Edina defeats Wayzata, seizes chance to defend its boys hockey state championship

Wayzata boys hockey coach Pat O’Leary meant his words as a compliment after falling to Edina on Wednesday for the fourth consecutive season in the Class 2A, Section 6 final.

“Edina plays much differently in the playoffs,” O’Leary said. “Kudos to them, their big guy scored when they needed a goal. We made one big mistake, and it was very demoralizing.”

The “big guy” O’Leary was referring to was none other than junior forward Mason West, 6-4 right wing on the Hornets’ top line. West got to the Wayzata goal and scored on the rebound at 8:15 of the third period at Ridder Arena. He scored again at 14:51 of the final period with the Trojans’ goal vacated, giving the Hornets a 4-1 victory.

West said the Edina formula for playoffs that O’Leary referenced is pretty basic. Less is more, and tinkering with a formula can be fraught with danger.

Edina also got goals from Bode McConnell and Freddie Schneider. McConnell opened the scoring at 6:23 of the first period, and Schneider scored between West’s goals in the third period.

Wayzata junior forward Christopher Pyle scored at 10:04 of the second period.

Edina secured its fourth consecutive trip to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center for the Class 2A state tournament. Seeding will be revealed Saturday.

The Hornets get to defend state title No. 14 all-time for Edina/Edina East. Because Wayzata, Edina’s Lake Conference rival, is going home early.

“I think we just work hard and listen to what our coach says,” West said. “Curt [Giles] told us after the first period to stay calm and remain resilient.”

Giles offered a bit more of an explanation.

“I think it comes down who makes the fewest mistakes,” Giles said. “Pat [O’Leary] is willing to change things around, and we had to work really hard to scheme against his teams. We dealt with a lot of pressure from them early in the third period. But when we got that goal from Westy, it took some of the pressure off.”