MIDDLETON, Wis. – The 2026 State Hockey Tournament produced boys champions in two divisions and one girls division at Bob Suter’s LEGACY20 Arena Saturday.
Second-seeded Edgewood (27-2) was fueled by a productive second period to propel the Crusaders to their second straight championship with a 7-4 over top-seeded Stevens Point Area High School in the Division 1 final.
Edgewood struck quickly in the first period with a goal by Owen Koch 33 seconds into the game. Owen Barnet and George Colletti assisted on the score.
The Panthers scored on a power play to tie the game at 1-1 at 7:32 of the first period on a goal by Jerome Poirier with an assist to Grant Molski. Molski later scored on a shorthanded goal to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. Grady Miller was credited with an assist.
The Edgewood offense unleashed an assault on the goal in the second period, scoring five times. Owen Porter scored a power play goal at 5:15 with assists from Koch and Shane Fisch to tie the game at 2-2. Barnet converted a penalty shot at 6:55 into the period to give the Crusaders the lead at 3-2.
Porter’s second goal expanded the Edgewood lead to 4-2 at 11:33. Sawyer Guenther and Owen Barnet both earned assists on the score. Less than a minute later, the Panthers responded with a goal by Teddy Westrick with an assist from Poirer at 12:24 to cut their deficit to 4-3.
Edgewood retaliated with two goals prior to the second intermission to take control of the game with a 6-3 lead. Barnet scored his second goal of the period at 13:04 off an assist from Koch, and Cash Soma added a score with assists from Will Rothering and Carter Rosenberg at the 14:05 mark of the period.
The Crusaders added insurance late in the third period when Owen Koch scored for the second time with an unassisted goal at 15:43. Westrick added his second goal of the game with 23 seconds remaining in the game to cap the scoring. Poirer and Miller were each credited with their second assist in the game.
Stevens Point outshot the Crusaders 27-23. Barnet and Koch each scored twice and handed out a pair of assists to lead Edgewood’s offense. Brady McGuire played the complete game in goal and made 23 stops.
The Panthers were led offensively by Westrick with two goals, and Poirier added a goal and two assists. Zac Burdick recorded 16 saves in the game.
Edgewood advanced to the final following a 7-2 win over University School of Milwaukee in the semifinals. The Crusaders win their second title in their nine appearances. The Panthers finish runner-up in their 18th State Tournament appearance. They defeated De Pere/West De Pere 4-0 to earn a berth in the final.
Second-seeded Northland Pines (22-6) captured the Division 2 title with a 4-0 shutout over fourth-seeded Amery Co-op (20-9).
The Eagles started quickly with a pair of goals in the first five minutes of the game. Josh Graves started the scoring with an assist by Cooper Saari to give the Northland Pines a 1-0 lead at 3:28 into the first period. Less than a minute later, Michael Schmidt zipped the puck into the upper right area of goal with assists from Jazek Jantzen and Bodie Bakken at 4:14.
A penalty-filled second period produced another goal for the Eagles to increase their advantage to 3-0 on a power play. Graves scored his second goal, unassisted, at 10:51 into the period.
Cooper Saari completed the scoring for the Eagles with an empty-net, unassisted goal with 1:07 remaining in the game.
Northland Pines outshot Amery Co-op 33-24 in the game, with Graves leading the way offensively with two goals and Saari handing out a pair of assists. Evrett Leslie made 24 saves in goal for the Eagles.
Both Elliot Greene and Jacob Maxon led the team in shots on goal with eight. Defensively, goalie Carter Meyer made a game-high 29 saves.
The Amery Co-op finishes runner-up for the second straight year, which also accounts for its overall number of experiences at State. The Warriors notched a 3-1 win over top-seeded Waunakee in the semifinals to earn their berth in the final.
Northland Pines captures the program’s fourth State championship in its 20th appearance as a stand-alone program. They defeated Somerset/St. Croix Falls 3-2 in the semifinals to advance to the title game.
The De Pere Co-op (26-2) captured its second straight title and its third in the last four seasons, hanging on for 5-4 victory over River Falls Co-op (24-5) in the State Girls Hockey Tournament championship.
The top-seeded Bay Area Ice Bears built a 5-1 lead midway through the third period before the St. Croix Fusion scored three goals in a 3:26 span to create some drama in the final minute of the game.
The De Pere Co-op scored on three power plays in the game. The first two gave the Ice Bears a 2-0 advantage in the first period. Aisling Buchan opened the scoring with a goal off assisted by Addison Dahl and Lilly Lyons at the 10:50 point of the first period. A little over a minute later, Dahl added a power play score of her own at 12:06 with assists by Faye Brunke and Buchan.
Before the end of the period, the De Pere Co-op would increase the lead 3-0 on the first of three goals by Brunke. She scored with 43 seconds remaining before the first intermission with assists by Lyons and Buchan.
The Fusion scored the only goal of the second period on the first of two goals by Jane Volgren at the 10:34 mark to cut its deficit to 3-1. She received an assist from Lily Mittl.
Faye Brunke appeared to be simply adding goals to an insurmountable lead with a power play goal at 32 seconds into the third period on assists by Ava McDonald and Buchan, her third, and another goal at 8:41 with assists by Mya Sheppard and Jordyn Clarke to build the Ice Bears’ advantage to 5-1.
A few minutes later, the Fusion turned a seemingly comfortable lead for the Ice Bears into anxious moments. Emma Larsen scored on the power play off a Volgren assist with 4:21 remaining in the game. Just over a minute later, Volgren added her second goal on a power play, assisted by Mittl with 3:01 remaining. River Falls Co-op clawed back to within a goal when it scored with an extra player. Oaklie Holldorf scored with 47 seconds to play with Mittl dishing out her third assist of the game.
However, the Fusion was unable to complete the comeback, being held scoreless in the final moments of the game.
The Ice Bears outshot the Fusion 28-21 in the game, and they were 3-for-3 on the power play. Brunke led the team with eight shots on goal, recording the hat trick and distributing an assist. Reese Spiering made 17 saves in goal for the De Pere Co-op.
Volgren led the Fusion with six shots on goal, a pair of goals and an assist. Katelyn Gustafson made a game-high 23 saves for the River Falls Co-op.
The Fusion finished runner-up in this version of the co-op’s first State Tournament experience. Four other configurations of the co-op qualified an additional five times. In the semifinals, the Fusion skated by Superior/Northwestern, 7-4, to move on to the final.
The De Pere Co-op wins the program’s fourth championship in its sixth State Tournament appearance. The Ice Bears defeated the Sun Prairie West Co-op 5-1 in the semifinals to advance to the final.