The girls hockey state tournament rolls on Thursday in St. Paul, with the Class 2A teams taking their turn at center stage for big-school quarterfinal games.

Games can be streamed at https://prepspotlight.tv/MSHSL

Here are a few things to watch:

Star power

Six of the Ms. Hockey semifinalists will be on the ice Thursday: Minnetonka forward Lindzi Avar (Cornell commit), Hill-Murray forward Chloe Boreen (St. Thomas commit), Minnetonka forward Kendra Distad (Minnesota commit), Edina forward Hannah Halverson (Wisconsin commit), Northfield forward Ayla Puppe (Minnesota commit) and Maple Grove forward Bella Shipley (Minnesota State Mankato commit).

Avar and Puppe were both selected as two of the five finalists for the honor.

Two of the five finalists for the Jori Jones award given to the state’s top senior goaltender will also be in action in Hill-Murray’s Grace Zhan and Maple Grove’s Dani Strom.

Wide open

Fourth-seeded Gentry Academy winning last year’s state title was perhaps a precursor for tournaments to come. The depth of championship-quality teams has never been higher.

Edina enters the week as the No. 4 seed, but it has a win and a one-goal loss against top-seeded Minnetonka this season. And while the Hornets’ first-round opponent — Northfield — hasn’t played the state’s top teams, the Raiders do have just one loss this season.

Frankly, the Skippers will have a battle just to get out of the first round against an unseeded Maple Grove team that has high-end players and a number of impressive performances this season.

They’re back

A four year absence isn’t long in the general scope of the sport, but it seems like a lifetime for a program as prominent as Hill-Murray. Yet this is the Pioneers’ first trip to the X since 2020.

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