ST. PAUL — Gentry Academy kept alive its hopes to play in back-to-back state championship games in two different classes.
Junior forward Campbell Heger, a Sacred Heart commit, scored a power-play goal at 12:39 of the third period and the fifth-seeded Stars held off fourth-seeded Maple Grove for a 2-1 win in the Class AA girls state hockey quarterfinals on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.
Last season, Gentry Academy reached the Class A state championship game before losing to Proctor/Hermantown.
The Stars (23-6-0) will play top-seeded Andover (28-0-0) at 8 pm. Friday in the semifinals. Andover took second in last year's Class AA state tournament. In the regular season, Andover beat Gentry Academy 5-1 on Nov. 18.
Junior defenseman Jenessa Gazdik, a Minnesota State University-Mankato recruit, scored Gentry's first goal at 12:43 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1.
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Junior forward Stella Retrum, a Penn State recruit, scored the first goal of the game at 6:50 of the second period to give the Crimson (20-7-2) a 1-0 lead. Sophomore goalie Dani Strom made 30 saves for Maple Grove.
Junior Zoe Laming made 21 saves for Gentry.
