St. Cloud Cathedral won Section 5A, beat Monticello 3-1 in the final, then took fifth at the State Class 1A Tournament after a one-goal loss to Mahtomedi. That’s a strong season by any measure. But the section underneath the champion produced two overtime quarterfinals, a freshman who outscored a senior-laden roster, and a defending champ that returns its top scorer as a sophomore. Section 5A looks just as competitive heading into 2026-27. (Disclaimer- these articles are for amusement only and don’t take into consideration any incoming players/transfers as we don’t have a reliable source for that data, if you have something for us send us a message ftphockey@gmail.com)
2025-26 Final Results
| Team | Record | Result |
|---|---|---|
| St. Cloud Cathedral | 20-12 | Section Champion (beat Monticello 3-1 in final) |
| Monticello | 19-6-3 | Runner-up (lost to St. Cloud Cathedral 1-3 in final) |
| Pine City Area | 17-9-1 | Semifinalist (lost to Monticello 3-4) |
| Sauk Rapids-Rice | 14-12-1 | Semifinalist (lost to St. Cloud Cathedral 2-7) |
| Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato | 12-13-1 | Quarterfinal (lost to Sauk Rapids-Rice 5-6 OT) |
| River Lakes | 10-16 | Quarterfinal (lost to Pine City Area 6-7 OT) |
| Becker/Big Lake | 11-15 | Quarterfinal (lost to Monticello 1-7) |
| Princeton | 3-23-1 | Quarterfinal (lost to St. Cloud Cathedral 3-11 after beating Mora/Milaca 6-1) |
| Mora/Milaca | 7-18 | First round (lost to Princeton 1-6) |
St. Cloud Cathedral: The Favorite, Built Around Schmidt
St. Cloud Cathedral returns Bo Schmidt, who led the team outright in scoring as a sophomore with 57 points, and Brandan White, who finished third on the roster as a true freshman with 39 points. Elijah Van Heel adds a third proven scorer from the blue line. The one real question is goaltending, where both Hunter Moreland and Blake Kayser graduate after combining for most of last season’s starts. Until that position sorts itself out, the offense alone should keep Cathedral squarely in the section title conversation.
Monticello: Elite Pieces Around a Big Graduation Hit
Monticello loses its top two scorers from a team that reached the section final, but what’s left behind is genuinely special — Nicklas Nelson, a U-Conn commit, and Clyde Middleton, who put up 32 points as a sophomore. Goaltender Nolan Wurm returns after a five-shutout season. Few teams in the section can match that combination of a Division I defenseman and a proven number one in net.
Pine City Area and Sauk Rapids-Rice: Contrasting Paths Back to Contention
Pine City Area returns Carson Anderson and Oskar Rydberg, who combined for 74 points last season, but loses its primary goaltender without an obvious successor. Sauk Rapids-Rice takes the opposite path — after losing its entire top five scorers and both goaltenders, this is closer to a true rebuild than a step back from contention. Both programs reached the semifinal last year; only one looks built to get back there immediately.
The Freshman and Sophomore Class Reshaping the Section
Several of the most interesting individual stories in Section 5A come from teams that didn’t make a deep run. Mora/Milaca’s Ty Stanchfield led his entire team in scoring as a 9th grader with 56 points — the best freshman season anywhere in the section. Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato’s Landon Corbin and goaltender Griffin Niska, River Lakes’ Logan Jones, and Princeton’s Mason Clark all give their programs multi-year cores to build around regardless of last year’s record.
2026-27 Outlook
St. Cloud Cathedral starts as the favorite on the strength of a Junior who already led his team in scoring once, but Monticello’s returning talent is good enough to make the section final again even after losing two key scorers. Pine City Area and a handful of rebuilding programs add real depth underneath the top two. This is a section that produced two overtime games and a freshman scoring title last year, and there’s no reason to expect 2026-27 to be any less competitive.
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