Day 3 recap: Minnesota state girls hockey tournament
The 2024 Minnesota state girls hockey tournament is down to the semifinals. All four semifinals between Class A and 2A take place Friday at Xcel Energy Center.
Friday's semifinals will be televised on 45TV/Prep45, as will Saturday's Class A and Class 2A finals. Here's a look at Friday's games:
Class A
No. 3 Dodge County 4, No. 2 Orono 2
Dodge County girls hockey coach Jeremy Gunderson knew before the game even started that his goaltender Ida Huber was going to be dialed in for Friday’s Class A semifinal against Orono at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
“You can see it sometimes in warmups with our team and players, so as soon as I saw the first seven shots, her tracking it, I was like, ‘She’s on,’” Gunderson said. “So, I knew we had her dialed in.”
Was she ever. Huber made 35 saves on 37 shots, many of them prime scoring chances, as Dodge County beat Orono 4-2 to advance to the Class A championship game, which is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday back at the X.
Orono actually struck first when Maddy Kimbrel scored unassisted off her own rebound 12 minutes, 16 seconds into the first period. But Dodge County scored three unanswered in the second frame, getting a power-play goal from Nora Carstenson 1 minute in and two goals 20 seconds apart from Kylie Meyer and Maysie Koch around the 10-minute mark of the period.
Huber stood tall as the Spartans delivered a flurry of shots late in the frame. Orono also had two power-play chances early in the third, but the Wildcats killed both.
Spartans junior Macy Rasmussen fired a backhanded shot that got past Huber 6 minutes, 30 seconds into the third to cut their deficit to one, but despite throwing chance after chance at the net, including a shot from Gabi Lopez that rung off the post and a good breakaway chance from Kali Schmidt, Orono was unable to get a tying goal across. With 20 seconds remaining, Koch got an empty-net goal to seal the deal for Dodge County.
No. 4 Warroad 3, No. 1 Holy Angels 2
After graduating 10 seniors from his state championship team last season, Warroad girls hockey coach Dave Marvin didn’t have another state tournament run on his “bingo card.” He probably should have.
His Warriors team is headed right back to the state championship game after beating top-seeded Holy Angels 3-2 Friday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
“It’s different watching this team than prior teams, but it’s really gratifying,” Marvin said. “They don’t quit and we’re not perfect, but we got a chance to play for a championship tomorrow and that doesn’t happen every day.”
In Warroad’s case, it’s just almost every year. The Warriors are back-to-back defending champs and have a chance to make it a three-peat Saturday against Dodge County.
Sophomore Taylor Reese scored her second game-winning goal in as many state tournament games, finding the back of the net just 33 seconds after Holy Angels’ Masyn Mullin netted the equalizer early in the third period. The Warriors were able keep the Stars off the board after that.
“It’s awesome,” Reese said of having two game-winners already this tournament. “Like I come here being new and have to step up and play a big role, and I feel like our team’s done a really good job.”
The Warriors struck first when junior Kaiya Sandy was able to flick a shot past Holy Angels goalie Zoe Rimstad out of a scrum from the front of the Stars net. Rimstad was tough to get shots past, stopping 35 of 38 Warriors shots, but Warroad was able to find just enough goals to pull out the victory.
Holy Angels knotted the game in the second period when senior Bella LaMare scored, but Warroad freshman Jaylie French got a nice feed from Karlee Kalbrenner to score the go-ahead goal with 16 seconds remaining in the period.
That set up the third, where Warroad quickly answered after Holy Angels’ equalizer to book a return back to the state championship game.
Class 2A
No. 2 Hill-Murray 3, No. 3 Andover 1
The Pioneers scored three times in the first period and held a 3-1 lead after the first 17 minutes for the rest of the game as the two big school powers were locked in a defensive struggled for the final two periods.
Andover out-shot Hill-Murray 37-16, including 31-7 over the last two periods, but they couldn't get more than one past Pioneers goalie Grace Zhan, who finished with 36 saves.
No. 1 Minnetonka 2, No. 4 Edina 3
The showdown of metro rivals went the way of the Hornets as they upset the Skippers 3-2 at Xcel Energy Center. It was the third time the two played this season and all three were decided by one goal. Edina won 1-0 in the first meeting before Minnetonka returned the favor with a 3-2 victory later in the regular season.
This time around, Edina out-shot Minnetonka 36-23 and had an answer each time the Skippers applied pressure. The Hornets scored twice in less than four minutes for a 2-0 lead in the second period before Minnetonka came back, tying the game 2-2 just over one minute into the third period.
But just one minute, 34 seconds after tying the game the Hornets responded with the game-winning goal by Brenna Prellwitz.
Edina and Hill-Murray will meet in the title game Saturday at 7 p.m.
