Minnetonka girls hockey clinches sixth straight state tournament berth with 4-0 victory over Holy Family

About the same January stretch when Minnetonka junior goalie Layla Hemp put the finishing touch on a gold medal run by the U.S. under-18 women’s national team in Switzerland, Holy Family sophomore goalie Kayla Swartout was back home enduring consecutive losses.

They met Friday in the Class 2A, Section 2 championship played at Braemar Arena in Edina. Hemp finished as her team’s unofficial No. 1 star in a 4-0 victory. She certainly had teammate Lindzi Avar’s vote.

“She really earned that,” Avar said. “If you look at the shots, Holy Family didn’t have a ton — but they had a lot of quality chances. They were big moments where Layla bailed us out. She really came up big.”

For the game, Swartout faced 46 shots on goal to Hemp’s 18. Swartout earned a great deal of respect for her performance as well.

“She showed up the second half of the season and has been phenomenal,” Fire coach Randy Koeppl said. “Once she realized it was her net, she owned it.”

Minnetonka (25-2-1) got a Kendra Distad goal at 6:23 of the opening period. She scored the only goal in the game’s first 37 minutes.

Hemp made the narrow advantage hold, though her stellar play was matched by Swartout into the final period.

Minnetonka, ranked first in the latest Let’s Play Hockey poll, is favored to receive the No. 1 seed in next week’s Class 2A state tournament. The Minnesota State High School League seeds the bracket Saturday morning.

None of that was on the Skippers’ radar after the second period in their fourth straight section final meeting with Holy Family Catholic.

“The nerves were there,” Avar said. “But we stuck together as a team and focused on doing one little thing right at a time.”

Hemp received a bigger margin for error with third-period goals from Ellie Zakrajsheck (3:05), Lauren Goldsworthy (6:30) and Bella Finnegan (12:39). A four-goal lead, protected by Hemp in net, extinguished the Fire (16-11-1).

Friday’s victory against Holy Family marked the Skippers’ sixth consecutive state tournament appearance.

“It’s so special to get to state; we never take it for granted,” Avar said. “To beat a team like Holy Family showed how hard we worked all season.”

Compiled by Joe Gunther, Star Tribune

Class 2A, Section 5: Maple Grove scored six unanswered goals to knock top off top-seeded Centennial/Spring Lake Park 6-3 in the final at Roseville Ice Arena.

Maddie Elfstrand started the rally for the second-seeded Crimson with 3:37 left in the second period. Harper Weineke got the Crimson to within a goal 2:37 later. Grace Erickson tied the score 1:18 into the third period on a 5-on-3 power play.

Kelsey Olson knocked a loose puck into an open net to put the Crimson (20-7-1) ahead for good with 3:55 left. Bella Shipley added a pair of goals, including an empty-net shorthanded goal with 1:11 left, to seal the victory.

Mia Sutch knocked a rebound past Crimson goaltender Dani Strom 6:41 into the game to get the Cougars on the board first. The Cougars (24-2-2) extended the lead to 3-0 with goals from Grace Laager and Teagan Kulenkamp 3:16 apart just before the midway point of the second period.

Kaitlin Groess made 38 saves for the Cougars, and Strom had 26 for the Crimson.

Class 2A, Section 6: Whitney Horton scored three goals to lead second-seeded Edina past top-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret’s 5-4 at Parade Ice Garden. Horton scored two goals to give the Hornets a 2-1 lead before completing the hat trick with an empty-net goal for the eventual game-winner with 1:54 left.

The Hornets (21-6-1) scored three goals in the second period, including Horton’s first two and one by Brenna Prellwitz to take a 3-1 lead. Hannah Halvorsen put the Hornets ahead for good with 4:32 left with a power-play goal.

The Red Knights (21-4-2) scored first with 2:22 left in the first period on a goal by Katie Zakrajsheck. Ella Pasqua added a goal in the second period and Addie Morris scored early in the third to get the score tied at 3-3.

The Red Knights got to within a goal with 52 seconds left on a goal by LuLu Rucinski, but could not get the equalizer past Nora Hannan, who had 19 saves for the Hornets.

Elie Hancock made 22 saves for the Red Knights.