Casey Vandertop entered play Thursday with nine goals all season.

It took the Edina sophomore forward just eight minutes and six seconds to tack three more on to that total.

Vandertop recorded his hat trick as part of a five-goal second period onslaught by the top-seeded Hornets en route to a 6-2 victory over unseeded Elk River/Zimmerman in a Class 2A state quarterfinal matchup at Xcel Energy Center.

“That’s the only multi-goal game I’ve had this year and it’s definitely my quickest hat trick,” Vandertop said. “I was just putting the puck on net and it was going in. I have to credit my linemates for getting me the puck in the right spots.”

Edina jumped out to a 1-0 lead when freshman Freddie Schneider tapped in a loose puck with 13:41 to play in the first period, but that’s where the score remained heading into the first intermission despite the Hornets holding a 10-3 edge in shots-on-goal.

“We knew how Elk River was going to play,” said Hornets coach Curt Giles, whose team beat the Elks 4-0 on Dec. 15. “We saw them earlier in the year and they’re very, very solid defensively. They try and shut you down as much as they possibly can. We talked about it before the game. We knew what kind of game it was going to be.

“The key to the whole thing was not getting frustrated. Just continue to play. Continue to do the things you’re supposed to do. Hopefully, good things will happen.”

Which is exactly what began to occur. Vandertop scored his first goal of the game with 11:20 to go in the second period and things began to snowball quickly.

Senior John Halverson added a goal 39 seconds later, followed by a second from Vandertop. Then, after sophomore Mason West expanded his team’s lead to 5-0, Vandertop struck for the third time with 3:14 still remaining in the second.

Suddenly, Edina was on top by six.

“They’re a really good team in the transition game,” Giles said. “What we wanted to do was get the puck down in deep and make them play in their end. It took us awhile to get that going and get that started.”

Elks senior Daniel Babcock finally got his team on the board with 2:11 remaining in the period, then classmate Kole Mears added a goal with 2:08 left in the third to cut the Edina lead to four.

“We had a rough stretch in the second period,” said Elk River/Zimmerman coach Ben Gustafson, whose team was back at the state tournament for the first time since 2005. “Edina’s speed and skill showed through. Give them credit. They made some nice plays.

“But I loved the way our kids competed in the third period. We challenged our kids after the second period to try to go out there and win the third, which they did.”

The Hornets (24-4-1) advance to play in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday at Xcel Energy Center. The Elks (18-10-1) will play in the consolation semifinals at 1 p.m. Friday at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood.

“We’re focused on what we can do better and putting three solid periods together,” Edina senior Barrett Dexheimer said. “If we do that, we have a really good shot at what we want to accomplish this year.

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