A top five finalist for this year’s Jori Jones Award, which honors the state’s top senior girls high school goaltender, Hill-Murray’s Grace Zhan lived up to the accolades as she backstopped the Pioneers to a 3-1 victory over Andover in the MSHSL Class AA semifinals on Friday, Feb. 23 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Click the video box on this page to watch extended highlights of the Class AA Girls State Hockey Quarterfinal between Hill-Murray and Andover

Zhan limited Andover to just one power play goal in the game and made 36 saves in the contest, which included allowing no goals in the second period when Andover outshot the Pioneers 21-2 and another 10 saves in the final period.

Hill-Murray (25-3-1) opened the game’s scoring at 4:23 of the first period with a goal by Ella Hornung with an assist from Chloe Boreen.  The Pioneers then extended their lead at 6:14 with a power play goal by Jaycee Chatleain with assists being credited to Boreen and Josie Skoogman that gave Hill-Murray a 2-0 edge.  This was Chatleain’s third goal of the tournament and 27th marker of the season for the Pioneers.

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Andover (22-5-3) broke the shutout at 12:21 of the first period with a power play goal by Mackenzie Jones, who connected on a shot from the slot on assists from Cailin Mumm and Courtney Little.

The Huskies rally was short-lived as Hill-Murray fired back at 12:46 of the first period with a goal by Emiliana Engelhardt.  Chatleain located Engelhardt open in front of the Andover net and the connecting pass resulted in the goal that gave the Pioneers a 3-1 lead.

The loss snapped a streak of four consecutive appearances in the Class AA championship game for Andover, which won the title in 2020 and 2022 and finished as the Class AA runner-up in 2021 and 2023.  Hill-Murray will return to the state championship game for the first time since back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015.

RELATED: State Girls Hockey: 2-seed Hill-Murray rolls 8-2 over Roseau in AA Quarterfinal

The Pioneers will next face the winner of tonight’s other semifinal game between #1 seed Minnetonka and #4 seed Edina at the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m.

Courtesy: Minnesota State High School League