Five reasons Edina became a high school boys hockey state champion

Edina’s boys hockey state tournament tradition of success can be seen as a line from the comic book villain Thanos: “I am inevitable.” Sorry, big guy, but down here on Earth, it takes more than a colorful glove and a snap of the fingers to win a state title. The State of Hockey demands more effort.

Here are five examples of what made Edina/Edina East’s 14th hockey title a reality.

Through the better part of two periods, second-seeded Chanhassen (25-6) took the fight to top seed Edina (26-4-1). Starting when senior Tyler Smith redirected a puck shot by Ben Curtis for the game’s opening goal at 10:10 of period two, the Storm kept up the pressure, outshooting Edina 14-5 for the period. But the Storm managed only one goal despite dominating the second period. Chanhassen’s only sin was leaving a (figuratively) bruised and bloodied Edina with a pulse.

”What you’re really hoping as a coach is, if we can just get out of this period just being down by one after a push like they had, then we can regroup and try to move along,” Hornets coach Curt Giles said. “Then it’s only one shot.”

”This group of kids that we had this year,” Giles said, “were the easiest group we’ve ever had to get prepared to play a hockey game. They had a desire, and we could tell they wanted to win [on Saturday] very, very badly.”

Giles, who just completed his 25th season behind Edina’s bench, knows control of a game is in the hands of his young men. The Hornets repeatedly rose to the occasion this season after falling 2-1 to Minnetonka in the 2022-23 title game.

The playoffs this season showed Edina’s composure when trailing. Benilde-St. Margaret’s led 1-0 entering the third period of the Section 6 semifinals. And Wayzata took a 1-0 lead into period two of the section championship.

Panic against Chanhassen? No, sir.

Edina senior forward Jackson Nevers, a Mr. Hockey award finalist and a veteran of last season’s championship game loss, said, “We weren’t going down without a fight.”

Edina’s schedule and results

Edina’s player statistics

Edina’s team statistics

Edina’s roster

Edina senior goaltender Joey Bertram perhaps took away some bragging rights that his dad has had for years. Matt Bertram was the goaltender who helped Edina win the 1988 state title; he made 14 saves in the 5-3 championship victory over Hill-Murray.

On Saturday night, it was Joey’s turn to shine. He made 33 saves and allowed only one goal on the way to a state championship with the Hornets. It’s great, Joey said, sharing this state championship experience with his dad.

”He always had that one-up on me with the state championship,” Joey said. “And now I got it. Right there with him.”

In the final few minutes of the game, Bertram kept making saves and didn’t allow the Storm to get the equalizer despite a flurry of chances. One reporter in the postgame news conference asked him about those moments and said it seemed like he was seeing the puck like a beach ball.

”You’re just out there, and that’s why you play right there,” Bertram said. “So, I was just out there having fun. I was ... seeing it well. So that definitely made it a lot easier.”

Coach Giles’ follow-up comment drew some laughs.

”I’m glad he saw it like a beach ball because it looked like a peanut to me,” Giles said.

Not long before the section playoffs, Giles made necessary tweaks to his forward line combinations. On the top line, wing Mason West and center Nevers traded positions. Giles felt West could cover the requisite ground in the middle and allowed Nevers a bit more freedom to get up and down the ice.

John Warpinski, who does the dirty work effectively, found a home on the second line with Freddie Schneider and John Halverson.

Grand Rapids coach Grant Clafton said after his team fell 5-2 to Edina in Friday’s semifinal: “That is a heavy team with speed. They know how to capitalize on your mistakes, and they work for what they get. You can’t take that away from them.”