What's the Buzz?

ST. PAUL, Minn—The Edina Hornets made their 26th state boys hockey tournament appearance in 2010 and walked out of Xcel Energy Center with their seventh championship with a 4-2 win over top ranked Minnetonka.

“You have no idea how proud I am of these kids,” said a drenched Curt Giles. “Nobody gave them credit all season. I couldn’t be prouder of my hockey team.”

Minnetonka, who played a marathon game last night against Hill-Murray, was faced with the daunting task of battling an Edina team that had handed them their only loss of the season. If there was any feelings of sorrow for the Skippers late night Friday, the Hornets weren’t about to let on. Ryan Cutshall scored on the first shift just 26 seconds into the game and Edina didn’t look back.

“We saw they had to go into a couple of overtimes last night,” said Cutshall. “We just came out flying and put one in on the first shift and went from there.”

The Hornets tallied thee times in the second period to pad the lead to 4-0. When Jake Sampson scored at 13:09, it appeared that the rout was on.

With the four goals, the Hornets bumped their total to nine straight goals against the Skippers dating back to their meeting at Braemar. After giving up four first period goals on their home ice, the Hornets headed to the locker room.

“We talked about something very simple. This can go a couple of different ways,” said Giles. “This can go to double digits, or we can start chipping away.”

The squad chose the latter and in that decision changed their season. The comeback win that night gave the club a confidence. That confidence carried over to the Xcel Energy Center.

As all great teams do, the Skippers came back. Two Andrew Prochno goals 40 seconds apart early in the third period cut the lead in half.

The Hornets quickly got back to what had gotten them the lead. They attacked, but didn’t take chances. Played solid in their defensive zone, but didn’t go into a shell. The result will have hockey fans in Edina talking for years.

Giles compared the Skippers team to the team he had a year ago. Top line players, skill and senior leadership. It ended the same way, with a disappointing loss.

The championship ties Edina with Roseau for the most titles in tournament history.