Girls state hockey: Late power-play goal lifts Hill-Murray past Edina

After all, the Pioneers entered Friday’s Class 2A state semifinal scoring on 47.83% of their opportunities.

Given one more chance at 5 on 4 late in the third period, Hill-Murray did not waste the opportunity.

Emily Pohl scored on a rebound with 3:13 remaining and the Pioneers beat Edina 3-2. The initial shot from Jaycee Chatleain narrowly missed a defender.

“We’ve said all throughout playoffs we don’t really need to change anything. We just need to play our game and be confident in that. Going into that power play, we were just confident in ourselves,” said winger Sophie Olson, one of just two seniors on the roster.

“Their power play is lethal and up until that last goal we read them like a book. We played really, really well. We were blocking shots. We weren’t giving them any real looks,” Edina coach Sami Cowger said.

Seeking its fourth title in nine appearances since 2014, the Pioneers will face Holy Family Catholic or Centennial/Spring Lake Park in Saturday’s 7 p.m. final back at Grand Casino Arena.

This is the third year that Hill-Murray and Edina met in the state tournament, splitting the past two championship games with Hill-Murray winning 5-4 in double overtime last year and Edina winning 2-0 in 2024. Hill-Murray also beat Edina 4-3 early this season.

“I didn’t expect anything different and that it would come down to that final buzzer. Obviously, just wish it would have gone the other way at the end there,” Cowger said.

With its goalie pulled, Libby Moe hit the post for Edina (21-5-3) and an Audrey Davis shot through traffic was stopped by Piper Tam, who finished with 20 saves.

Lorelai Nelson tied the game 5:34 into the third period with her fourth goal of the tournament, but the fourth-seeded Hornets could not get one more.

Hill-Murray is now 25-3-1, but only four of those wins were by less than three goals.

“A very gritty win for a group of kids who necessarily that’s maybe not their M.O. But at the end of the year, you have to win in that way, you have to play gritty, you have to play strong. And some very skilled kids found a way to do that,” Pioneers co-coach John Pohl said.

Hannah Rychley converted a feed from Gwynn Skoogman midway through the first period for a 1-0 Hill-Murray lead, but Hazel Schenkelberg answered for Edina with a wrister from the left dot a little over four minutes later.

Olivia Braunshausen scored the lone goal of the second period by driving down the slot to put home a rebound. Taylor Miller was stopped twice at the post and the puck trickled out.

Braunshausen has goals in back-to-back games after scoring twice in the Pioneers’ first 27 games. However, the defender is fifth on the team with 20 assists.