As the clock wound down on St. Thomas Academy’s 3-1 victory over Eastview in the Class 2A, Section 3 championship, the Cadets threw their sticks and gloves in the air at Ridder Arena.

They’ve been here before.

But yet, they never have.

With the victory, the Cadets advanced to their first Class 2A state tournament. St. Thomas won three consecutive state titles from 2011-13 in 1A before jumping up a class.

“This is a great feeling, but we’re only halfway there and we’ve got three more games to play,” Cadets senior forward Peter Tufto said.

Though the Cadets were heavily favored, it was Eastview that took the first lead. Forward Tommy Hutsell capitalized on a rebound, knocking a hard shot into the left side of the net 8:08 into the first period.

“They gave us a better game than we probably expected, and we were on our heels for a little bit,” Tufto said.

But senior Alec Broetzman evened the score for the Cadets, picking off the puck and flicking in a backhander late in the first.

The Lightning hung close and though it played most of the game down a goal after Christiano Versich scored early in the second period, it never seemed out of it.

“You can’t ask for anything more than … [giving] yourself a chance, [putting] yourself in a situation where you can maybe win that one,” Eastview coach Drey Bradley said.

The Lightning did that, but Tufto, the Cadets’ leading scorer, used his speed on a breakaway to seal the victory late in the third period.

“We’ve got a lot of seniors,” Cadets co-coach Greg Vannelli said. “I think it was just our composure of our 12 seniors just willing to win it.”

First Report

As the clock wound down on the St. Thomas Academy’s Class 2A, Section 3 championship 3-1 victory over Eastview, the Cadets threw their sticks and gloves.

They’ve never been here before.

With the victory, the Cadets advance to the Class 2A state tournament, where they will make their debut.

St. Thomas won three consecutive state titles from 2011-13 in Class 1A before jumping up a class.

Though the Cadets were heavily favored, it was Eastview that took the first lead. Forward Tommy Hutsell capitalized on a rebound, knocking a hard shot into the left side of the net 8:08 into the first period.

 But Alec Broetzman evened the score for the Cadets, picking off the puck and flicking in a backhander late in the first.

The Lightning hung close with the powerhouse St. Thomas and though they played most of the game down a goal after Christiano Versich scored early in the second period, they never seemed out of the contest.

That is, until Peter Tufto, the Cadets’ leading scorer, used his speed on a breakaway to seal the victory late in the third period.