Minnetonka junior defender Maggie Nicholson has played on some of the biggest stages in women’s hockey, winning a gold medal with Team USA in the 2018 IIHF Under-18 World Championships. 

On Thursday night, she fulfilled another childhood wish. 

“I think growing up, every girl on our team dreamed of playing at the X,” Nicholson said. “It’s just crazy to think I’ve been so fortunate to play on the national stage and also accomplish my dream of playing at the X.”

Nicholson and her Skippers (15-13-1) have secured two more games at the Xcel Energy Center, emerging from the quarterfinal round with a 7-4 win over No. 4 seed Maple Grove in Thursday’s finale. 

The win is part of a remarkable turnaround for the Skippers, who began the season with a three-game losing streak and concluded the regular season on a four-game skid. 

“I knew this team the whole year had the talent; we just weren’t playing to our full potential, junior forward Lacey Martin said. “Our record isn’t the best, but come playoffs we just started clicking and playing well.”

Martin, in particular, has upped her game, racking up 11 goals during the postseason, including two in the win over the Crimson (19-8-1). 

In addition to Martin’s two goals, Olivia Meredith, Nicholson, Lisa LaRoche, Emily Bayless, and Kate Hoelscher scored for Minnetonka, with Hoelscher’s goal coming on an empty Maple Grove net to seal the win. 

“Hats off to Minnetonka, they were very disciplined in their system,” Maple Grove coach Amber  Hegland said. “They played a passive 1-2-2 in the neutral zone that made us have to do some things differently.”

Tristana Tatur put the Crimson on the board early in the first period, but four consecutive goals by Minnetonka buried the Crimson in a hole ultimately too deep to escape. Nevertheless, Maple Grove’s Lauren Stenslie scored one of her two goals near the end of the second period to pull the Crimson within two. 

With the score at 5-3 after following goals by Minnetonka’s Martin and Maple Grove’s Emma Larson, Minnetonka defender made the save of the night, stopping a Crimson shot mere inches from crossing the goal line. The goal would have made the score 5-4 and could have tipped the momentum scales in favor of the never-say-die Crimson. 

“That’s a testament to these kids,” Hegland said of the team’s unwillingness to go down. “The entire year that’s how our team has played,” Hegland continued. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down, we’re going to continue to fight and work and see if we can get back in the game.”

With the win, Minnetonka will play Lake Conference foe Edina in the semifinals. The Hornets took both meetings between the teams this season, 6-1 in January and 5-4 in February.