ANDOVER, Minn. — Ms. Hockey semifinalist Ella Boerger is a top-10 player in the state for a reason. The two-time captain has amassed over 200 points over four seasons with the Huskies and has two state titles to her name.
Becoming a hockey player seemed like destiny for Boerger, as the sport was something that she was very familiar with at an early age.
"We're kind of a hockey family, my dad's side of the family is really into hockey and my older brother played," said Boerger on her beginnings in the sport.
The 5-foot-7 forward has fond memories playing pond hockey in her backyard growing up with her brother, Brock, and his friends.
Boerger was born and raised in Sartell, Minnesota, but her family moved to Andover before she started high school.
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As a 15-year-old freshman, Boerger made a solid impact on the Huskies team in her first varsity season, posting 14 points in the regular season and eight during playoffs.
"I've never met a team that was so committed to hockey," said Boerger on the Andover squad that she played on her ninth-grade year. "They did a great job of welcoming all the freshman and overall it was a really good experience."
The team then went on to win the Class AA state title in a 5-3 victory over Edina. "We just had a lot of heart," she added.
Boerger's career began to pick up the very next year for her sophomore season as she posted 57 points, which was over a two point-per-game average. She was third in total points on the team that season, with only Peyton Hemp and Gabrielle Krause above her. Both Hemp and Krause compete at the Division I level now for Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth, respectively.
As a sophomore, the Huskies were again a top team in Class AA. They made it all the way to the state championship game but fell in a close 2-1 heartbreaker match — against who else, Edina. The team previously had a perfect record before losing to the Hornets.
The next year, Boerger became the team's leading scorer as a junior, posting a massive 74-point campaign over 30 games. This put her as a top-10 point-scorer in the state.
During that 2021-22 season, the 5-foot-7 forward went on to go a perfect 30-0 with Andover as they won the state title in a 5-4 victory over Minnetonka and finished up the year with no losses.
"Looking back, I have no idea how we did that," said Boerger. "We had all those freshman coming in and most of our D-core were underclassmen. I can't wrap my head around how we did that, it's still so surreal."
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After winning her second state title, Boerger was named the Team MVP as the squad's leading scorer and captain.
Also during her junior campaign, Boerger also committed to play Division I hockey at the University of St. Thomas. She will be plenty familiar with her teammates in the future, as three other Huskies, Madison Brown , Cailin Mumm , and Nora Sauer , are all UST commits.
"What led me to St. Thomas was the coaching staff; they're unbelievable and awesome coaches and people," said the skater on her commitment. "The campus is beautiful and I just fell in love with the school as soon as I visited."
St. Thomas also has commitments from two other Ms. Hockey semifinalists in Rylee Bartz (Warroad) and Ellah Hause (Hill-Murray).
Fast-forward to today and Boerger is on another tear with Andover as they are a top-three team in the state, preparing for what they hope is another championship run.
The 18-year-old currently leads the team in points with 72 over 26 games so far this season. She has 40 goals, which is 18 more than the next closest player on her team.
Boerger surpassed the 200-career point milestone in January and now has 225 and counting.
The 18-year-old has only lost a mind-blowing six games in her high school career.
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Recently, the Andover forward was named a Ms. Hockey semifinalist. Along with the announcement of the top-10 on the State of Hockey website, Andover head coach Melissa Volk described Boerger as being a mix between both a power forward and also a skater who has finesse that can play well in her own end.
Boerger says that it felt great to be named to the prestigious list, but that she's trying not to pay too much attention to the buzz around the award so that she can stay focused on performing in the playoffs with her team. She's trying to take things game by game and to get back to the state final to win another title.
The Huskies are currently 25-3 and are headed to the state tournament once again after an 11-1 win over Grand Rapids-Greenway in the Section 7AA championship. Boerger posted a massive 10-point night in the section quarterfinal against Northern Tier recently, scoring six goals and four assists.
You can expect the Huskies to make a big push to get back to the state title game again in 2022-23 and for Boerger to try and win her third state championship.
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