Throughout the first period, you could feel it coming.

Despite the Mankato East/Loyola boys hockey team being the fourth seed, and Dodge County being the top seed, it just felt like the Cougars were getting the better of the play.

While they didn’t score in the opening period, the Cougars cashed in three times in the second en route to a 5-3 win in the Section 1A semifinals Saturday at the Rochester Recreation Center.

“At the end of the day, if you’re the 1 (seed) or the 4, you have to show up to play. If you don’t show up to play, you’re not going to get out of here,” East coach Adam Fries said. “In the section, seedings don’t really matter.”

The Cougars got on the board just 46 seconds into the second period when Daniel Bequette fired a cross-ice pass that Matthew Salzle slid into an open net. Brett Borchardt also had an assist on the goal.

At 6:59, Salzle scored his second of the game on a nifty feed from Layten Liffrig. Then, 23 seconds later, Jake Kanzenbach made it 3-0 on assists from Salzle and Jake Schreiber.

East continued to dominate the period, but Matt Donovan got the Wildcats on the board at 15:59 with a late power-play goal.

“Before we were sending two guys, a little bit heavier forecheck,” Salzle said of the Cougars’ first-period approach. “They were breaking it out pretty easy so we changed things up, and it worked for us.”

Salzle completed the hat trick at 8:32 of the third period on assists from Liffrig and Bequette, beating Wildcats goaltender Isaac Dale low.

It appeared the Cougars were going to run away with it, but Dodge County made a late push.

Leading scorer Brody Lamb, who the Cougars did a great job of taking away, scored at 10:30 of the third. The Wildcats’ Brendon Postier then added another with 2:02 remaining to make it a one-goal game.

Despite the pressure, East/Loyola was able to hold on, as Jake Schreiber added an empty-netter in the closing seconds.

The teams each had 28 shots on goal. Caelin Brueske made 25 saves in goal for East/Loyola.

“We have everything we need,” Salzle said of the upcoming final. “Just show up, be confident, make our plays and we’ll come out on top.”

The Cougars play Mankato West in the section final at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Rochester Recreation Center.

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