Mirage Aiming for Deeper Run at State Tournament

The Proctor/Hermantown girls hockey team are heading back to the state tournament for third time in four years.

PROCTOR, Minn. – This week, the boys hockey sectionals begin. But for the girls, it’s already time for the state tournament. And there’s only one Northland team left standing: Proctor/Hermantown.

First up for the fourth-seeded Mirage is the #5 seed Rochester Lourdes. The Eagles went 15–9–1 this season and according the Mirage head coach Glen Gilderman, they are very similar to a local Northland team.

“I would say they are a lot like Cloquet[-Esko-Carlton] where they have some really, really good players, and then they try to hang on sometimes with a third line or something like that. What we’re going to do is we’re going to run three lines at them and hope that we tire out those really good players,” Gilderman said.

This state tournament trip will be the final one for the seniors, who have went down to the cities in three of the past four seasons. The emotions will run high, but the goal is still to bring home that elusive state title.

“Obviously, we’ve got hopefully three games left and just putting it all out there, not having any regrets in finishing this season,” senior Dehli Heikes said.

“I’m super excited for state because I know if we play well as a team, we can go far. But it is going to be super sad at the end because this is one of my favorite teams I’ve been on. I get to play with some younger girls on my line and it’s going to be sad leaving them behind. We all want the same thing so we’re going to do our best to get as far as we can in the state tournament,” said senior Kaitlyn Fawcett.

Puck drop for Wednesday night’s game is set for 8 o’clock at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.