There was no snow falling a year ago in downtown St. Paul on the afternoon of Feb. 21, yet Warroad goalie Payton Rolli found herself being pelted on the ice regardless.
Her Warriors were facing Orono in the semifinals of the Class A state tournament. The Spartans’ strategy for dethroning the three-time defending state champs from the west shore of Lake of the Woods was a simple one: Shoot the puck.
Over the course of three periods and three overtimes, Orono sent 62 pucks at Rolli, including 15 in the second overtime. She stopped 61 of them in what was, eventually, a 2-1 win. For Rolli, the workload was daunting.
“It just kept going. It was such a long game, and it didn’t seem like it was going to end soon at all,” Rolli said this week. “They scored the first goal, it took us a period to get another goal back, and then we were just back and forth throughout the whole game. It was a really good game, but I think all of us were really tired by the end.”
Rolli’s poise and reflexes in the marathon win caught the eye of more than one college scout in attendance that day. Her coach said any scout that didn’t make a few notes about Rolli after that show should maybe explore other employment.
“She was good,” said David Marvin, who has coached Warroad to five state titles, and will be seeking a fourth in the past five years this week in the program’s 11th straight trip to St. Paul. “In that game she stopped 61 out of 62, so Ray Charles would’ve noticed her. She caught everybody’s eye.”
Warroad opens the 2026 tournament with an 11 a.m. quarterfinal Wednesday versus Luverne at Grand Casino Arena.
Born in Wyoming, Rolli began playing goalie as a nine-year-old in Minot, N.D., with her father working in the oil business. The family moved to Warroad three years ago and Rolli backstopped the Warriors’ 2024 state title. She had already made recruiting visits to Maine and several schools in Boston, but opted to stay in-state and go to college in the place where her parents met after Minnesota Gophers coach Brad Frost made an offer.
“Her numbers are really, really good. We had watched her off and on, but certainly the state tournament last year was where she really kind of peaked our interest,” Frost said. “She is appropriately aggressive. She anticipates well. She’s not huge, but she’s not small, so she’s got good enough size. I think the biggest thing we’re looking forward to is to be playing at a higher level and being coached to see where she can get to.”
She will be the first Gopher from Warroad since 2005 Ms. Hockey winner Gigi Marvin.
Rolli arrives in St. Paul with a 1.26 goals against average and a .934 saves percentage after going 21-5-1 this season. She has 10 shutouts, including blanking Crookston and East Grand Forks in Warroad’s pair of Section 8A playoff wins, and is one of five finalists for the Jori Jones Award, which goes to the state’s top prep goalie.
On-ice hiccups have been rare for the Warriors this season, who last lost on Jan. 22 at Edina in a game that was scheduled for the Hockey Day Minnesota rink in Hastings, but was moved inside at the last minute due to frigid temperatures. Marvin said perhaps Rolli’s biggest asset is an ability to reset her mind and body quickly when things don’t go according to plan.
“Sometimes we score and sometimes we don’t, so it’s pretty good to get big saves until we can get something on the board,” Marvin said. “One thing I’ve always liked about Payton is that if something does beat her, she’s able to turn the page. She focuses and goes from there. So I feel pretty good about going to St. Paul this week with number one in our net.”
Wednesday’s Class A quarterfinals in St. Paul
No. 1 Warroad (21-5-1) vs. No. 8 Luverne (19-9), 11 a.m.
No. 4 Dodge County (20-6-1) vs. No. 5 Proctor/Hermantown (18-6-2), 1 p.m.
No. 2 Breck (25-1-1) vs. Saint Cloud (18-9), 6 p.m.
No. 3 Blake (21-6) vs. No. 6 Mankato East (24-2-1), 8 p.m.
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