The final score was 3-1 Edina, and although the game today was a nail-biter, the Edina Girls’ varsity hockey team ended up advancing to the Class 2A semifinals.

After two scoreless periods, Edina had twenty-eight shots, and Buffalo only had eight. Despite the fact that we hadn’t scored yet, it had seemed as though we had it in the bag. The assumption that the win would come easy was disproved when Buffalo scored the first goal of the tournament at the beginning of the third period.

Not more than five minutes later did Edina freshman Emily Oden tie up the game with twelve minutes left in play. As the game went on, Buffalo started to tally up shots, and it seemed like the game would be settled with overtime or a shootout, but with a little more than two minutes left, the Hornets got a power play.

When Oden got the puck alone in front of Buffalo’s net, she scored the eventual game winner with less than a minute left. After Buffalo pulled their goalie as a final act of desperation, senior Taylor Williamson, Mrs. Hockey Finalist and Gopher commit, put the nail in the coffin with an empty net goal.

Hockey wasn’t the only thing to watch at the Xcel Energy Center either, because the chants between the student sections was entertainment in itself (although Buffalo remained generally quiet). Some memorable chants included “Buffa-NO” and the yelling of “Kendra”, which was an attempted (and possibly successful) rattle on the Bison goalie Kendra Carlson, who stopped 37 shots.

Tonight we’ll be playing Hill Murray at the Xcel Energy Center at 6:00 p.m.