Hill-Murray girls hockey team aims for elusive state tournament berth

Hill-Murray's girls hockey team started a celebration this season in which coaches choose a player of the game to lead the players in singing their school song in the locker room after each win.

There's only one problem.

"We don't even know the lyrics," senior goaltender Grace Zhan said, laughing.

"We have to get on that," junior defenseman Josie Skoogman added. "We know the whole song besides the last part."

With a 17-2 record this season, the Pioneers have had plenty of chances to improve on those lyrics.

Hill-Murray, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, is averaging nearly 5½ goals per game and allowing only 1.43 with four-year starter Zhan establishing herself further as one of the top netminders in the state. The first part of their season was marked by victories over Edina, Stillwater, Minnetonka, Holy Family and Andover — all on the road — to start the season 12-0.

"I don't think anyone expected us to get to Christmas undefeated," coach Johnny Pohl said.

Now the record sports two blemishes, a 4-2 loss to Lakeville North in a holiday tournament at Eden Prairie and a 6-2 loss Saturday to No. 3 Andover. The Pioneers knew losing was inevitable because of their difficult schedule. The timing mattered most.

"I mean, we can't have a 25-0 season. It just had to happen at some point," Zhan said. "I'm just happy that it happened in the middle of our season instead of at the very end."

The Pioneers are led this season by new coaches, five of them: Johnny and Krissy Pohl, Nicole Schammel, Mackenzie Kaasa and Cole Chapman. The coaching staff came together only a couple of weeks before the season. Natalie Darwitz and Jake Bobrowski were going to take over the program, until Darwitz left to become the general manager of the new PWHL Minnesota team. That left Bobrowski, until he also joined PWHL Minnesota as an assistant coach.

A fallback plan was already off to a good start. Johnny Pohl is also Hill-Murray's activities director, and he and Krissy, besides being husband and wife, are also former Mr. Hockey and Ms. Hockey winners. Krissy played for the Gophers and the United States, and Johnny played for the Gophers and in the NHL. They coached together previously at Cretin-Derham Hall.

Johnny and Krissy's eldest daughter, Emily, is a freshman playing her second season of varsity hockey with Hill-Murray. She's second in scoring with 16 goals and 30 points. Senior forward Chloe Boreen called Emily a "very crafty player, especially for her age."

'Real hockey'

Hill-Murray's upcoming schedule is packed with challenges, including a rematch with Holy Family on Friday and a game against No. 2 Minnetonka on Jan. 25. The Pioneers will end the season against No. 11 Maple Grove and No. 5 Benilde-St. Margaret's.

"It's real hockey when you're playing those teams," Johnny Pohl said. "Those are very good teams that have very good players. I think anybody would tell you, that's just a different game. … It's a different level of intensity. It's a different level of skill. It's a different level of pace."

Said Skoogman: "That's why we play for Hill-Murray. We came to this school to play the top teams. So it just prepares us, those games, for the future. And that's what we need."

Skoogman is committed to playing hockey at Cornell, Boreen at St. Thomas and Zhan at Dartmouth. Boreen is the team's leading scorer with 25 goals and 40 points, while Skoogman is one of the top blue-liners with four goals, 15 points and a team-high six power-play assists.

Zhan is 15-2-0 with a 1.53 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.

"I know if I ever make a mistake that I can always count on her," Skoogman said.

Johnny Pohl pointed to sophomore center Sophie Olson as the "unsung hero" of the team. She's usually on the ice opposite the opponent's best line. At nine goals and 15 assists, she's scoring more than a point a game, too.

"She goes out there to play hockey the right way," Johnny Pohl said. "And she gets rewarded for it."

A winning style

Having a solid goaltender in Zhan means the Pioneers can play aggressively and trust her to come up with saves if they give up opportunities. It's a style the girls enjoy playing, Johnny Pohl said.

"We probably do more skill work and scoring in practice than 95 percent of teams," he said. "We feel like if we can play a skill game, a fast game, an aggressive, attacking game, that if we can do that line after line after line, it helps us."

Skill travels nicely, Boreen pointed out.

"We always just have our speed because we practice fast," she said.

The players hope that style leads them one game further this season: back to the state tournament for the first time since 2020. They've lost the past three section championship games.

Perhaps a victory in that last section game would get the players to learn the last couple of lines to the school song. Pohl even printed the lyrics during the season's second week and left copies in lockers. It hasn't helped.

"Everybody just kind of hums, and it's pretty funny," he said. "Everybody gets a kick out of it. Maybe even if we learn it, we'll still just kind of hum the last part."