Every moment late in a one-goal game is magnified, which explains the Hill-Murray crowd's roar as a puck carrying Eden Prairie's last hopes left the Pioneers' zone.
No. 3 seed Hill-Murray edged No. 2 seed Eden Prairie 2-1 in Friday's first Class 2A girls' state hockey tournament semifinal at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Pioneers will play the winner of the second semifinal between No. 1 seed Minnetonka and No. 4 seed Lakeville North. The game was not finished when this edition went to press.
Hill-Murray goaltender Alexys Woodward, who made several saves late in the game, said of seeing the puck pushed to open ice in the final seconds: "It was a big relief. I could finally breathe after that."
Sarah Bobrowski gave Hill-Murray a 2-1 lead, blasting a shot from point-blank range at 2:37 of the third period. The Pioneers held their edge from there.
"I was really proud of how we fought down the stretch," Hill-Murray coach Bill Schafhauser said. "The grit level was really high."
Charly Dahlquist put Eden Prairie ahead 1-0 at 6:27 of the first period, breezing into the Hill-Murray zone and sending a puck over Woodward. Kenzie Prater tied the score 1-1 with a power-play goal at 7:38 of the second period.
"The timing of that was huge," Schafhauser said. "We go down two and our youth begins to show."
With a combined five seniors between the two teams, the game would go to whichever talented group of youngsters could seize the moment.
