reed Corbin’s goal just 2:18 into the game, St. Cloud Cathedral (21-8-1) tied it on a goal from Erik Gadbois. He slipped past Tweten and put away a pass from Matson Courrier.

Palmiscno stopped short of saying Tweten owed the team one.

“At that point in the game when they scored it wasn’t one guy,” Palmiscno said. “I thought we were helter-skelter all together.”

Meanwhile, the Crusaders were psyched to be tied 1-1 after two periods.

“There was a lot of energy in the locker room,” Gadbois said.

But after Tweten’s goal, the Green Wave turned it over to its closers on the blueline. The defensive quartet of Tye Ausmus, Colton Poolman, Taylor Brierley and Eddie Eades made the one-goal stand.

“This is what we’ve worked for growing up, to have a chance at something special,” Eades said.

First report

Sophomore forward Tanner Tweten scored 4 minutes, 19 seconds into the third period to lift top-seeded East Grand Forks to a 4-1 win over No. 4 seed St. Cloud Cathedral on Friday in the semifinals of the state boys’ Class 1A hockey tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Tweten, the backchecker who lost track of St. Cloud Cathedral’s Erik Gradbois when Gradbois tied it at 1 in the second period, redeemed himself and regained the lead for the No. 1 state-ranked Green Wave (27-2-1) by finishing a 2-on-1 break.

Colton Poolman opened the scoring for East Grand Forks in the first period, and Green Wave goaltender Josh Weber made 21 saves.

Zach Fritz made 35 saves for the No. 10-ranked Crusaders (21-8-1).


Postgame press conference: East Grand Forks 2, St. Cloud Cathedral 1


Photo gallery: East Grand Forks vs. St. Cloud Cathedral