It's State Class A Title Number Seven for Blake Bears

A lily bloomed at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Saturday as Lily Delianedis scored a goal and assisted on two others to lead the Blake Bears to a 6-2 win over St. Paul United in the Class A girls hockey championship game.

It was the second consecutive and seventh overall state title for the Minneapolis based school in their 10th trip to state.

SPU, who lost to the Bears twice in the regular season got the early lead in the first period as Lauren Boettcher made a short centering pass to Joie Phelps and the red clad team from St. Paul Academy and Visitation became joyful. Blake would tie the game on Delianedis' pass that bounced off the left boards, picked up by Hayley Konowalchuk and her shot  from the left point entered the goal.  Delianedis put Blake ahead with a rebound goal that gave them a 2-1 lead after the first period.

In the second period, Grace Johnson, one of four Blake freshmen, rebounded Konowalchuk's shot from the right crease and scored to increase the lead to two.   They would go up by three 1:29 later when Audrey Wethington scored following a flurry of shots. Scoring balanced continued for Blake as Izzy Daniel got the puck at the corner boards, skated into the right face off circle and sent the puck to the net.

The Bears would wrap up their scoring in the third period when Audrey Wethington, positioned behind the net, centered the puck to Addie Burton and she put Blake ahead by five.  Would there be running time in the third period? Not according to SPU's Samantha Burke, whose shot bounced off Blake goalie Anna Kruesel and barely entered the net.

The Bears concluded their season with a record of 27-2-1 and SPU ended their season at 21-7-2.

In the third place game, Madison Oelkers got the hat trick to lead the Warroad Warriors to a 6-2 win over the Northfield Raiders.  In the consolation championship game at Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota campus, Kristin Trosvig's goal with 9:15 left in regulation time led the Alexandria Cardinals to a 1-0 win over the Hibbing/Chisholm Bluejackets.  Though the Bluejackets came up short, Lily Rewertz was the recipient of the Herb Brooks Award, which is awarded to the player who best displays the characteristics of the late coach.