The Cathedral Crusaders beat the Alexandria Cardinals 3-2 in the Section 6A boys hockey final Thursday night at the MAC. The Crusaders are making their second consecutive trip to the tournament and eighth appearance overall.

Cathedral's Connor Beltz scored the only goal of the opening period at 10:38 on a rebound of a Mack Motzko shot. Shots on goal favored Cathedral 13-10 in the first period.

The Crusaders got a pair of goals in the final two minutes of the second period. James Anderson notched the first at 15:32 to make the score 2-0, then Micheal Spethmann snuck a backhanded shot through the legs of the Cardinals' goaltender Bailey Rosch at 16:45 to give CHS a 3-0 lead at the second intermission.

Alexandria got on the board with a Jack Westlund goal seconds after their second power play chance had expired. Cathedral's Reagan Garden took a five minute major penalty at 7:18 that led to a power play goal for Alexandria's Derek Berning at 7:56.

However, the Cardinals took a pair of penalties of their own during the extended man advantage, and ultimately could not find the equalizer.

The Crusaders will play at Xcel Energy Center next week, with seeding and matchups yet to be determined. Follow @1390TheFan on Twitter for more updates.

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