EDINA – Captains Will Dosan, Mike Mikan, Patch Cronin, or any of the other seven seniors on St. Thomas Academy have seen this before.

The section final at Braemar Arena against Cretin-Derham Hall has meant the end of their season the last two winters. 

But this year, flying in hot, with a new coach, a new freer flowing style of offensive attack, and a mutual trust with the players and their first-year leader Mark Strobel, the Cadets are now headed to the Xcel Energy Center for the first time in four years.

Dosan, having already scored the Cadet’s second goal short-handed midway through the second period, buried a rebound late in double overtime to play hero in St. Thomas Academy’s 3-2 win over CDH in the section 3AA final.

“On top of the world,” Dosan said on the ice afterwards. “St. Thomas Academy has a lot of tradition, and we’re getting back to it. We are headed to the state tournament.”

It wasn’t easy.

Nate Chorlton got CDH on the board nine minutes into the opening period with a low puck from the high slot that found its way through traffic. About four minutes later, STA answered with Mike Mikan’s powerplay goal, and both sides settled in for a battle.

Dosan’s shorty midway through the second period gave STA the lead, 2-1, and set the stage for an intriguing third. STA was within 14 seconds of closing it out before the Raiders, aided by the extra attacker, dramatically tied it when Marcus Matyas buried a back door on a cross-ice feed from Alex Bloedow to send Braemar into pandemonium.

Nearly two periods later, Dosan buried a rebound, and it was over.

“We’ve been on the other side the last three years, and as a coach and as a player, you kind of get used to that,” CDH coach Matt Funk said. “For us, it’s going to last a little longer because nobody expected this result.”

CDH (23-4-1) has won three straight section titles dating back to 2022.

For St. Thomas Academy (23-5-1) and their new coach, Mark Strobel, it’s an exciting new chapter where the Cadets carve out their seat at the table. 

“We needed to get that monkey off their back,” Strobel says of the section final. “It’s Cadet time right now.”

The foundation with a new mindset and a new level of trust and communication was laid early on. Strobel took over in June, and says it didn’t take long for the players to buy into the new way of doing things. Through the summer training program and on, the Cadets responded to Strobel’s leadership style.

He picked up the pieces, reassembled them, and made them stronger than ever. 

 “Any time you’ve got 10 seniors like this, who have tasted defeat, we needed them to buy in and believe,” Strobel says. “We work really hard in practice, and we needed to trust each other from the staff down to the players, and then back up. But it clicked. Everyone worked their jobs to the best of their abilities.”

More freedom to move offensively, more decision-making, and freedom to create is how his players describe it.

“The freedom we have to make decisions with the puck and the confidence he shows in us,” Mikan says. “You want to do well for him.”

High octone offense has been turned loose to 5.54 goals per game, and tactics on the powerplay worked 31.4 percent of the time for the Cadets, No. 5 in Legacy's Class 2A rankings.

Molding complete two-way players was also a priority for Strobel and his staff. With the speed and skill the team boasts, offensive freedom was one thing. But at STA, and anyplace beyond, you’d better backcheck. You’d better be difficult to play against.

“If you want to play Division I hockey, or pro hockey, you need to become a two-way player,” Strobel says. “That’s what we’re emphasizing. To work to get back into our areas, to come together in our defensive zone takes a commitment. That said, you don’t want to keep dumping a puck every time you get it, so you need to have confidence in them to make a make a play offensively when it’s necessary.”

“When we get across the red line and we have odd numbers,” he added. “I want them to get creative and make hockey plays with their individual skillsets.”

Dosan, a Princeton University commit, says from the top on down, the group has never been more tight-knit and locked in.

“Coach sets the standard every day that we are going to be great, and it starts in practice,” Dosan says of Strobel. “We play for 51 minutes, we hit, we win puck battles, and we play for each other.”
 

EDINA - Will Dosan scored with 3:15 remaining in the second overtime to lift No. 1 seed St. Thomas Academy to a 4-3 victory over No. 2 seed Cretin-Derham Hall in the Section 3AA championship game Friday night at Braemar Arena.

The goal, which came off a scramble in front of the crease, was Dosan's second of the game, 24th of the season and most certainly the most important of his career.

The win puts St. Thomas Academy (23-5-0), ranked No. 5 in Class 2A, into the state tournament for the first time since 2022 and snaps a three-year stranglehold No. 7-2A Cretin-Derham Hall (23-4-1) had over the section.

Dosan scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway to put St. Thomas Academy ahead 2-1 midway through the second period. Cretin-Derham Hall pulled goaltender Owen Nelson in favor of an extra skater in the final minute of the third period, and Marcus Matyas scored for the Raiders with 14 seconds left to tie it at 2-2 and send the game into overtime.

Owen Nelson finished with 41 saves for Cretin-Derham Hall. St. Thomas Academy goaltender Cody Niesen also made 41 saves.

State Class 2A tournament action begins Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.