With Cal Conway doing his thing, two early goals were more than enough for Stillwater.

Conway made 36 saves and the Ponies beat St. Thomas Academy 4-0 on Friday in a Class 2A state boys hockey semifinal at Xcel Energy Center.

In the tournament for the first time since 2016, and set to make its first title game appearance, second-seeded Stillwater will face either top-seeded Moorhead or No. 5 seed Edina in Saturday’s 7 p.m. final.

“We thought we’d be here from the start … and just happy everything worked out,” said Jonas Kohn, who scored a goal.

Luca Jarvis, Trey Fredenberg and Blake Vanek each had a goal and assist for Stillwater (24-6-0), winners of 12 straight games, including both state tournament games via shutout.

The Ponies beat Andover 5-0 Thursday. Stillwater’s shutout streak is now at 104 minutes, 15 seconds dating back to the section final.

“Our angles have been amazing, our stick work as far as stick positioning and taking away passing lanes and poking plays off sticks, holding blue lines. It helps to be a bigger set of defensemen, but they’re all playing at a different level than they have all year,” coach Greg Zanon said.

And Conway has been phenomenal.

He missed nine weeks due to a technical issue of his transfer from Andover but has won all nine starts since his early-February return. For the season, he has a 0.88 goals-against average and .958 save percentage.

“He battles as hard as anybody I’ve ever seen back there, and he’s got so much confidence. I’ve never seen a player with more confidence than him,” Vanek said.

“This time of year, the blue paint, that’s where it’s won,” St. Thomas Academy coach Mark Strobel said. “We paid an OK price; we didn’t pay the ultimate price to beat him. But he’s a solid goalie, very stout and steady.”

His squad up 2-0 early in the third period, Conway made his biggest save of the game.

A lively bounce off the end boards went right to Cole Braunshausen, who had a step on his defender as he charged down the slot. The St. Thomas Academy junior snapped off a quick shot, but Conway just as quickly stuck out the right pad. A few minutes later, the Ponies had some good fortune too.

Jackson Rudh, St. Thomas Academy’s top scorer, couldn’t quite convert on a tough skate-to-forehand attempt near the post with Conway out of position a couple minutes later. Thirty-five seconds after that, Conway thwarted a Grade-A chance from James Richardson, with the senior defenseman bending over at the waist in disbelief.

“The bounces just didn’t go our way tonight,” Cadets’ center Will Dosan said.

Fredenberg all but iced the game 24 seconds later, potting a rebound of a Jarvis shot. Vanek added an empty-net tally. Each Stillwater goal was scored in front of the St. Thomas Academy student section.

Braunshausen thought he scored short-handed for the Cadets with 6:45 to play, but video review determined there was goalie interference.

Cody Niesen stopped 19 shots for St. Thomas Academy (24-6-0), in the Class 2A tournament for the seventh time since 2015. The Cadets are still searching for their first-big-school title after winning five Class A titles from 2006-13.

Stillwater struck twice before the game was 10 minutes old.

With Fredenberg perfectly screening the goalie, Kohn’s long wrister from the top of the slot went in at 4:03. Just over five minutes later, Fredenberg carried the puck into the Cadets’ zone, and left the puck for Jarvis. The sophomore’s shot from near the left dot just missed Fredenberg cutting across in front of the goalie and into the upper corner for a 2-0 lead.

Eight of the first nine shots and 10 of 12 in the second period were by St. Thomas Academy, but Conway remained calm and collected.

“Cal stood huge in there and gave us an opportunity,” Zanon said.