ST. PAUL — St. Paul United got a glimpse of the level it likely hopes to reach some day, as Blake on Saturday won its third Class A girls hockey title in four years.
And the gap between the Bears and the rest of the field appears to be large.
Blake defeated third-seeded St. Paul United 8-0 in Saturday's final at the Xcel Energy Center. Top-seeded Blake outscored its three state tournament opponents by a combined score of 23-1. It was United's first trip to the state final.
Blake's most competitive postseason game came in the section final, where it beat Breck 3-2 in overtime. Breck was one of two teams to beat Blake (26-2-2) this season, the other being Hill-Murray.
This was Blake's third victory of the season over United (23-6-1), but the previous two wins were by much slimmer margins, 3-1 and 3-2. United skated with the Bears for much of the first period, but Blake took control with two late-period goals, both off the stick of senior forward Carly Bullock, to put the Bears up 2-0 heading into the first intermission. Bullock also scored the game's final goal for a hat trick with 13 seconds left.
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CLASS AA
Eden Prairie an OT champ
Eden Prairie didn't waste a golden opportunity late Saturday night.
Staring at a two-player advantage, the Eagles cashed in when senior forward Lauren Oberle scored on a powerful one-time blast at 5:36 of overtime that gave Eden Prairie (22-7-2) the state Class AA girls hockey championship.
It is Eden Prairie's third state title and first since 2008. The other came in 2006.
Maple Grove (22-6-2), with a two-goal deficit with 17 minutes left, began the third period with a vengeance and quickly erased Eden Prairie's lead. Katie Denecke started the comeback when she scored on a rebound with 11:45 left in regulation time.
