Edina made easy work of Benilde-St. Margeret's Wednesday night as the Hornets torched the Red Knights 6-0 in a Class 2A, Section 6 semifinal at Parade Ice Arena in Minneapolis.
Lolita Fidler and Anna Klein each finished with two goals and three points for Edina, ranked No. 5 in Class 2A by Let's Play Hockey.
"I'm real proud of the girls' effort," Hornets coach Laura Slominksi said. "We played three solid periods of hockey, and that's all you can really ask for at this time of year. It's important to handle what you are in control of, and battle hard for three periods."
Edina, the No. 1 seed, opened the scoring 6 minutes, 38 seconds into the opening period when Sophie Slattery scored a power play goal, the first of three power play scores on the night for the Hornets.
Edina scored two goals and put up at least 10 shots in all three periods, and all three forward lines for the Hornets scored to boost the Hornets to the section final Friday night at Ridder Arena.
"It was a very balanced effort," Slominksi said. "Our defense did a great job of keeping the pucks in the offensive zone, and our goalie played well, and our sustained effort kind of wore them down."
"Balance is a great word for our team," she added. "We've got three lines who can score goals, and we saw that tonight. The fun thing about this team is that any one of them can step up big."
Goaltender Anna Goldstein turned away 14 shots to earn her sixth shutout of the season for Edina.
No. 5 seed Benilde-St. Margaret's goaltender Anna DeGiulio faced 37 shots, stopping 31 of them for the Red Knights, who wrap up their season with a 8-16-1 record.
The Hornets move on to face the winner of the Wayzata and Cretin-Derham-Hall semifinal that followed at Parade Ice Arena.
Regardless of the opponent, coach Slominksi expects a focused effort as her team looks to make a return trip to the state tournament for the first time since 2012.
"We're at playoff hockey now, and it's one game at a time," Slominksi said. "We're proud of the performance tonight, but tomorrow we go back to work."
