Class 2A, Section 6

Edina 1, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 0

With two really good teams on the ice, Edina coach Sami Cowger knows it’s about limiting risks and turnovers, and playing a smart defensive game.

The No. 5-ranked Hornets relied on all those facets as their 1-0 lead throughout the game held up for a victory over No. 8-ranked Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the Class 2A, Section 6 championship Friday, Feb. 13, at Parade Ice Garden in Minneapolis. Edina’s lone goal came less than five minutes into the game.

“If we could’ve gotten another one, that would have been great,” Cowger said. “But our goalie kept us in it and made some huge saves. We made some big saves defensively, which allowed us then to just play calm, cool, collected and come away with the win.”

Junior Soren Peacock stopped 23 shots for her fourth shutout of the season, and her team’s 11th shutout win, on the way to the program’s 12th consecutive section championship.

Edina (20-4-3) ended Benilde-St. Margaret’s season for the seventh consecutive year, with five of those games being the section championship. Peacock earned her ninth victory and helped the Hornets finish a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.

“Our goalie, Soren, she kept us in the game,” Edina senior Cate McCoy said. “She played lights out. The best ever.

“One of our things that we value most is our penalty kill and getting that puck out, and we literally did it perfectly. It paid off.”

McCoy’s early tally ended up as the game-winning goal. She scored less than five minutes into the game after getting a feed from junior Audrey Davis in the corner.

The assist was Davis’ team-leading 23rd of the season.

“I checked around me and realized no one was on me,” McCoy said. “I went to the slot and called for the puck. Audrey made a great pass to me, and I was just like, ‘I’m going to shoot as hard as I can,’ and it went in.”

The Red Knights (16-10-1) had a few scoring chances in the first period, including a one-timer from junior Brynn Heising, but weren’t able to convert.

The game turned into a battle of special teams, especially in the second period, but neither team could score.

“Going into the third period, it was all defense first,” Peacock said. “We wanted to keep the shutout going.”

The Red Knights generated chances, and even got a power-play opportunity in the final five minutes of regulation, but couldn’t bury the equalizer. Edina’s defense also blocked a few shots when needed.

“We had our chances, there is no question,” Red Knights coach Kevin Gray said. “We had a few looks on our power plays with loose pucks sitting there.

“They battled, and they did everything we asked of them. They played with their hearts. … It’s so bittersweet.”

Benilde-St. Margaret’s junior goaltender Emma Matack stopped 25 shots.

The Hornets, last year’s Class 2A runner-up, return to the state tournament for a 16th time hoping for their sixth state title and second in three years. Edina rolls into state on a seven-game winning streak that started with five consecutive shutouts ahead of the section tournament.

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1/14

Class 2A, Section 2

Holy Family 5, Minnetonka 4, 2OT

There’s bound to be plenty of great hockey served up at Grand Casino Arena next week, but this year’s star course may have been the appetizer cooked up in the Class 2A, Section 2 section championship game on Friday at Bloomington Ice Garden.

In top-seeded Holy Family’s 5-4 victory, Minnetonka trailed and equalized four times. The Skippers tied the game with 10.2 seconds remaining in regulation, forcing the game into what turned out to be 21 minutes of scoreless overtime before, finally, senior forward Chloe King’s game-winner.

Tucked away in the Fire’s locker room between overtime periods, “I quoted [motivational speaker] David Goggins,” said Holy Family senior defender, captain and Gophers commit Katya Sander. “I’m like, ‘When you guys think you’re tired, you’re only at 60% of your body’s capability.’”

“I think all of us just wanted it so much,” Sander said. “We weren’t even focused on how tired we were.”

After Minnetonka junior goaltender Ty Jabs denied what looked like two surefire Fire winners, King carried the puck from behind the net to lift a shot through traffic from the right faceoff circle.

“I didn’t feel a single thing in that whole overtime, especially the second one. I couldn’t really feel my legs anymore, but I didn’t feel tired,” King said. But afterwards, she felt something: “Really happy.”

These two programs have met six years in a row in the section championship. Holy Family has now won two in a row after last season’s 2-1 overtime victory, which sent the Fire (24-3-0) through to their first state tournament over the three-time Class 2A champs, then ranked No. 1 in the state.

Like the Fire did last year, the Skippers (20-3-5) proved that the seeding, and the label of “underdog,” means little in the Section 2 title game these days,

Minnetonka sophomore forward Kennedy Hochbaum rescued her team’s tournament hopes with a 6-on-4 power-play goal in the game’s waning seconds, cleaning up junior defender Annika Eggert’s shot from distance with Jabs out of the net.

It was the fifth and final third-period goal between the two teams, after it seemed as if Fire freshman forward Audrey Nichols’ goal on a two-on-none rush with 4:19 to play in regulation would stand as a late winner.

“There was never a doubt in my mind that this was going to be a one-goal game,” said Fire head coach Randy Koeppl, who added the composure of his 10 seniors helped steer the squad. “We weren’t going to pull away with this one, and they weren’t going to pull away with it.”

Jabs finished with 35 saves, while Holy Family senior goaltender Kayla Swartout stopped 43 shots and got some help from senior defender Grace Timmer, who slid on her stomach to break up one of the Skippers’ best chances in overtime.

Minnetonka outshot Holy Family 47-40 after being shut out by the Fire 2-0 on Dec. 30.

Every Skippers goal and assist came from a different skater. For the Fire, senior Maddy Kimbrel, freshman Allie DeFauw and senior Addy Cowan each finished with a pair of points.

“This is my Super Bowl. Like I’m just so excited, I’m over the moon,” said Cowan, a forward committed to Dartmouth.

“Best hockey game I’ve ever seen live,” one Minnetonka fan remarked passing by in the Bloomington Ice Garden concourse, and Koeppl echoed that sentiment: “It’s a bummer it wasn’t at the state tournament.”

But Holy Family, which finished third last year, gets the chance to try for a first state title and a few more barnburners next week.

Class 2A, Section 5

Sophomore defender Annabelle Buccicone scored twice as top-seeded Centennial/Spring Lake Park knocked off the No. 2 seed in Section 5, Maple Grove, 4-1.

Centennial/Spring Lake Park returns to state for the second year in a row, looking to roll deeper into the tournament after being upset by Rosemount as the No. 2 seed last year.

Read coverage of Thursday’s section championships here, and see the full list of state qualifiers here.