Warroad defeats Orono, repeats as Class 1A girls hockey champ

Warroad coach David Marvin sat at the postgame news conference table and put his arms around the backs of the chairs where his girls hockey players sat, looking at seniors Talya Hendrickson and Cahlilah Lindquist.

"No better way to go out, you guys," Marvin said. "This is the best way."

Winning back-to-back state championships after being ranked No. 1 in Class 1A from start to finish qualified, as Warroad defeated third seed Orono 3-1 Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.

The victory for the Warriors (26-3-1) was a result of playing their own game and all three lines doing their job, Lindquist said. Sophomore Kaiya Sandy amplified that.

"I think every single person on the team knew exactly what we needed to do," Sandy said. "Wanted to do it again really bad. So we all just beared down and finished it out."

Senior Rylee Bartz gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the first period when she went bar-down for her 59th goal of the season.

But Orono made it 1-1 by the first intermission on a wrister in the slot from sophomore Zoe Lopez. Warroad grabbed the lead back in the second period on Hendrickson's 38th goal of the season when senior Kate Johnson picked the pocket of a defender behind the Orono net and sent the puck out front to Hendrickson.

Later in the period, Sandy extended the lead with a breakaway tally for her 15th goal of the season and a 3-1 lead.

Orono had three third-period power plays but failed to score.

"Our power play's been good all season," Orono coach Larry Olimb said. "We've got two groups that we roll with, and they've both had success. Warroad just didn't give us anything."

It was the second time Warroad defeated Orono (22-4-4) this season; it was also 3-1 on Nov. 19 in Warroad, with a second-period natural hat trick from Bartz.

Orono finishes as the state runner-up in its second state tournament after taking third place last year.

"I think their ability to trap us in our zone, it kind of got the best of us, in a way," Lopez said. "They used that and their pressure that they put on us."