ST. PAUL — Jaeger Wood was fighting it. His stick. The puck. Everything.

Goals were coming so infrequently for St. Cloud Cathedral’s senior sharpshooter, the net might as well have been vacuum-sealed shut.

“Beginning of the season, I was getting really frustrated,” Wood said Friday after the defending state champion Crusaders beat Orono 3-1 in a state Class 1A semifinal at the Xcel Energy Center. “I couldn't seem to find it."

The struggle became so real for Wood that he was bumped off St. Cloud Cathedral’s top line. And it was the best thing that could have happened to him.

“Obviously, my goal was to play on the first line, but (freshman Bo Schmidt) came up and it kind of gelled,” said Wood, who scored twice against the Spartans. “And if I had to lead the second line, I was fine with it. I’m filling my role.”

Fitting, that Wood would play the role of Good Soldier, considering the kid has a cannon of a shot.

“He has the best shot on the team, hands down,” St. Cloud Cathedral coach Robbie Stocker said. “I don’t know if anybody has a better shot in Class A hockey that we’ve seen. He’s been due to putting goals in like this for three years now.”

Wood, who scored 10 goals as a junior, managed just two through the Crusaders’ first nine games. Slowly, the goals started to come. He scored four in a an 11-5 rout of East Grand Forks on Jan. 31. Wood really took off once the playoffs arrived. He’s scored nine goals in in four postseason games.

“We preach being good teammates, and doing things team-first,” Stocker said. “It’s easy to say those things but harder when you have to take a step back. But, man, he’s provided a huge mismatch. To be able to have a guy with his talent going against other team’s second lines is phenomenal.”

It wasn’t like Wood was banished to Siberia. No, he doesn’t play a regular shift with Crusaders stars John Hirschfeld and Joey Gillespie. But Wood is out with them on the top power play and is a trusted penalty killer. 

And, now, a trusted goal-scorer, too.

“If it comes at the end of the season …” Wood said about his goal-scoring splurge. “I couldn't ask for a better time.”