Holy Family, upset in hand, lands No. 5 seed in girls hockey state tournament; Edina is No. 1

Cinderella, it’s good to meet you.

Holy Family, after an upset of the state’s top-ranked team and carrying a motivation beyond hockey, was revealed as a No. 5 seed Saturday in the Class 2A girls hockey state tournament bracket.

Holy Family (21-7) will take on Moorhead (20-7-1) in the first round Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.

Edina (23-3-1), the defending Class 2A champion, took the No. 1 seed, followed by Centennial/Spring Lake Park (26-2).

Dodge County (21-3-2) is the top seed in Class 1A, followed by Orono (19-5-3) and defending champion Warroad (24-3). The Class 1A tournament begins Wednesday.

Edina will make its 15th state tournament appearance in pursuit of its sixth state championship. Holy Family, meanwhile, is the only team in either bracket making its first state appearance and is one of only two teams that weren’t seeded first in their section tournament.

Cinderella, defined.

Until early this month, Holy Family annually served as the team that Minnetonka defeated to reach state. It happened four years in a row, until Friday, when Holy Family defeated Minnetonka 2-1 in overtime at Braemar Arena.

GIRLS HOCKEY STATE: TV, tickets, what you need to know

The Fire lean on senior Josie Linn (28 goals, 50 points) and senior Addy Cowan (29 goals, 41 points) when they need goals and on junior defender Katya Sander and junior goalie Kayla Swartout when they need to stop goals. Linn is committed to New Hampshire, Cowan to Dartmouth, Swartout to Wisconsin, Sander to the Gophers.

“Nobody had this team even ranked in the top 10 before the season,” coach Randy Koeppl said. “I kinda felt it was a snub toward this group. ... It was shocking to me when I looked at people’s rankings to start the year. The girls played off that.”

Koeppl is the only coach Holy Family has had as a stand-alone program. He coached the team in its last season as a co-op with Waconia in 2017-18 — “We had three female hockey players,” he said — knowing the next season the Fire would be on their own.

As this season winds down, the Fire have burning motivation, driven by a head injury to assistant coach Jason Jensen, who was left in critical condition after he was accidentally knocked to the ice during practice Feb. 4.

Jensen’s wife, Kelly, revealed this week that Jason had surgery that went well and that he was able to give a thumbs-up with both hands.

“I’m gonna be 50 next month, I’ve been around the game probably 46 of those 50 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Koeppl said. “When it happens, the kids are very freaked out. It never really leaves their mind.”

The players draw inspiration not just from Jason but from his wife, Kelly, Koeppl said. Kelly Jensen has been around the team and in touch with players since the injury, including an appearance in the locker room Friday.

“Kelly is a super human,” Koeppl said. “The girls are seeing how Kelly is handling it, and that’s making it easier for them to handle it and understand it. Jason’s making forward progress, so that helps.”

The Fire’s first-round opponent, Moorhead, defeated Holy Family 3-2 in December. Koeppl is optimistic, helped by knowing the Fire had a 40-23 shot advantage in that loss to Moorhead and also by his players' approach.

“This group is motivated,” he said. “With what happened to our assistant coach … they’re just a motivated bunch of players."

Class 2A

11 a.m. Thursday: [7] Rosemount (21-7) vs. [2] Centennial/Spring Lake Park (26-2)

1 p.m. Thursday: [6] Andover (19-8-1) vs. [3] Hill-Murray (22-6)

6 p.m. Thursday: [8] Farmington (18-7-3) vs. [1] Edina (23-3-1)

8 p.m. Thursday: [5] Holy Family (21-7) vs. [4] Moorhead (20-7-1)

Class 1A

11 a.m. Wednesday: [7] Fergus Falls (15-11-1) vs. [2] Orono (19-5-3)

1 p.m. Wednesday: [6] Marshall (22-3-2) vs. [3] Warroad (24-3)

6 p.m. Wednesday: [8] River Lakes (14-12-1) vs. [1] Dodge County (21-3-2)

8 p.m. Wednesday: [5] Proctor/Hermantown (20-6-1) vs. [4] Holy Angels (18-6-3)