Gentry Academy wins 2A girls hockey by beating another higher seed

Gentry Academy's girls hockey team pulled its second upset in as many nights Saturday, and this one made it a state champion.

The Stars dethroned defending Class 2A state champion Andover with a 4-1 victory in the title game at Xcel Energy Center.

No. 4 seed Gentry (27-2) controlled much of the game, proving a 4-3 victory earlier this season against the No. 2 seed Huskies (27-4) was no fluke. On Friday, the Stars stunned top-ranked Minnetonka.

"It was fun to take the road we took," Gentry coach Billy Hengen said. "We thought we would need four goals to win each game."

Turns out, two each game would have been enough.

All season long, the second period was Gentry's strongest. In their Nov. 19 meeting against Andover, the Huskies jumped to a 2-1 lead after one period and first-year coach Hengen braced for a crushing loss. It never came.

Gentry Academy, a public charter school located in Vadnais Heights, roared to life with three consecutive goals in the second period that game. The formula held true in the title game as well.

Second-period goals from seniors Alexa Hanrahan, who finished with a hat trick, and Grace Delmonico bumped the Stars' lead to 3-1.

Holding a two-goal advantage, the Stars leaned on their defense. Andover's top line of Madison Brown, Ella Boerger and Isa Goettl combined for 71 goals this season, 40% of the team's total. They had zero Friday and Saturday.

"As a team, we didn't play our best hockey these last three games," Huskies coach Melissa Volk said. "We lacked intensity at times."

Gentry, meanwhile, showed the poise of a roster with 11 seniors. The Stars will lose 84% of their goal scoring and both goalies to graduation this spring. Their time had to be now. But they didn't wilt under their own high expectations.

"We played calm and collected," Delmonico said. "We tried to not let them get the zone. But if they did, we got [the puck] right back out."

Hanrahan completed her first career hat trick by finding the empty Andover net. She finished with 17 goals this season.

"All we talked about this year was making it to state and winning it," said Hanrahan, a sophomore on the 2021 Stars team that lost in the Class 1A title game.