McMillen atones for previous penalties, playing every minute

It's tough to do much while serving time in the penalty box. Impossible, really.

So after seven trips to the sin bin through the first two games of the Class 1A girls' hockey tournament, Breck's Milica McMillen played as much of Saturday's championship game as she could.

Like, all 70 minutes.

The senior defenseman didn't leave the ice in Breck's 3-2 double-overtime victory.

But she did have the energy to run from the postgame interview area back to the locker room to celebrate. Wasn't she exhausted?

"I'll be fine!" she called back.

Amazing how much pep a gold medal brings to a player's step.

In addition to the 14 minutes in the penalty box, McMillen sat for most of the third period in the quarterfinals and semifinals with Breck comfortably ahead.

In the finals against South St. Paul, McMillen hung back on the blue line to conserve energy. It helped limit the Packers to 10 shots through the third period and two overtimes.

"It's not ideal, because you love to have her offensive skills," Peterson said of McMillen, the team's second-leading scorer. "If she wanted to, she could get in and rush around people the whole game."

As crunch time neared, McMillen got in on more plays and had the secondary assist on Leah Schwartzman's game-winning goal.