Thirty-one goals. That's the margin the Andover girls' hockey team outscored its Class 2A, Section 7 opponents by in its three section tournament games. The latest, a 8-0 victory over Forest Lake in the section final at Fogerty Arena in Blaine on Thursday, clinched the Huskies' third consecutive state tournament appearance and fifth in seven years.
"It's huge for our program," Andover coach Melissa Volk said. "Obviously it's big for our players and our families, but we have a ton of girls in our youth program that really support us and the community as a whole."
The game plan was to come out of the gates flying, Volk said.
They did that and then some.
Sophomore Madison Kaiser scored six minutes into the game and Andover (25-2) tallied three more goals before the period was over. From there, the Huskies added two goals in each of the last two periods. Andover outshot Forest Lake 37-14.
"We knew they were going to come out hard and wanted to win because they have so many seniors and this was kind of their year," Kaiser said. "But we worked hard and got business done."
Kaiser, junior Peyton Hemp and junior Gabby Krause each finished with two goals.
Andover has now defeated Forest Lake (19-7) in the past three section championship games. The Huskies also defeated the Rangers 3-1 earlier this season.
