O'FALLON - Both Fred Bramstedt and Konnor Goclan scored twice, and Kai Vetter came up big in goal again, as Edwardsville High's hockey team regained the Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association Class 2A championship 5-1 in game two of the best-of-three championship series Tuesday night at the McKendree Metro Rec-Plex in O'Fallon.
The Tigers won the Class 2A crown in a two-game sweep of the final in their first year back in the league after having played in the St. Louis-based Mid-States Club Hockey Association for several years, having an overall record of 27-1-0, and sweeping two-time defending champion Granite City in the semifinals before defeating the Panthers to take the title.
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"They're screaming, so I think they're feeling pretty good," Edwardsville assistant coach Andrew Tucker said with a laugh during a phone interview after the game.
The Tigers played a nearly-complete game in taking game two over O'Fallon, after having won game one in a shootout 5-4 the night before.
"We played well," Tucker said. "Offensively, we kept the puck in their zone and got a lot of shots on net. Defensively, we were great, and Kai was great and did a great job of controlling his rebounds."
The Tigers played exceptionally well all season, and Tucker felt that the players saved their best games for their last.
"We played great all season," Tucker said, "and we played our best two games in the last two. We're super proud of the guys, and we couldn't ask for anything better."
The Tigers scored first at 2:30 of the opening period, when Bramstedt scored from an assist by Luke Thomlinson. The Panthers tied the game at 10:45 on a goal by Mason Wright, assisted by Jack Vahle and Abram Turner, but 13 seconds later, at 10:58, Zach Cohn scored what proved to be the winning goal unassisted to give Edwardsville a 2-1 lead.
It only took 55 seconds of the second period for the Tigers to expand their lead, as Bramstedt scored from Goclan to make it 3-1, then Goclan scored at 2:36, assisted by Bramstedt, to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead. Goclan scored the only goal of the third period at 9:24, again assisted by Bramstedt, to give Edwardsville the 5-1 win to clinch the Class 2A title.
The Panthers outshot the Tigers in the game 35-30.
It's the first MVCHA championship for Edwardsville since 2021, and the club's 13th overall, while O'Fallon ends its season with an overall record of 20-5-3.
In the Class 1A final, Freeburg/Waterloo won the game on Monday night with a 5-1 win over Triad at the East Alton Ice Arena. Game two was also set for Tuesday night, also at East Alton, with a third and final game, if necessary, scheduled for Thursday night at the McKendree Rec-Plex, starting at 7:30 p.m. 
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