Sports

Class 2A girls' hockey quarterfinals: Deep, relentless Blaine delivers three first-period goals to rout Roseau

February 24, 2017 at 4:47AM

Blaine’s Paige Beebe (14) leaped between two Roseau defenders to go after the puck during the first period. ] (KYNDELL HARKNESS/STAR TRIBUNE) kyndell.harkness@startribune.com Girls’ hockey state tournament. Roseau vs. Blaine Thursday, Feb. 23, 2016 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Min. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Roseau played five metro-area girls' hockey teams that finished in the top 10 of their respective classes.

Rams coach Steve Huglen learned why Blaine, which defeated his team 7-1 in the Class 2A tournament quarterfinals Thursday, is among those elite teams.

No. 2 seed Blaine (23-3-2) tallied three goals before the halfway point of the first period and rolled to victory.

"They have so much depth and they keep coming after you," Huglen said.

The Bengals showed their stripes early as Abby Jones buried a great pass from fellow third-line forward Megan McKenzie less than two minutes into the game. The second line made it 2-0 on Sarah Ganley's rebound goal at 5:37.

"That's really been our game," Blaine coach Steve Guider said. "We really haven't been a team that scores a lot of pretty goals."

What pretty goals Blaine does get often come from Gabby Rosenthal. Blaine's leader with 28 goals, Rosenthal blasted a puck just inside the far post for a 3-0 lead.

"It was pretty awesome," Rosenthal said. "I was lucky enough to get a nice pass for an easy shot."

Roseau (19-9-1) posted the same number of shots on goal (11) in the first period but couldn't beat Blaine goaltender Jaela O'Brien. That meant trouble for the methodical, defensive-minded Rams.

"We're not the type of team that can come back and exchange goals," Huglen said. "We got out of our element and it snowballed from there."

DAVID LA VAQUE

Blaine’s Sarah Ganley (9) watched as a second-period shot by Emily Brown hit the Roseau net. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)