Mirage Prep for 4th Straight Trip to State, Rematch with Warroad

The Mirage will look for revenge against the Warriors, who took the 2-1 win in November, Wednesday at 8 PM in St. Paul.

PROCTOR, Minn.- For the fourth straight year, the Proctor/Hermantown Mirage are making the trek to the X in hopes of being the last girls hockey team standing.

The Mirage made that possible last Wednesday when they shut out Duluth Marshall 4 to nothing to claim the Section 7A crown.

The last month was an impressive one for the team as they went 7-1-1 in play. That included outscoring their section opponents 15 to 1 in three tournament games.

Head Coach Emma Stauber says she’s firm believer of the saying “defense wins championships”. She also added the playing field is very even.

“Definitely we have to play very sound defensively. That’s something we really focus on is we have to defend really well. But, then we have to execute offensively on our chances. When you look at the teams down there for single a, it’s similar to the double a bracket. It’s anyone’s game, everyone’s kind of beaten each other throughout the season so it’s exciting because even though we’re sitting 5th, we think we have just as good of a chance as anyone else to win the tournament,” said Stauber.

The Mirage will begin tournament play just like they began the regular season, facing Warroad.

“We ended up losing but it was a really good game. We had a lot of momentum. I think going into the tournament we just have to know that they are a good team, they’re going to score goals. But we have to respond and we have to score goals too and just work hard constantly and never give up,” said senior forward Hannah Graves.

“Definitely way different from now, where we are now. I think we’re together more as a team and we want it a lot more,” added senior forward Izy Fairchild.

The Mirage will look for revenge against the Warriors, who took the 2-1 win in November, Wednesday at 8 PM in St. Paul.