The St. Thomas Ice Arena’s frozen surface features six blue goal creases, four of them on the sides for practice use. The only two that matter, of course, are at either end and St. Thomas Academy’s Owen Ryan tended them to near perfection Tuesday night during a 3-1 defeat of Edina.

Undated courtesy photo, circle January, 2026, of St. Thomas Academy freshman goalie Owen Ryan. (Courtesy of St. Thomas Academy)

Ryan, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound freshman from White Bear Lake, stopped 22 shots, including a dozen during the third period, justifying coach Mark Strobel’s faith in returning him to the net after starts against Edina and equally powerful Moorhead earlier this month resulted in a loss and a tie.

“He wasn’t his sharpest mentally and it translated to how he moved in the net,” said Strobel, whose team was  2-3-2 over its last seven games entering Tuesday’s contest. “Tonight, he bounced back and had a coming-out party under pressure. He grew the last couple of games, and this will build confidence.”

Said Ryan: “It’s good to know the coach believes in you. I had a few butterflies before the game, but I did some breathing exercises to keep my mind calm.”

St. Thomas, ranked fourth in the latest Let’s Play Hockey state coaches poll, used goals by Oliver Marvin, Cole Braunshausen and Maverick McKinnon to overcome a lackluster first period against the third-ranked Hornets. Edina sniper Tucker Johnson produced his team’s lone goal.

Hornets goaltender Chase Bjorgaard, last seen producing a state-record six touchdowns during the Class 6A football championship game in late November, was outstanding in stopping 20 shots.

Edina took 10 of the first period’s 15 shots on goal, but it was the hosts who cranked off six of the first seven in that category to open the second stanza. Marvin, one of the Cadets’ five Edina residents, opened the scoring when he finished a 2-on-1 break with Bennett Knutson into the net’s left side.

“We were standing and watching,” said Edina coach Curt Giles, who’s guided the Hornets to five state titles and, like STA, to last season’s state tournament. “Against a good team, if you do that and they start moving their feet, they get on a roll and get momentum.”

St. Thomas outshot Edina11-2 during the second period and Stobel wasn’t afraid to acknowledge that he provided some loud “motivation” for his troops during the first intermission.

“You’re either going to do what we need or you’re not going to play,” said the coach, who feared his team’s early struggles during its first clash with Edina (11-5) were repeating themselves.

“What’s in their psyche before they come to the rink?” he asked. “It needs to change or I’m going to have a heart attack. We have to make sure we’re the hunters and not the hunted for the first 17 minutes.”

Edina’s Miller Wenkus was penalized for hooking five minutes into the second period and STA went up, 2-0, with the man advantage. Braunshausen, unguarded on the left side of the slot, popped a McKinnon feed into the net’s vacant left side.

“Anden Roy picked a puck off the (right) half wall and get it to Mav in the middle,” Braunshausen said. “It’s tough to miss that one after two great plays. Those guys definitely did the heavy lifting on that one.”

Edina created late tension after Johnson, who entered with seven goals and 28 assists, fired in a slap shot from center point on a power play and past a screened Ryan. McKinnon scored into an empty net with a minute remaining.

St. Thomas (10-4-2) graduated 10 seniors from last season’s team, many with deep varsity resumes. This season’s eight seniors include four who played junior varsity as juniors but developed enough at that level to be promoted. Marvin is part of that quartet.

“It’s taken them a little longer to develop the speed and quickness and brain power for the things we do from a strategy standpoint,” said Strobel, noting that he kept 42 of the 90 players who tried out before the season.

Ryan’s play has helped buy time for that development to occur. Inspired to don the pads after watching former Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, another tall and slender goaltender, he’s shared his crease with junior Jacksyn Crary, but is staking a strong claim to being the Cadets’ big-game starter.

“He’s so young and talented and for him to keep his head under pressure like tonight in front of a full barn is pretty remarkable,” Braunshausen said. “He’s got a lot of weight on his shoulders but we expect that from him now. I’d put him up against anybody in the state.”

Can STA make another state-tournament run and give Ryan a chance to occupy the blue paint Dubnyk once defended?

“I think so, but I’ll have a better idea a month from now,” Strobel said. “We’ll see where our minds are heading into the playoffs. You have to get lucky but it’s hard work and buying into your team’s system in your own end. Because not a lot of high school kids want to play defense.”

With Ryan in the crease, it’s unlikely the Cadets will need much convincing.

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