St. Cloud Cathedral wins second state championship, coach dedicates win to Mack Motzko

SAINT PAUL – The St. Cloud Cathedral boys hockey team started feeling special around mid-January, according to coach Robbie Stocker.

“Kind of the pivotal turning point of our season I would say would be the Hermantown game Jan. 11, which is odd that we played them in the championship,” he said. “That was the last game that we didn’t have Nick (Hansen) back in net and I challenged these guys to go 15-0 down the stretch.”

The Crusaders did just that, finishing on Saturday with winning the Class 1A state boys hockey championship 3-1 over Hermantown at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. It is Cathedral’s second hockey championship after winning in 2019 and returning to the state tournament in 2020 and 2023.

After the game, Stocker dedicated the title to Mack Motzko, who played three seasons with Cathedral, but missed the 2019 championship after moving for a year to Minnetonka. Stocker, a Cathedral alum, served as an assistant coach for his alma mater in 2016-17 but also took other opportunities in 2019. Motzko returned to graduate from Cathedral in 2020 and he had a bright future in hockey before dying in 2021 at age 20 from injuries sustained in a car crash.

“We kind of connected on missing that,” Stocker said. “It was always a goal of mine to try and win that state championship that he and I missed out on. I know how hard that was on him to not be a part of that.”

Stocker said Motzko was “An awesome friend, golf partner, just everything we’ve tried to build this program around.” He said he “couldn’t be prouder” of the 2024-winning squad.

Hermantown (20-9-2) coach Patrick Andrews said Cathedral’s (26-4-1) senior goalkeeper was “obviously” a difference maker from January’s 3-1 Hawk victory.

Hansen had a save percentage of .966 on Saturday, stopping 28 of 29 shots on goal. After starting the season 6-0-1, Hansen dislocated his left shoulder midway through December and missed 10 games. All of Cathedral’s four losses were during that spell, and since then, just one team scored more than two goals against the senior: Warroad (25-6) in the state semifinal.

Stocker said Hansen earned his captaincy while not on the ice.

“When he went down, he was at every practice, he was at every game,” Stocker said. “He was acting as a second goalie coach. He was the ultimate teammate, picking up everybody whether we lost a game, or won a game. We had a lot of ups and downs at that moment in time and him showing what it means to a leader, what it means to be a great teammate, set the tone when he came back.”

The only blemish on Hansen's 20-game record was a tie in the season-opener against Thief River Falls (15-11-1). The Hawks barely found a chink in Hansen’s armor – Alexander Francisco scored with just 1:14 remaining in the game. Defensemen Griffin Sturm and Vince Gebhardt said their focus for the game was keeping Hermantown attackers out of the middle..

“Me and Griffin communicate really well on that,” Gebhardt said. “We know who’s our guy, we know where we’re at. We just cover our guy, get the puck out, do our job and kill a bunch of penalties.”

They added it was a “relief” to have Hansen back.

“Against any good goalie you have to get to the paint,” Hermantown senior forward William Esterbrooks said. “They kept us outside pretty much the whole game. We weren’t able to get inside in front of his eyes very well.”

Esterbrooks took three shots, but all were covered by Hansen.

“The goalie made a hell of a save,” he said. “I tried to shoot it quick before he could slide over and he got his hand on it.”

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Like Hansen, members of Cathedral’s offense had statistical streaks to keep. Junior John Hirschfeld had multiple points in all five previous postseason games, including two goals against Warroad and three assists and a goal against Northfield (23-6-2) in the quarterfinal. Senior linemate Andrew Dwinnell has at least a point in every game dating to before Christmas. Against Warroad on the other wing, junior Joey Gillespie was held to zero points for the first time since Jan. 2.

With 212 points between them, the trio is considered by many to be the best of Class 1A. Warroad’s class top line of senior Carson Pilgrim, junior Taven James and senior Murray Marvin-Cordes had 191 points after winning the third-place game over Mahtomedi (18-13).

Cathedral’s top line was responsible for all three goals in the championship. Dwinnell was assisted by Hirschfeld and Gillespie on a goal early in the first period and after a scoreless second, Dwinnell and Gillespie went back-to-back thanks to assists from each other and from Gebhardt and Hirschfeld.

Andrews called the line “sneaky good.”

“They don’t ever really overpower you, it’s just like all of a sudden they have a three-on-two or two-on-one from below the dots,” he said. “Hirschfeld is a really good player.”

Hansen, Dwinnell, Hirschfeld and Gillespie made the all-tournament team.

Andrews said he liked how his team played in the second and third periods, despite the increasing deficit. The Hawks outshot the Crusaders 29-21 in the game and 21-12 in the second two periods. Esterbrooks felt like the Hawks tightened gaps defensively and had great back pressure from their forwards. Hermantown’s senior goalie Dane Callaway played well too.

“(Hansen) was great today and we have a pretty damn good one too,” Andrews said.

Not including Saturday, Callaway had a .935 save percentage this year and gave up 1.82 goals per game. The Hawks have been to five straight tournaments and won championships in 2016, 2017 and 2022.

“I’m super proud of these guys,” Patrick said “The legacy that this senior class has had – they got us down here three years in a row, it’s pretty impressive.”

Senior forward Joshua Kauppinen said he teared up thinking about playing for the last time with guys he’s been with since squirts and mites, “But that kind of goes away because I know that every single player gave it their all out there today,” he said.

Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud Cathedral wins 2024 MN hockey championship over Hermantown