Photo by Jake McNeill Marshall forward Blake Grimsley (2) shoots the puck during a boys hockey game against Luverne at Red Baron Arena in Marshall on Feb. 1. The Tigers lost that game to Luverne but avenged the loss by ending the Cardinals’ season with a 3-2 win in the Section 3A semifinals on Saturday. The fifth-seeded Tigers will look to punch their ticket to the state tournament when they take on No. 2 New Ulm in the section championship game in St. Peter tonight.

The Marshall boys hockey team defeated top-seeded Luverne over the weekend to continue its Cinderella run to the Section 3A championship game. The fifth-seeded Tigers will be taking on the No. 2 New Ulm Eagles with a state tournament berth on the line tonight.

Of the 16 Class A teams still competing for a Minnesota state championship, seven are the No. 1 seed in their section (Luverne is the only top seed not competing in its section championship game). Another six of the remaining teams are the No. 2 seed in their section, leaving another two third-seeded teams and No. 5 Marshall.

“It’s been a crazy couple of games here and it seems like right now we’re just getting some bounces, our goalies are coming up big and we’re making some big blocks,” Marshall head coach Michael Weiss said. “It’s all just kind of coming together.”

The path to a section championship isn’t easy for a team with disadvantageous seeding. Marshall had to go into hostile territory for the section quarterfinals, hosted by No. 4 Mankato West. The two teams met in Mankato in the 2023 tournament as well, with the Scarlets scoring four third-period goals to force overtime in a game Mankato West ended up winning 5-4. This year, however, Marshall flipped the script for a 3-2 win behind a pair of goals from Jacob Johnson and 32 saves from Gavin Welsh.

The quarterfinal win earned the Tigers a matchup against Luverne in the semifinals. The Cardinals were a perfect 15-0 against Section 3A opponents heading into the semifinals. Yet, the Tigers shocked the world again. Welsh again stood on his head with 33 saves, Easton Larsen netted a pair of goals and Blake Grimsley scored what would be the game-winner in the 3-2 game. The win sends Marshall to its first section championship game since 2017.

“Just kind of taking it one game at a time. We can’t look too much at the previous game, you’ve got to look forward and try to keep doing the right things,” Weiss said.

Coming through the opposite side of the bracket, the second-seeded New Ulm Eagles soared right through the first two rounds of the playoffs, running away with an 8-1 win over Windom in the quarterfinals and a 6-3 win over Mankato East. New Ulm allowed Mankato East to score three unanswered goals to start the second period, tying up the game at 3-3, but New Ulm snapped back into form to pull out the victory.

Austin Uecker has been on a hot streak for the Eagles as of late. He scored two goals in each of New Ulm’s first two postseason games this year to extend his point streak to 15 games, dating back to Dec. 30. With 38 goals and 77 points on the season, he comes into the matchup as the Big South Conference’s second-leading goal-scorer and point-scorer. Only Luverne’s Owen Sudenga has more goals or points on the season, finishing with 42 and 79.

Kaden Larson backs up the Eagles’ 1-2 punch with 25 goals and 57 points on the season, ranking him sixth and fourth in the Big South in the respective categories. Bryer Lang’s 52 points also place him top 10 in the conference.

Yet, just as the 65-win Boston Bruins and 62-win Tampa Bay Lightning were shut down by Sergei Bobrovsky in the NHL playoffs, a hot goalie makes it difficult for any offense to run away with the win. Gavin Welsh has been just that for the Tigers. The senior goaltender finished the regular season with a .869 save percentage on 519 shots but has been electric to start the section tournament. His 32 saves in the quarterfinals against Mankato West were his second-highest mark of the season behind a 35-save outing in a 4-0 loss to Fargo North (N.D.) on Dec. 28. Two days later, he set a new second-highest mark with a 33-save outing in the semifinals against Luverne, giving him a blazing-hot .942 save rate in the 3A tournament.

“You’ll hear a lot of coaches say that’s [goaltending] what helps win championships,” Weiss said. “He’s really done his part. I think with him, he’s going to compete at a high level and he’s going to fight to save every puck. Even if he has no business making the save, he’s going to try to get his body on it.”

New Ulm swept Marshall in the regular season this year, beating the Tigers 6-1 at Red Baron Arena and 4-1 in the New Ulm Civic Center. Larson scored three goals in those two games while Jacob Johnson had a goal and an assist for Marshall. Welsh started only one of those games, saving 24 of the 30 shots (80%) in the teams’ first matchup. Yet, that was back on Nov. 30 and these are two different teams nearly three months later.

“I thought the second time we played, it was a lot better than the first time. Hopefully, that trend continues,” Weiss said.

Marshall isn’t short on offensive weapons either. Owen Renslow’s 30 goals rank him third in the Big South while Talan Plante’s 53 goals put him fifth in the Big South. Additionally, Johnson has scoured 11 points during his six-game point streak, including six goals, to give him a total of 12 goals and 31 points on the season. His points tie him with Andrew Seanor for third on the team behind Renslow and Plante and his goals put him fourth behind Renslow, Plante and Seanor’s 16.

Between the posts for New Ulm, Bryer Hoffmann has saved 91.1% of the 570 shots he’s faced this season and has posted six shutouts for a 2.21 goals-against average. He’s carried his quality play into the postseason with a .897 save rate, albeit on limited action (15 saves against Windom, 20 against Mankato East).

While his numbers have been below his regular-season averages, Hoffmann has shown an uptick in performance over the last month or so. Since Jan. 22, he’s put together a .922 save rate with a stretch of four consecutive shutouts against Fairmont, Worthington, Rochester Lourdes and Windom Area. He also saved 37 of the 38 shots he faced to lead the Eagles to a 5-1 win over Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato in their regular-season finale.

New Ulm has been to the section championship game three years in a row but has come up short each time. A win would send New Ulm to its first state tournament since 2018-19.

The section championship game will be played at Gustavus Adolphus College’s Lund Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m.