The Warroad girls hockey team is heading to their fourth straight tournament this week. Section titles are good, but to be remembered in Warroad, you’ve got to win state titles. When the Warriors practices at the Gardens Arena, they practice underneath their state tournament banners. There’s a hole that will soon be filled; the only question is whether it be white, meaning a season that comes up short, or yellow, meaning that all their hard work has paid off with a state title.

“That hard work has gotten them to this point, but we’re not satisfied yet,” said Warriors assistant coach Layla Marvin. “We want more.”

What they want is a rematch in the state title game with Breck, out for revenge after the Mustangs beat them just 8 seconds into overtime last season.

“Looking back on it, it almost haunts me and the girls,” said junior forward Marlie Johnston.

“It’s really frustrating to look back at that,” said senior defenseman Kaitlyn Kotlowski. “We all want that so bad, all of us. We’ve worked really hard to get to that.”

But you can’t look ahead to the title game just yet – first, you have to get there. The Warriors are approaching tomorrow’s game with St. Paul United like every other one this season. They haven’t made many mistakes, as Warroad enters the tournament undefeated. That would just be the cherry on top if they take care of business this week.

“Our goal was to win a state championship at the start of the year, not to go undefeated,” said Marvin. “It’s the makeup of this team and how hard they’ve worked and what they bring to the table each game.”

By — AJ Feldman