One coach said he expected it. The other acknowledged it was his team's plan.

Warroad coach David Marvin mentioned "South St. Paul" 21 seconds into his postgame news conference after the Warriors advanced into the Class 1A girls' hockey semifinals. The Packers had yet to take the ice for their quarterfinal match against New Ulm, but Marvin had a strong hunch which team would move on.

"That will be a good hockey game," he said, foreshadowing Friday's semifinal. "It will be a battle and they will have a lot of incentive after what happened last season."

Warroad scored five third-period goals in last year's state championship game against the Packers to erase a 1-0 South St. Paul lead. The Warriors also won 5-0 earlier this season while Packers defenseman Sam LaShomb was with the U.S. Under-18 team in the Czech Republic.

Packers coach Dave Palmquist was quick to note his team first had to defeat New Ulm, but he also addressed the rematch idea.

"Obviously we've had our sights set on Warroad for a long time if everything went as planned," he said. "This group is focused. We'll be ready on Friday."

Learning from a blowout loss

After Warroad scored nine second-period goals, Detroit Lakes coach Gretchen Norby saw lots of her players staring at the locker room floor. She doesn't expect a repeat.

"My goal for these girls was to enjoy this week," she said. "Take the experience and play your hearts out. There were times today we didn't necessarily play with a lot of heart, but I don't think that's going to happen the rest of the way."

When the going gets rough

Breck defenseman Milica McMillen scored a tying goal in the second period and redeemed the three penalties she had taken to that point.

McMillen, an outstanding player and strong physical presence, picked up her fourth minor penalty in the third period. One more would have forced her out of the game, so she sat out the final six minutes of the Mustangs' 7-3 victory over Chisago Lakes.

"I think it was [called] tighter than we're used to," McMillen said. "I wasn't used to it."