Hill-Murray led Roseau 3-1 late in the second period of Thursday’s 8-2 Class 2A quarterfinal victory in St. Paul. The Pioneers touted the two-goal advantage, but it was an otherwise tightly-contested bout that was very much still in question.

Hill-Murray senior forward Chloe Boreen felt the second-seeded Pioneers “needed” to get a goal before the intermission. So she went out and got one to remember.

Boreen blocked a shot from the point on one end, took the puck end to end, skated past one Roseau defender, deked another and buried a back-handed shot to put Hill-Murray up by three with 33 ticks to play in the second.

“That was a pretty cool. I haven’t scored a backhand goal,” Boreen said. “I think I surprised myself.”

And awed everyone else at the Xcel Energy Center, including Roseau coach Amanda Giles. Giles admitted the score was “a little bit of a heartbreaker,” but even she couldn’t help but admire the beauty of it.

“Chloe Boreen is an absolute stud of a player. It didn’t look like she got anything on that backhand, and it just ripped past (Roseau goalie Jada Pelowski), who’s an outstanding goalie in her own right. So she’s a fantastic player to watch.”

Hill-Murray coach John Pohl highlighted a few reasons the Pioneers eventually pulled away from the unseeded Rams (18-12) on Thursday. Included in the bullet points was Hill-Murray’s depth of talent.

“When we’re at our best – rolling three lines, playing short shifts, that’s how we can wear teams down,” he said. “And I think that’s what happened today. We were able to play more players than Roseau was that can play at that pace, and I think Roseau just tired out.”

But sometimes it can be even simpler than that, as demonstrated by Boreen’s brilliance.

“We also have some very talented hockey players who scored some really nice goals,” he said, “and that was the difference.”

Hill-Murray will meet third-seeded Andover at 6 p.m. Friday back in St. Paul for the Class 2A semifinal. The two teams split a pair of matchups during the regular season, with Hill-Murray winning 2-0 in December and Andover winning 6-2 in mid-January.

Boreen’s goal appeared to truly break the dam Thursday, as the Pioneers (25-3-1) went on to score four goals in the third — two off the stick of Elliana Engelhardt and two from Jaycee Chatleain as Hill-Murray outshot Roseau 16-4 in the period.

Goalie Grace Zhan finished with 21 saves for Hill-Murray.

Regan Berglund, Sophie Olson and Emily Pohl all found the back of the net in the first period for Hill-Murray, though the Pioneers took a bit to truly find their footing.

“I think we started out like we hadn’t played in the state tournament for awhile,” Pohl said. “It was very loosey goosey and our nerves were with us for awhile. We were very excited.”

Thursday marked the Pioneers’ first state tournament appearance since 2020. That might not seem like a long time, but a four-year absence is a lifetime for a program of the Pioneers’ prominence. Boreen is the only current player with state tournament experience.

“I think everyone was definitely nervous,” Bergman said. “We’ve got a lot of young girls. I think those nerves went away once we started playing together and playing our game.”

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