St. Paul, MN - The final quarterfinal game of the Minnesota state high school hockey tournament always pits the No. 4 seed vs the No. 5 seed and never disappoints.  The Alexandria Cardinals and Thief River Falls Prowlers proved to be worthy of their seedings at four and five respectively and were equally well matched. Cardinals goaltender Jackson Boline made 18 saves to lead his team to a 1-0 win over the Prowlers.

The first period saw typical ebbs and flows from both teams with the Prowlers holding an 8-7 shots on goal advantage. Alexandria’s Jackson Boline and Thief River Falls Nick Corneliusen dueled and it appeared as though the senior goaltenders we not going to give in.  

Alexandria (18-10-1) took control of the second period by controlling the puck and stifling the Prowler offensive chances. The Cardinals outshot the Prowlers 10-1 for the period and held an 18-9 advantage through two.

The game’s first goal was also the day’s prettiest as Caleb Strong carried the puck from the right circle and walked it back to the right point.  He found Andrew Revering who bounced down from the left point as Strong was carrying the Prowlers with him toward the blue line. Revering took the pas and one touched back to the right of the net off the crease to the waiting Jack Westlund who potted the puck in the top shelf for his 15th of the season and the 1-0 lead.  

One had the feeling it would be a close to the vest game and it didn’t disappoint as it went into the third period. The Prowlers (16-11-2) pushed back and were rewarded with a five-on-three that was shut down by the Cardinals and Boline.  The Cardinals played with the lead about as well as a team could and took care of the puck in all three zones while winning the one-on-one battles.

The Cardinals will face the two-time defending state Class A champion Hermantown Hawks on Friday afternoon at 1pm while the Prowlers will play Thursday at noon against the Monticello Moose in a consolation round semi-final game at 3M Arena at Mariucci.