A hat trick by Burnsville senior forward Cade Borchardt — his third in three games — helped the Blaze clinch its first state tournament berth since 2007 with a 7-1 victory over St. Thomas Academy on Thursday in the Class 2A, Section 3 final.

“This is the best moment of my life,” Borchardt said. “I can’t even put this into words. It’s unbelievable.”

After a scoreless first period at Ridder Arena in which the Blaze killed two penalties, Burnsville (16-10-3) struck with three goals in the second.

“It was important that we were able to kill those [penalties] off. It gave us some confidence that, ‘Hey, we can play with these guys,’ ” Blaze coach Janne Kivihalme said.

Borchardt scored his first goal on a power play late in the second period. Burnsville senior forwards Eric Otto and Gavin Wagner had scored earlier in the period.

“We pumped those three away,’’ Borchardt said, “and it sparked us.”

The Cadets (16-7-5) scored at the 13:16 mark in the third period on a goal by junior defenseman Jackson Shogren. But Burnsville scored four more goals, including two more from Borchardt.

“It feels good. We’ve been in this game for a long time … and we figured sooner or later we were going to get through it,” Kivihalme said. “And we got through it today.”

First report

A hat trick by Burnsville senior forward Cade Borchardt led the No. 2-seeded Blaze to a 7-1 victory over top-seeded St. Thomas Academy on Thursday at Ridder Arena.

After a scoreless first period, Blaze senior forwards Eric Otto, Gavin Wagner, and Borchardt each scored in the second to give Burnsville a 3-0 lead.

The Cadets notched their first goal of the game late in the third, but the Blaze scored four goals in the period to clinch the victory.

The victory puts Burnsville in its first state tournament since 2007.

Check back later for more on the game.