ST. PAUL - Two state tournament games, two shutouts for Cal Conway. Another period or two at the same success rate, and we’ll have entered Gregg Stutz territory. 

For those who might not remember, Stutz was the Centennial goaltender who recorded shutouts in three games at the 2004 state Class 2A tournament. The first and only time the feat has been accomplished.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The most recent shutout in a big-school championship game came back in 2009 (Eden Prairie 3-0 over Moorhead), so the likelihood is low.

Still, Conway seems to be living in one of those rare goaltender fun zones where pucks are the size of beach balls and move at slow-motion speed.

“Everyone can see he’s a great goaltender,” Stillwater senior forward Blake Vanek said Friday after the Ponies beat St. Thomas Academy 4-0 at the Xcel Energy Center to reach the state Class 2A championship for the first time in school history. “Any game he plays he battles as hard as anyone I’ve seen back there.”

Conway transferred from Andover in the fall, and he missed much of the season because of eligibility issues. He improved his record to 9-0-0 with Friday’s victories. Five of those wins have been by shutout. He made 15 of his 36 saves against St. Thomas Academy in the second period. 

“I didn’t like our second period at all,” Stillwater coach Greg Zanon said. “Cal stood huge in there for us and gave us the opportunity. He still made a couple bigger saves in the third.”

Conway owns a shutout streak of eight periods including the two OT sessions in the Section 4AA championship game against Hill-Murray. It looked like the streak was over late in the third period when the Cadets finally got the puck past Conway. But St. Thomas Academy’s Patch Cronin was laying on top of Conway when the goal was scored, and it was waived off after video review.

“We just kept shooting pucks, and he just, he was there,” St. Thomas Academy forward Will Dosan said.

Added St. Thomas coach Mark Strobel: “I think you have to get traffic in on him. He plays big up high. He sits in the net a bit, and he trusts his body size. So you have to move him laterally, we were trying to open up the five-hole.

“But he’s a solid goalie. Very stout and steady. And obviously he’s having some success.”

More than some success. Conway’s statistics, he has a minuscule 0.98 goals-against average, and robust .957 save percentage are as impressive as his won-loss record. 

“We’ve got so much confidence in him,” Vanek said.