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Hill-Murray, Warroad land No. 1 seeds in girls hockey state tournament

Centennial/Spring Lake Park, Holy Family seeded second and third in 2A; Breck and Blake take No. 2 and No. 3 spots in 1A.

Hill-Murray, the 2025 Class 2A girls hockey state champion, will look to defend its title at next week's state tournament. ] AARON LAVINSKY • aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com (Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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By Cassidy Hettesheimer

The Minnesota Star Tribune

Two girls hockey state championships will be crowned at Grand Casino Arena next week.

The Class 1A and 2A state tournaments will run from Wednesday, Feb. 18, to Saturday, Feb. 21.

Here is the complete bracket for 2A, and here is the bracket for 1A. You can find ticket and streaming information here.

Seeds were announced Saturday morning after the conclusion of section championship matches and the Minnesota State High School League’s collection of qualifying coaches’ seeding votes.

First-round schedule

Class 2A

11 a.m. Thursday: [8] Lakeville North (17-9-2) vs. [1] Hill-Murray (23-3-1)

1 p.m. Thursday: [5] Bemidji (20-5-1) vs. [4] Edina (18-4-3)

6 p.m. Thursday: [7] Farmington (22-4-1) vs. [2] Centennial/Spring Lake Park (24-3-1)

8 p.m. Thursday: [6] Andover (17-10-1) vs. [3] Holy Family (24-3)

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A late-season 4-3 victory over Centennial/Spring Lake Park and a 5-3 win over Holy Family likely sealed the top seed for the defending state champion Pioneers, regardless of a January tie with Warroad and close loss to Breck.

Centennial/Spring Lake Park and Holy Family have both only lost to each other, plus Hill-Murray. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds have already played each other in four — yes, four — close games this year, with Centennial/Spring Lake Park winning the latter two matchups.

Edina was 0-4 against the top three seeds this season but otherwise was the expected No. 4 seed. Bemidji, which has yet to face the Hornets this season, should be a heavy hitter at No. 5.

Andover returns to the No. 6 seed for the second year running, while Farmington avoids a matchup with the top seed. The Tigers played the top seed last year, when they were matched against, and lost to, Edina in the quarterfinals. Instead, that’s Lakeville North’s task this year against the Pioneers.

Class 1A

11 a.m. Wednesday: [8] Luverne (19-9-9) vs. [1] Warroad (20-5-1)

1 p.m. Wednesday: [5] Proctor/Hermantown (18-6-2) vs. [4] Dodge County (20-6-1)

6 p.m. Wednesday: [7] St. Cloud (18-9-0) vs. [2] Breck (25-1-1)

8 p.m. Wednesday: [6] Mankato East (24-2-1) vs. [3] Blake (21-6)

Warroad, which won three straight Class 1A titles before falling to Dodge County in the championship game last year, earned the No. 1 seed having only lost games against Class 2A teams all season — and only a few losses, at that.

Of this year’s tournament field, the Warriors already beat Proctor/Hermantown 4-1 in November, plus Breck 3-1 and St. Cloud 7-2 in December.

Breck at No. 2, with a near spotless record, has three head-to-head wins over Blake by a combined 10-2 score and victories over Dodge County and Proctor/Hermantown. Dodge County and Breck also drew 1-1 in December.

After the Mustangs is where seeding became more malleable. Though teams are ordered one through eight in each class based on their entire season — not just head-to-head results — Dodge County had a 3-1 win over Blake in November, and Proctor/Hermantown had a 5-1 victory over Dodge County in December.

While the difference between the fourth and fifth seed, in practice, means little, the No. 3 seed gets to avoid top-seeded Warroad in the semifinals.

That means, if top seeds win out in the quarterfinals, the semifinals will showcase a rematch of the last two state championship games between Warroad and Dodge County, plus rival Breck taking on Blake. Of course — Proctor/Hermantown, Mankato East, St. Cloud and Luverne will work to make sure that doesn’t happen.

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About the Author

Cassidy Hettesheimer

Sports reporter

Cassidy Hettesheimer is a high school sports reporter for Strib Varsity.

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