Hill-Murray avenged a title-game loss to Edina in the Class 2A girls hockey state championships Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center. Two overtimes were required to produce a 5-4 victory for the No. 3 seed Pioneers over the top-seeded Hornets.
Hill-Murray topples Edina in two overtimes for the Class 2A girls hockey title
A goal at 2:04 of the second OT period by Ella Hornung gave Hill-Murray vengeance for last season’s final.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 23, 2025 at 5:35AM
A senior forward from Hill-Murray, Ella Hornung, got credit for the deflection goal at 2:04 of the second overtime. Until then, the youth of Hill-Murray was repeatedly served as the game wore on Saturday.
“It surprised me how we had our legs in the third period and they seemed tired,” co-head coach John Pohl said. “We got some breaks, but we earned our breaks.”
Freshman forward Gwynn Skoogman scored Saturday and was joined by 10th-graders Emily Pohl and Elliana Engelhardt — who tied the game 4-4 with 3:41 to play in regulation. It was a quick and game-changing goal from two members of Hill-Murray’s “green line” of sophomores who have been on fire this tournament.
“Edina has big, strong girls, and I was worried they might win out as the game wore on,” Pohl said. “You need a team, and we had that depth. We got a fortunate bounce.”
Eighth-grade goaltender Piper Tam played with poise beyond her years.
Tam’s counterpart, though, senior goaltender Reese McConnell, could not match her 15-save shutout from a year ago. But she got help from older teammates. Such as junior forward Cate McCoy, who scored her team’s first and third goals, junior forward Lorelai Nelson, who scored her team’s second goal, and senior forward Whitney Horton, who will play at St. Thomas next season. She gave her team a 4-3 lead by outracing a pair of Hill-Murray defenders to score with 1.7 seconds remaining in the second period.
“We battled hard, but it just wasn’t our night,” Horton said.
Hill-Murray kept hitting the reset button and dug into the battle. The Pioneers came back three times.
“It’s mind over matter at that point,” Edina coach Sami Cowger said. “We told ourselves we were fresh. One shot the other way and maybe we’re holding that trophy.”
McConnell previously blanked Hill-Murray in a 37-save 6-0 home victory on Jan. 4 in the teams’ second meeting of the season. In the first, Hill-Murray drew even at 3-3 after the second period but lost 6-3 at Polar Arena in nearby North St. Paul on Nov. 26.
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