2017 Section 5A Final Has Familiar Ring

Thursday night's Section 5A Girls Hockey Championship match up is a familiar one as the defending Class A champion Blake Bears battle the Breck Mustangs at 7:30 at the Parade Ice Garden in Minneapolis.

It will be the third meeting this season between the two private school rivals with the Bears victorious in both games, coming away with a 4-1 win on December 10 and a 4-2 win on January 10.

Since the Breck win on January 10, Blake has not given up more than one goal in its last eight games.  They have outscored the opposition 40-6.  The only two times this season the Bears have given up more than two goals were to a pair of Class AA school that have won state titles.  They were defeated by the Hill-Murray Pioneers on November 18 3-0 and lost to the defending Class AA champion Eden Prairie Eagles on December 22 3-1.

As for Breck, other than their two losses to Blake, they lost three games to Class AA schools.  They lost to Benilde-St. Margaret's 2-1 on November 15, a 5-4 overtime defeat to the top ranked Edina Hornets on December 6 and a 2-1 loss to the Maple Grove Crimson on January 24.

Breck advanced to the Section 5A final with a pair of wins.  In the quarterfinals, they beat the Toino-Grace Eagles 8-1.  Gopher signee Grace Zumwinkle got the hat trick as the Mustangs outshot the Eagles 49-13.

Zumwinkle would get the eventual game winner in the semifinals as she scored a power play goal with 2:40 left in the first period to beat the Princeton-Big Lake-Becker Tigers 2-1.  Neither team would put the puck in the net the remainder of the game as Tiger goalie Kara Schramel would stop 19 Mustang shots.

Following a quarterfinal bye, the Bears clinched a championship berth with an 8-1 win over the Minneapolis Novas.  Izzy Daniel would score two first period goals and Lucy Burton and Audrey Wethington scored two apiece to bring Blake a step closer to securing its fifth consecutive trip to the X.

The scene is set.  Breck and Blake.  A familiar section rivalry with a state tournament berth on the line Thursday night.