“It means everything,” junior goaltender Jake Turek said. “It’s our first time ever making it. I’m just in disbelief; it’s amazing.”

“It’s a dream come true,” sophomore forward Cody Croal said.

Last year, North Branch went to the section final before falling 4-1 to Monticello, finishing the season with 22 wins. The year before, the Vikings played in the section semifinals.

But the first two years after Matt Cottingham took over as coach, North Branch won four and five games. There was little in the way of a winning hockey tradition. In Cottingham's sixth year, the Vikings (19-7-1) are section champions, believing they can beat anyone.

“It’s crazy to think that when I first took over, we started with four wins,” Cottingham said. “Last year, we had 22 and went to our first section finals. Lost two 72-point scorers and people wrote us off. These kids prevailed.”

After a jittery first period, the Vikings and Wildcats were tied 1-1. Turek withstood a storm by Chisago Lakes in the second to keep the game knotted up — not the first time he’s carried the team.

“I think he settled in and had the best second period — he made some huge saves,” Cottingham said. “We kind of got caught running around. Chisago definitely took it to us that second period, and we leaned on Jake like we have most of the year.”

Croal assisted on the go-ahead goal in the third, winning a battle for the puck at the boards to free up Matt Courtwright for a 2-1 lead. He also scored the first Vikings goal, 58 seconds after the Wildcats went up 1-0 in the first period.

The Vikings never stopped working, even after going up 3-1, and held on over a tense final 4 minutes, 25 seconds when the Wildcats got within 3-2.

Work is a theme for North Branch. The Vikings share home ice with Chisago Lakes, which meant some early mornings to get to this point.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” Cottingham said. “These boys are up at 4:30 on the bus to get to practice at 5:15 in the morning, and we go for about an hour and a half every day. For not having a rink, we made that our home, and the boys embrace it. They take it as a challenge, they accept it.”

They were first rewarded with two rowdy student sections supporting their programs. The North Branch students stayed after the trophy ceremony, filling in the background of a team photo with the trophy.

“It was so loud,” Turek said. “It was crazy. It’s what you dream of.”

“Insane,” Croal said. “ A lot of people. Nerve-wracking.”

There’s time to perhaps accomplish more goals. Early in Cottingham’s tenure, the team just wanted to beat the rival Wildcats in the regular season. Then the Vikings wanted to make a section semifinal, then a final. Now, in a Class 1A field that doesn’t perhaps feature a clear favorite, maybe this next step can be a very big one indeed.

“These guys keep knocking down barriers,” Cottingham said. “They set goals and they knock them down. They earned everything. It’s awesome.”