Holy Family wins in overtime, ends Minnetonka’s run of girls hockey state tournament appearances

The Holy Family girls hockey players believed in themselves. They really did. Pinkie promise.

Still, when senior defender Maielle Schugel heard the final goal horn of Friday’s Class 2A, Section 2 championship, the only thing she could feel was “disbelief.”

“I was in denial,” Schugel said. “What just happened?”

One minute into overtime is a great time to score your first goal of the season, as Schugel found out the fun way. Doing so to upset the Minnesota Star Tribune’s No. 1 ranked team in the state, Minnetonka, 2-1, is even better.

To book the Fire’s first-ever trip to the state tournament, in the program’s seventh season? Priceless. To end a four-year streak of losing to the Skippers (24-3-1) in the section title game? Legendary.

It’s hard to imagine how a game could possibly mean more to No. 10 Holy Family (21-7).

But the Fire were reminded just how much the game meant when Kelly Jensen came into the locker room to say hello to the team before Friday’s puck drop at Braemar Arena. They were reminded by the small green stickers that read “Get Well Soon, Jens,” plastered on players’ helmets — those same helmets, quickly scattered on the ice after Schugel’s goal.

The decals are in honor of coach Jason Jensen, who was left in critical condition with a head injury after an accidental on-ice collision at a Feb. 4 practice. The Minnesota hockey community has rallied around Jensen and his family, raising nearly $120,000 for them on GoFundMe.

“As big as the hockey community is, when something like that happens, it becomes pretty small too,” Holy Family coach Randy Koeppl said. The same community has discussed potential rules requiring high school coaches to wear helmets on ice. “In the hockey community, people take care of their own.”

Koeppl said each player has navigated the “emotional roller coaster” differently — some keeping emotions closer to their chests, others more open. On Friday, the team was buoyed by recent positive updates on Jensen’s recovery, he said. Kelly Jensen provided an update online, sharing that after his surgery went well, he has been able to open his eyes and give thumbs up with both hands.

“It’s pushed us forward to do it for Jason since that’s all he really has wanted,” said senior forward Josie Linn, a New Hampshire commit. “It gave us some motivation, and it made us reflect on what we can bring for him and his family and everybody.”

Holy Family fell behind early when Minnetonka’s eighth-grade forward Lainey Lindsay put the Skippers up 1-0 with a backdoor rebound off sophomore Delaney Miller’s power-play shot with 11:54 left to play in the second period.

Down to 8:46 left in the third, Holy Family freshman Allie DeFauw cut toward the goal line and equalized from close range, assisted by freshman Angela Cody.

Though the Skippers got the edge in shots, 30-22, it was Fire junior forward Addy Cowan who won an overtime faceoff to flick the puck to Schugel for the game-winner.

“Get pucks to the net,” junior goalie Kayla Swartout said of the Fire’s overtime strategy. “We just wanted it so much.”

A low-scoring battle was by no means surprising, thanks to Swartout and another standout goalie, the Skippers’ Layla Hemp. The pair will see each other again when they suit up for Wisconsin and Minnesota, respectively.

But for now, it was the Skippers giving Swartout plenty to deal with, forcing the junior goaltender into 29 saves, even past a stalwart blue line that includes junior Gophers commit Katya Sander, who Koeppl called a “difference-maker.”

Minnetonka hoped to book its seventh straight ticket to Xcel Energy Center. In that stretch, the Skippers have finished as state runners-up once and in third twice, but they haven’t been able to add a fourth state title since their last trophy-raising in 2013.

The Class 2A quarterfinals kick off on Thursday in St. Paul. Tournament seeding will be announced Saturday.

“There’s been so many people that have led our path here and have helped us get to this point in our hockey career,” Swartout said. “So it’s just so amazing that we can finally get it done.”