St. Cloud Cathedral won its first state tournament game since 2009, defeating Totino-Grace 4-3 in overtime in the final Class 1A quarterfinal Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center.

The fourth-seeded Crusaders (21-7-1) overcame a 3-1 second-period deficit against the fifth-seeded Eagles (17-11-1), and sophomore Erik Gadbois scored the game winner 5 minutes, 21 seconds into overtime.

Junior Matt Fritz scored twice for St. Cloud Cathedral, and junior Leo Lommel also scored.

“The first half of the game, really, we got worked,” Crusaders coach Eric Johnson said. “We got it to 3-2 on a heck of a play by Logan [Neu] and Matt [Fritz] to get us some momentum, and then from that point on, we were fine.”

The Crusaders took a 1-0 lead on a Fritz’s first goal 5:26 through the first period, but Totino-Grace produced better chances early and took a 3-1 lead after the first.

The Eagles started the second period strong, but St. Cloud Cathedral appeared to begin wearing them down.

The Crusaders cut the lead to one 11:08 through the second period when Fritz scored his second goal. They tied the score at 3-3 on Lommel’s power-play goal with 14 seconds remaining in the period.

After a scoreless third period, Gadbois scored the game-winner on a power play.

“I had a wide-open upper shelf, and so I just flipped it up,” Gadbois said.

St. Cloud Cathedral is making its sixth state appearance and its first since 2009. The team will play top-seeded East Grand Forks in the semifinals.

Nate Gotlieb