Class A Boys Hockey State Quarterfinal: Warroad 8, New Ulm 1

Warroad was off and running in its 25^th state tournament appearance, posting an 8-1 victory over New Ulm in the Class A quarterfinals of the Minnesota State High School League’s Boys Hockey State Tournament on Wednesday, March 6 at the Xcel Energy Center.

Senior forward Murray Marvin-Cordes had a hat trick while senior forward Carson Pilgrim and sophomore forward Dominic Anthony chipped in two more each to power the No. 2-seeded Warriors (26-5-0) into the Class A semifinals against the winner between Northfield and No. 3 St. Cloud Cathedral. While it took a majority of the first period for the Warriors to break a scoreless deadlock, once it was, the goals were plentiful.

Pilgrim opened the scoring late in the first period which ushered in a spree of five goals in the second that paved the way to a 6-0 advantage with a period to play. Sophomore forward Dominic Anthony highlighted the spree with a magical goal where no one knew what happened to the disappearing puck. He started the play by digging the goal out of the corner. After circling behind the goal, he scooped the puck on the blade of his stick and deftly stuffed it toward the New Ulm goal. It took many angles and a long review before determining the puck had rolled down the back of the New Ulm goalie and just over the goal line.

Warroad, looking for its fifth hockey state championship, was the Class A runner-up a season ago. Warroad’s first state tournament appearance was in 1948.

New Ulm (23-6-0) saw its winless streak in state tournament quarterfinals extend to 13 games.