EDINA - Junior Owen Nelson made 35 saves and senior Chuck Owens scored twice as No. 5 seed Cretin-Derham Hall beat No. 3 seed St. Thomas Academy 3-1 on Friday at Braemar Arena.
Owens opened the scoring with 7:57 left in the second period and added an empty-net goal with 1:01 left. The goals were Owens' 11th and 12th of the season.
Nelson made 16 of his saves in the first period, when the Raiders (17-10-1) were outshot 16-7.
Peter Murray scored the lone goal for St. Thomas Academy, pulling the Cadets to within 2-1 with 13 minutes remaining.
The section title was the third straight for Cretin-Derham Hall. St. Thomas Academy won the previous five section championships before the Raiders' streak. St. Thomas Academy beat Cretin-Derham Hall 4-3 on Dec. 22 in the teams' lone regular-season meeting.
MAPLEWOOD - Leo Gabriel made 29 saves and Jack Stanius scored the eventual game-winner as No. 2 seed White Bear Lake beat longtime rival and No. 1 seed Hill-Murray 3-0 in the Section 4AA championship game at Aldrich Arena.
Hill-Murray had won the three previous section title game matchups with the Bears (in 2020, 2021 and 2022) by a combined score of 13-2.
Stanius scored 36 seconds into the first period and Gabriel was rock solid in the opening period as the No. 18-2A Bears (20-7-1) were outshot 16-5 by the No. 10-2A Pioneers (17-9-2).
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