Girls State Hockey: Warroad opens title defense with 15-goal outburst vs Albert Lea

Warroad High School (24-3-1) opened defense of its 2022 Class A Girls Hockey State Tournament title in record-setting fashion with a 15-1 win over Albert Lea (18-8-1) on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The 15-goal outburst set a single-game state tournament record for the most goals scored by a team. The old record of 13 was set by a previous Warroad squad in a victory over Detroit Lakes in 2012.

Click the video box on this page to watch extended highlights from the Class A State Quarterfinal game between Warroad and Albert Lea

Warroad dominated the game as it outshot Albert Lea 67-7 and saw three of its players chart hat tricks in the victory.

In the first period, Rylee Bartz opened the offensive charge with a power play goal at 3:16 with assists from Kate Johnson and Talya Hendrickson. Bartz notched her second goal of the evening at 5:45 of the first with assists from Johnson and Hendrickson again.

Maggie Skogman added Warroad’s third goal at 8:07 of the first before Bartz carded her hat trick at 12:13 of the first with an unassisted goal.

RELATED: KSTP Sports State Girls Hockey Tournament Central

In the second period, Hendrickson posted a power play marker at 2:36 with assists from Johnson and Bartz to make it 5-0. The same trio scored again at 5:22 of the second as Johnson tallied an even-strength goal with helpers from Bartz and Hendrickson.

Albert Lea managed to break the shutout at 8:03 of the second period with a power play goal that was scored by Shelhy Evans with assists from Mika Cichosz and Sydney Kolker.

Warroad returned to the goal column at 10:34 of the second with Skogman’s second goal of the evening with a solo assist from Cahlilah Lindquist. The Warriors’ Johnson scored her second goal of the game at 14:53 of the second with a power play score before Abigail Chamernick ended the second period for Warroad with a goal at 15:57, which made the score 9-1.

The Bartz show continued in the third period with her fourth goal of the game at :26 which was followed by Lindquist with a goal at 1:33 of the third. Warroad’s Emma Hardwick posted her first goal of the game at 3:21 of the third which was followed by Johnson’s third goal of the night at 3:46 and Bartz’ fifth goal of the game at 7:19. To complete the scoresheet, Skogman registered the team’s third hat trick with a goal at 11:47 of the period with a solo assist going to Emily Lorenson.

In the game, Johnson led Warroad with eight points (3g/5a) while Bartz (5g/2a) and Hendricks (1g/6a) had seven points apiece.

Kate Stephens was Warroad’s winning goalie with six saves in the game, while Rachel Doppelhammer and Jayda Moyer shared netminding duties for Albert Lea with a combined total of 52 saves in the game.

On the power play, Warroad was 3-of-3 and Albert Lea was 1-of-2.

Warroad will continue tourney play on Friday, Feb. 24 with a 1:00 p.m. game at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul against the winner of the game between Fergus Falls and South St. Paul. Albert Lea will enter the consolation bracket with a Noon game on Thursday, Feb. 23 against the loser of the Fergus Falls/South St. Paul game at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Courtesy: Minnesota State High School League