Warroad Girls’ Hockey Knocks Off Marshall 4-0 in State Quarterfinals

The Xcel Energy Center might as well be a second home for Warroad girls’ hockey.

Every Thursday for the last decade, the Warriors have made the trip to St. Paul to play in the Class A state tournament, and for the last three years, they’ve left as state champions. Now, after their 4-2 win over Crookston in the Section 8A championship, they’re back and poised to make a run at an historic fourth straight title.

But first, they had some work to do in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Warroad entered riding a 17-game win streak as the 3-seed, where they were taking on 6-seed Marshall.

Warroad knocked off Marshall 4-0, and Payton Rolli recorded her ninth shutout of the Warriors, who hounded the Tigers all afternoon on the defensive front. That’s something they’ll hope to replicate in their semifinal match-up with 2-seed Orono.

“We didn’t really play any teams that they played, but I think they gave us their best game,” said junior forward and alternate captain Emmie Hardwick about Marshall after the game. “They came out hard in every period. We had to outwork them.”

“I thought we played pretty good defensively,” said head coach David “Izzy” Marvin. “We have most of the year and we’re going to have to be on our toes on Friday, that’s for sure. [Orono’s] a good team and they’re hungry. You know, they’ve come up short a couple of years in a row and they’re motivated and good goaltending and quick forwards. Obviously they’ve got a bunch of commitments, so we’ll see if we can do our best against them and we got to be ready to play, that’s for sure.”

Friday’s game will be the second meeting in three years at the state tournament for Warroad and Orono. The Warriors beat the Spartans 3-1 in the Class A title game, but the Spartans beat the Warriors 3-0 at the Gardens Arena in Warroad earlier this season.