The River Falls Wildcats became sectional champions on Saturday and will advance to the frozen four in Madison this weekend for a chance to become state champions for the first time in program history.

The River Falls Wildcats are going to the state tournament for just the second time ever after defeating the Somerset Spartans at home on Tuesday by a score of 3-1 and then beating the Menomonie Mustangs on the road on Saturday 2-0.

It was the Wildcats’ second and third wins of the playoffs. They have outscored their opponents 12-1 over that span and will advance to the state level of postseason play for the first time since 1997.

The game against Somerset was touch and go all the way through the first period. River Falls narrowly outshot them 12-10, but ultimately each team went into the break on the schneid.

Things got going early in the second period as Jack Rock put one in the net with the help of Wyatt Hoepfl and Calvin Schrank. The score remained 1-0 until the buzzer at the end of the period rang as the Wildcats continued to edge the Spartans, outshooting them 13-9 in the period.

Things got interesting quickly in the final frame as Somerset came out shooting and put one in the net to tie it up with less than 4:00 taken off the clock.

In an elimination game, the Wildcats needed someone to step up and make something happen, and on Tuesday night, that was Jaxon Flanagan.

The Wildcats had been pressing the Spartan goalie, who eventually covered it up resulting in a faceoff to the left side of the net. The puck dropped, and the Wildcats came away with it. Flanagan caught the pass back, immediately put the slapshot on the goalie from out near the blue line and it streaked right by him into the right corner of the net to make it a 2-1 game with 7:19 left to play in the final frame.

The Spartans had no luck tying it up in the middle half of the period, so with time running out, they pulled their goalie.

The Wildcats navigated playing “shorthanded” beautifully and nearly sank a floater, but Somerset came through and saved the day before pushing back down the ice. It wouldn’t be enough, though, as Mason Rappel put one in with the help of Flanagan and Ben Johnson anyway with 1:08 to go.

That would do it for Somerset, and River Falls took a 3-1 victory, finishing with just three more shots on goal than the Spartans at 36-33.

Rock currently leads the Wildcats in points this postseason with six, and he says being adaptable and ready for anything is what carried them to this victory.

“It’s playoffs, so anything can happen. They played us tougher tonight than they did in regular season. We had them in the scrimmage at the beginning of the year where it got real chippy, and then again early in the season where they took a lot of penalties,” Rock said. “They didn't take a lot of penalties tonight, so it's not really what we thought was going to happen, but we adjusted to what they were doing and just rolled through.”

With one more game to go before qualifying for state for the first time in nearly 30 years, Rock said it was the beginnings of the fulfillment of a childhood fantasy.

“It’s been a dream for the guys in the locker room. When I was a kid, I would shoot knee hockey pucks in my basement thinking of going to Madison and scoring that OT game winner, so anything we can do to go we’ll do,” Rock said. “We're just happy and focused on what's next. Someday I'm sure all this would be in the back of my head, but right now, we’re just focused on the next game. We’ve got to have a good week of practice, but otherwise we’re good to go.”

The second game was a low scoring affair, but the Wildcats played excellent defense and won 2-0 behind the excellent performance of Luke Linehan who got 31 saves.

Jaxon Flanagan got the game’s first point in the second period on assists by Chase Weissinger and Charlie Friemann to make it 1-0 going into the final 18:00 of the game. Wyatt Hoepfl got the insurance goal in the closing frame with assists by Calvin Schrank and Lars Briese as the Wildcats won their second shutout game of the postseason.

Head Coach Cameron Wilken says the whole team was ecstatic after the game.

“I was just so excited for the guys to get a chance to celebrate. They put in so much blood, sweat, and tears to make it this far,” Wilken said. “For the senior group and upperclassmen, they have had to endure a program rebuild. That often means you have to be patient with results. For us, that was no different. They finally get to celebrate the culmination of that rebuild. I think for most of them, coaches included, it still hasn't fully set in.”

Coach Wilken says the keys to winning at state will be sticking to what they do best, playing their style of hockey. This means playing strong defense, being opportunistic in the offensive zone and overall making it difficult to play against them. 

Historically, River Falls has never won a boys hockey state title, and this is only the second time they've ever made the state tournament, the first being in 1997.

With these wins, the Wildcats will travel to Madison next weekend as the three-seed. The first game of the Wisconsin high school frozen four begins on Thursday when they take on St. Mary’s Springs at 1:30 p.m. If they prove victorious, they will compete for their first ever state championship on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.