Warroad Girls’ Hockey Making 9th Consecutive Trip to State Tourney

The Warroad girls’ hockey team is returning to a place they’ve become very familiar with, the Xcel Energy Center, for the state hockey tournament.

The back-to-back defending state champions are making their 9th consecutive appearance at the state tourney, and their 15th appearance overall. It’s something that paints a pretty large target on their backs, although unlike the previous two seasons, they will not be going in as the 1-seed.

Instead, the Warriors are seeded 4th, and they will be playing a familiar opponent in 5-seed Proctor/Hermantown, a team they beat 2-1 in the first game of the year. But that result is something the squad believes is now irrelevant.

“I think we kind of got to forget about that win. It’s not the same team that, we’re not the same team. You know, it’s going to be a whole new game. And, you know, hopefully we’re coming up on top,” said junior captain Kaiya Sandy. “Everyone wants to be Warroad, so the first thing is like honestly, mentally preparing before the game and knowing in your mind it’s going to take a lot to get a win.”

“There’s a lot of girls who haven’t been to the state tournament before, so I think it’s like a nervous energy,” added junior captain Katy Comstock. “But we know what we had to do because we know that they’re going to have their best game for us.”

“Everyone marks us on their calendar and they know it’s a big game. So I think it’s fuel and it helps us just get motivated out there,” said senior captain Maddie Skogman. “And we know there’s a lot to play for, a lot – like community and our team, our players, everything. So it’s definitely great motivation knowing that everyone wants to beat us.”

Wednesday, Feb. 21 will be the second time these two teams have met at the state tourney in the past three years. The Warriors beat the Mystic in the championship game in 2021.

Their face-off will be the last quarterfinal game of the day, scheduled to start at 8 p.m.