State Hockey: Stillwater's Ryan Black's Goal Propels Hill-Murray to Title Game

UPDATE:

Edina beat Hill-Murray 4-2 in the Class AA Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament championship game Saturday night.

UPDATED FROM: 

Stillwater’s Ryan Black scored the game-winning goal in Hill-Murray's semifinal match up against Wayzata Friday night — sending the Pioneers to the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament Championship.

The top-seeded Pioneers will play Edina tonight in the championship game starting at 7 p.m. at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Here’s a quick recap of the game, written by John’s Journal and posted on the Minnesota State High School League’s website:

“After trailing 1-0 heading into the final period, Hill-Murray rallied with two late third-period goals to beat Wayzata 2-1 and advance to the 2A championship game.

The Pioneers had to fight off a streaking goalie in Wayzata’s Aaron Dingman, who was hot off a stellar performance in Thursday’s quarterfinals against Centennial. The senior goaltender had already stopped nearly 30 Hill-Murray shots before the game-winner flew past him.

The goal that punched the Pioneers’ ticket to the championship game belonged to Ryan Black, who flung the puck over the shoulder of Dingman. Hill-Murray had been leading the shots and possession battle all game long before finally breaking through with a tying goal from sophomore Davis Zarembinski.

Hill-Murray returns to the state championship game for the second consecutive year; last season the Pioneers fell to Benilde-St. Margaret’s and the Grant Besse scoring machine. In 2008, the private school from Maplewood won its last state championship by beating Edina 3-0.”

Click here to read the Pioneer Press post and view a photo gallery of the game.