Freshman Lindsey Lorenson ends 3OT thriller as Warroad tops Orono in girls hockey state tournament

After two full overtimes and 80 more seconds into a third OT, Warroad squeaked past Orono on Friday at Xcel Energy Center to keep its dream of a state championship four-peat alive.

It was a 2-1, three-hour behemoth of a Class 1A girls hockey state tournament semifinal. Both teams had chances, but the reigning champions found the way to advance to Saturday’s championship game.

“The X has been good to us,” Warroad head coach David Marvin said. “And hopefully it continues to be. We’re 35-10 in this building over the years, and hopefully we can go 12 in a row here tomorrow.

“We’ll regroup, we’ll get some food. These guys are really hungry. Off the ice hungry,” he added with a laugh.

On Friday, Lindsey Lorenson was the savior for Warroad. In the opening minutes of the third overtime, and pushing against the exhaustion that plagued both teams, the Warriors freshman sent one to the back of the net — and she was immediately tackled to the ice by teammates rushing to celebrate.

“It wasn’t much” was all Lorenson had to say about the game-winner. “I tried to skate the puck, and then I just threw it on net and it went in.”

Before that, the Warriors and Spartans were locked in a dead heat for three hours, both teams pushing to break the 1-1 deadlock in place for most of the match.

The opening goal went to Orono 13:25 into the first period, a quick power-play capitalization that gave Zoe Lopez her 35th goal of the season and gave senior captain Alex Paulsen a snappy assist.

The defending champion Warriors were quick to level the score. On a power play in the opening minutes of the second period, Warroad’s Katy Comstack carried the puck up from the neutral zone before passing to Kaiya Sandy, who scored.

And then, the scoreboard went quiet. Enter overtime.

The first and second overtimes were more of the same — quiet. Orono had a few quality looks, and more than a few shots — the Spartans leveled 62 shots on goal in the game, calling for quite a performance from Warroad goalie Payton Rolli.

“I felt a lot of relief when they scored,” Rolli said. “It just was a long, long game.”

Lorenson’s even-strength winner came 1:20 into the third overtime.

Even though the goal created heartbreak for the Orono Spartans, they’re pushing forward.

“The only thing you can really do is keep your head high, and know that you gave it your all,” Paulsen said. “As a team, we know that we did the best we could and we played with heart and let the tank out, and at that point that’s all you can really do.”

The 1A title game will start at 4 p.m. Saturday at Xcel Energy Arena.