Eden Prairie breaks through, tops Andover in Class 2A girls' hockey quarterfinal

Eden Prairie senior co-captain Crystalyn Hengler had a limited edition stick that broke a couple weeks back. So, a replacement was shipped to her house.

"I literally just got it today right before I came to this game," Hengler said.

Just in time.

Hengler scored the game-winner with that lucky stick as part of Eden Prairie's 2-0 victory over No. 4 seed Andover in the Class 2A quarterfinal game Thursday at Xcel Energy Center. Off the faceoff, her shot from the point got through traffic and found the net to break a scoreless tie just 1 minute, 15 seconds into the third period.

Before the old stick broke in practice, Hengler scored eight goals in three games with it, said coach Jaime Grossman.

"Looks like that stick's a good stick for her," Grossman said of the replacement.

Hengler had a team-high nine shots on goal. Becca Kniss assisted on Hengler's goal and added an empty-netter with 1:22 seconds to play.

Andover (21-7-1) had 51 shot attempts but couldn't solve five-year starter Dobchuk for a goal.

"I think we could've done a better job of getting on pucks a little bit harder," said Andover coach Melissa Volk. "We did a good job the first 10 minutes of the game, and then after that kind of let off."