Fresh off its first state tournament appearance in 12 years last winter, the Rosemount girls hockey team entered this season looking to make a return trek to St. Paul.

And then the Irish opened the campaign 5-7-2.

Yikes? Not exactly. All part of the plan for Rosemount.

No, not that losing is ever the goal. Like every team, Rosemount would love to go undefeated. But it’s simply not a program that treats early-season games as though they’re the Super Bowl.

“Right at the beginning of the season, we talk a lot about how we’re just building for February the whole entire year,” said junior forward Sophie Stramel, a Minnesota State Mankato commit. “And sacrificing those losses early in the year in like December, it’s not going to affect us that much. Because if we perform our best in the section tournament, then we can achieve our goal of going to state. So it’s focusing on the process.”

One that again has Rosemount exactly where it wants to be. The Irish entered the Class 2A, Section 3 playoffs as the No. 4 seed. But Rosemount, which got it rolling at the right time, knocked off Lakeville North and Apple Valley — teams it went a combined 0-3-1 against during the regular season — in succession to get back to state.

The unseeded Irish (14-9-5) will meet third-seeded Andover (21-4-3) in the Class 2A state quarterfinalss at 1 p.m. Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.

“There wasn’t really a turning point for us, I don’t think,” Stramel said. “It’s just knowing if we all buy into the process that we’re going with, that our goal can be achieved by the end of the season.”

The Rosemount way.

One thing Stramel loves most about this year’s team is the buy-in. It’s been evident from November to now. The Irish haven’t lost sight of the long-term mission and have remained committed to doing their best in whatever their role is for one another.

Those roles are constantly changing throughout the first half of the season. Part of Rosemount’s process is spending the first two months of the season figuring out exactly what works. Lots of players see ice time — part of the program’s overall development — and the Irish test out different line combinations and systems.

“And, when we get towards the end, it kind of all just works itself out,” Stramel said. “And we realize what we’re good at, what we should avoid, that type of thing.”

Of course, there are bumps along the way. When you’re two games below .500, even the most committed players may have doubts.

“There’s always a time where it’s like, ‘Is this really going to work? Is this our identity?’ ” Rosemount co-coach Jennifer Williams said. “But, in the end, we tend to pull together.”

At exactly the right time.

Rosemount trailed Lakeville North, a top-10 team with wins over the likes of Hill-Murray and Warroad this season, by two goals in the second period of the section semifinals, but found a way to score twice to force overtime, where Maggie Erickson potted the game-winner.

Williams said things appear to be clicking right now for the Irish. The defense has generally been strong. But the Irish have also grown more “goal hungry.”

“A lot more of the stuff that we’ve talked about throughout the season we’re seeing happen in games,” she said. “They have a goal, and they want to meet that goal, so they work hard to get there. They do the little things. They pay attention to the details that we ask them to pay attention to and they get better.”

But Stramel noted this year’s goal wasn’t just to get back to the X, but also to perform upon arrival. Williams said last year’s squad was “taking it in” at state. It was everyone’s first voyage. Rosemount fell 9-0 to Andover in the quarterfinals. Combine that with Rosemount’s record, and it’s a good bet few on the outside will expect much of the Irish this week.

“I think we can be very underestimated. We’re not a super flashy team. I’d say we’re really hard working and we’re underground, and that’s OK with us,” Stramel said. “Coming into the state tournament knowing that we’re confident with what we’ve done so far at the end of the season and coming into sections is really something that we can build upon and make ourselves feel better throughout the whole process.”

They know they’re capable of flipping the script. This is the same Rosemount team that lost 4-0 to Apple Valley in December, only to beat the Eagles 6-1 in the section final.

Andover is obviously a different animal, but Rosemount knows it’s a different team than it was last year — or, heck, even last month.

“Last year was kind of like, ‘Oh, we’re here. We’re first-timers. We don’t really know what’s going on,’ ” Stramel said. “Now, we know what’s happening, we know what’s going on, and we’re happy to be here, but we’re also ready to do some damage.”

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