Luca Pedri broke a tie with a deflection goal 5 minutes, 11 seconds into the third period as No. 3 seed St. Thomas Academy survived a tight contest game with No. 6 seed Shakopee with a 2-1 quarterfinal victory Thursday in the Class AA state boys hockey tournament at Xcel Energy Center.

Jackson Rudh also scored a goal, and goaltender Cody Niesen stopped 13 shots for the Cadets in a tight-checking game at Xcel Energy Center. St. Thomas (24-5-0) advanced to play No. 2 seed Stillwater (23-6-0) in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal.

Nathaniel Pederson scored for Shakopee, which was making just its second appearance in the tournament, and first since 2005. Goaltender Owen Lunneborg stopped 17 shots.

Both Niesen and Lunneborg stopped Grade A chances in the final 3 minutes, Lunneborg getting a pad on Rudh’s point blank chance at the foot of the crease, and Niesen just getting a skate on Cooper Simpson’s backhander on a rush.

Shakopee pulled Lunneborg with 45.5 seconds left and got three faceoffs in the Cadets’ zone but got only shot on goal, and the Cadets tied up the puck on the boards to kill the final seconds.

St. Thomas scored first, from a scrum at the net. With the puck bouncing between sticks and skates, Rudh skated through the right circle to the crease, where the puck was free. He pounced, and the Cadets were up 1-0 just 1:19 into the opening period.

Shakopee tied it late in the period when Nathaniel Pederson one-timed a pass from teammate Simpson into the right corner of the net with 1:32 remaining. The play started on a pass off the backboards from Carson Steinhoff.

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