Lakeville South is streaking into the boys’ hockey state tournament. 

The ninth-ranked Cougars (25-3) beat Lakeville North 4-1 for their 16th consecutive victory and advanced to the Class 2A state tournament for the fourth consecutive season.

Lakeville South, runner-up in last season’s state tournament, scored three third-period goals to break free from a tight battle. 

Lakeville North, which ended its season at 21-7, survived five penalties and a relentless barrage of shots on goal in the second period. The Panthers even managed to tie the game at 1-1 with senior Jameson Klein’s goal with just 96 seconds left in the third. 

It was a rare goal against the Cougars during their 15-game winning streak before Thursday, in which South picked up seven shutouts and allowed just one goal in five more games.

Lakeville North, which lost to Lakeville South twice during the regular season, went into the second-period break with the momentum. But Cougars' junior Ashton Dahms grabbed that back just a minute and a half into the third period. 

His goal, a team-leading 25th of the season, broke the stalemate and set up two more Cougars goals. Jackson Ernst scored less than a minute later and Ben Portner stole a puck and converted on a one-on-one against Panthers' goalie Finn Jacques at 11:24 to conclude the scoring.

Jacques was instrumental in the Panthers making it through the second period, making 18 of his 33 saves.

It was the ninth meeting between the Lakeville schools in the Class 2A, Section 1 championship game over the past 12 seasons. Lakeville South now has a 5-4 advantage in the series.