23-02-2025
Dodge County ends Warroad's reign in state championship overtime thriller
The Class A championship game of the Girls Hockey State Tournament will go down as one of the best in tourney history, and it was Dodge County ending Warroad's three-year run as state champs with a 4-3 overtime victory Saturday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
The ending was one that only the State of Hockey could produce.
After trailing 3-1, Warroad rallied to force overtime and with 63 seconds left in the eight-minute extra session, Zoe Heimer collected a rebound after a shot fluttered off the goal pipe and slid the puck into crowd.
The puck slid across the line for the winning goal, but Heimer was the only person on the ice to know the game was over.
The officials whistled the play dead and the goal wasn't confirmed until a lengthy replay review was complete, giving the Wildcats the first state title in girls hockey history.
The game was intense from start to finish. Taylor Reese broke the ice with the first goal of the game for Warroad at 14:21 of the first period, but 33 seconds later Heimer equaled the score for Dodge County.
Goals by Kylie Meyer early in the second period and Noah Carstensen early in the third period gave the No. 1-seed Wildcats a two-goal cushion.
Dodge County maintained the lead until the Warriors struck twice in the span of 39 seconds midway through the third period, and it was Vivienne Marcowka finding the back of the net for both.
Warroad reached the title game by outlasting Orono 2-1 in a triple-overtime thriller on Friday. They got as close as a team can get to a four-peat, having won the last three Class A state titles by defeating Proctor/Hermantown in the 2021-22 title game, Orono in the 2022-23 state championship, and Dodge County last year.
The Class AA state championship game features Edina against Hill-Murray.
