Edina rolls past Wayzata and into the boys hockey state tournament

Edina coach Curt Giles considers Barrett Dexheimer “a heady player,” yet he questioned the senior defenseman’s decision to mount an end-to-end rush.

Giles didn’t feel it was the time (leading by a goal halfway through the third period) or the place (killing a penalty) for Dexheimer to impersonate NHL legend Bobby Orr.

Turns out Giles didn’t need to worry. Edina beat Wayzata 4-1 for the Class 2A, Section 6 championship at the Bloomington Ice Garden. Dexheimer potted his third goal of the season to give the Hornets a two-goal lead and an emotional boost.

“I was screaming, ‘Get back, get back, get back, nice play,’ ” Giles joked.

Hornets goaltender Joe Bertram had a great view of Dexheimer’s rush and couldn’t believe what he witnessed.

“That’s one of the best solo efforts I’ve ever seen,” Bertram said. “You could see it lifted everyone on our team. We kind of knew we had it right there.”

Wayzata coach Pat O’Leary had a similar optimistic view of his team’s chances when the Trojans went ahead 1-0 just 1:37 into the game. The vibe changed, however, as penalties against his team mounted, fatigue set in and puck battles were repeatedly lost.

“Edina was the tougher team tonight,” O’Leary said. “Kudos to them, they played really hard tonight.”

The Lake Conference rivals, two of the highest-ranked teams much of the season, split two regular-season meetings. Wayzata (23-3-2) won the most recent game in overtime on Edina’s home ice.

The Hornets weren’t fazed. They have now won three consecutive Section 6 titles — ending Wayzata’s season each time.

Edina (23-4-1) got a power-play goal from Ryan Flaherty and led 2-1 at 10:46 of the second period. About two minutes later, Bertram committed grand larceny with a glove save.

“He’s been so good for us all year, it’s been unbelievable,” Giles said. “He makes key saves every game and keeps us in games.”

O’Leary said saying goodbye to a special senior group wasn’t easy.

“This is one of the best groups of seniors I ever had, so it’s tough,” O’Leary said. “They are amazing humans, and they won 23 games this year. They will look back on this season as one of the best of their lives.”

Elsewhere:

Section 8: Elk River/Zimmerman is packing up its fourth seed and its nine losses and heading to state. The Elks advanced with a 3-0 victory over Buffalo-Annandale in the final of Section 8.

Elk River/Zimmerman advances from the section usually represented by Moorhead. The Spuds had made 23 consecutive section finals and won 15 of them until the Elks defeated them 4-2 in the section semifinal Saturday.

Daniel Babcock and Tristan Kriech scored for Elk River (18-9-1) in the first period Wednesday at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud. Kole Mears scored in the second period.

Buffalo-Annandale (10-17-1) was seeded sixth in the tournament and reached the final by defeating seventh-seeded St. Cloud 2-1 in the section semifinals. St. Cloud defeated second-seeded Roseau in the first round, and Buffalo-Annandale dispatched third-seeded Sartell in the first round.

The Class 2A quarterfinals begin Thursday at Xcel Energy Center. The brackets will be seeded Saturday morning.