ROSEVILLE, Minn. — Maple Grove and Champlin Park/Coon Rapids traveled to Roseville Ice Arena to faceoff in the Section 5AA semifinals Tuesday night. Maple Grove came away with a 6-1 victory.
Maple Grove holds the No. 1-seed in the section and is ranked fifth in the state, while CP/CR came into the game as the No. 5-seed in the section.
Maple Grove started the game with a dominant first period, outscoring CP/CR, 2-0. Early goals came from senior Tia Rice and sophomore Grace Erickson. Both teams were 0-for-1 on the power play in the first.
The second period is where things started to get gritty. CP/CR let up a power play goal early on to the Crimson's Kelsey Olson. Then CP/CR took three penalties in a span of only a minute-and-a-half but successfully killed off all three to keep the team at a 2-0 deficit.
In the third period, Maple Grove came out very strong. Junior Stella Retrum scored a short-handed goal, and then Kelsey Olson scored her second of the night on an empty net.
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Champlin Park/Coon Rapids would score a single goal from Kennedy Bolander late in the third period with only a minute left to go.
Stella Retrum had a four-point game netting two goals and two assists, while teammate Kelsey Olson scored two goals of her own.
Maple Grove will advance to the section 5AA championship on Friday at 7pm against Centennial/St. Louis Park. The winner of that game will punch their ticket to the state tournament next week.
