For the second year in a row, Edina and Hill-Murray met to decide the Class 2A state girls hockey title.
This time, though, senior forward Ella Hornung made sure the outcome turned out differently.
Hornung scored the game-winning goal with 10:56 remaining in the second overtime as Hill-Murray beat the Hornets 5-4 in the state championship game Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center.
The winning goal came after Pioneers sophomore Elliana Engelhardt scored just after her team’s power play had expired to tie the score 4-4 with 3:41 remaining in regulation.
The victory meant Hill-Murray avenged a 2-0 loss to Edina in last year’s state title game — a matchup that was tied 0-0 heading into the third period.
On Saturday, the two teams were deadlocked 2-2 after the first period, and again at 3-3 after Edina junior forward Cate McCoy scored her second goal of the game on the power play with 10:51 remaining in the second period.
But just before the break, Hornets senior forward Whitney Horton broke loose and outpaced the Hill-Murray defenders down the ice to slide the puck past Pioneer eighth-grader Piper Tam in net.
Yet the Pioneers took back the momentum in the third period, holding a 7-3 edge in shots-on-goal, and finally tying the score thanks to Engelhardt.
The Hornets — the tournament’s top seed — had also beaten third-seeded Hill-Murray 6-3 and 6-0 during the regular season on Nov. 26 and Jan. 4. They got on the board first again Saturday when McCoy scored with 11:44 remaining in the first period. But the Pioneers evened the score just over five minutes later when replay showed a shot by senior forward Regan Berglund crossed the line after the Hornets had been whistled for a penalty but before play was stopped.
Edina then took a 2-1 lead when junior forward Lorelai Nelson came around the net to score with 3:25 left in the period. But Berglund answered again with a game-tying goal from in front of the Hornets’ net with 32.2 seconds remaining, sending the two teams into the first intermission knotted 2-2.
Hill-Murray then built on that momentum, taking a 3-2 lead when freshman forward Gwynn Skoogman — who assisted on both her team’s first two goals — skated around an Edina defender on the breakaway to score with 13:53 remaining in the second period. But once more, the Hornets converted on the power play when McCoy’s goal tied the game at 3=all, then Horton put her team up by one.
The Pioneers had a pair of power-play chances of their own in the second period, but Hornets senior Reese McConnell — who finished the night with 21 saves — came up with several key stops.
The third Hill-Murray power play ended without a goal as well, but Engelhardt made up for that as soon as her team was back at full-strength — sending the game to a first overtime in which Edina had five shots on goal to just one from the Pioneers. Yet neither team managed to score, setting the stage for Hornung’s game-winner in the second.
Hill-Murray finished its season 25-6 overall.
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