Last season, Edina couldn't finish what it started.
"[The third period] was by far [our] worst period," according to first-year coach Sami Reber. "So we made it a goal at the very beginning of the season that that will never happen again."
Exhibit A of improvement was on display Thursday as the top-seeded Hornets (26-1-1) scored three third-period goals on their way to a 4-1 victory over Farmington (16-12-2) in the Class 2A girls' hockey quarterfinals at Xcel Energy Center.
It was 1-1 when the Hornets scored a pair of goals 32 seconds apart early in the third from juniors Lolita Fidler and Emily Oden. A couple of minutes later, senior Sophie Slattery made it 4-1 off a rebound on her own shot.
"I thought, personally, throughout the season, our team has been able to outwork teams in the third period with our endurance," said senior Olivia Kilberg, who scored the Hornets' first goal. "We always just find a way to bury the puck, which is awesome."
The game was scoreless at the first intermission, despite plenty of point-blank scoring chances for the Hornets. Tigers goaltender Abby Bollig made 49 saves in the game.
Bollig went above and beyond "with the [Dominik] Hasek-like cartwheels … to keep us in that game," said Tigers coach Jon Holmes.
The Tigers tied the score on a shorthanded goal from junior and Bemidji State commit Ellie Moser, who found the open net after Hornets goaltender Anna Goldstein came out to play the puck.
HEATHER RULE
