The Section 1 girls hockey playoffs begin Wednesday across southeastern Minnesota. Here’s a look at 10 players — five in Class 2A, five in Class 1A — to watch this postseason:
• Taylor Kurtz, Mayo: Kurtz missed her sophomore season while recovering from an injury, but she has been a big addition for the Spartans this winter. The junior forward leads the team in goals (15) and points (25), and is tied for the team lead with two short-handed goals. She had an assist in the Spartans’ lone regular-season matchup against Owatonna, the team they’ll face in the Section 1-2A quarterfinals on Wednesday.
• Isabella Scranton, Century/JM: The Panthers’ senior netminder has played all but three periods this season, after playing every minute of her sophomore and junior seasons. Scranton recorded her 2,000th career save last month and is 10-12-2 with a 3.33 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage this winter. She has faced an average of 31.7 shots per game this season. She also has two shutouts for the sixth-seeded Panthers, who play at Northfield in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
• Cora Wadewitz, Winona: Winona’s lone double-digit goal-scorer this year (she has 15) has been equally powerful at even strength and on special teams. The senior forward has scored 15 goals — 10 of them at even strength, two on the power play and three short-handed. Those three shorties are tied for the seventh-most in the state by a player this season. She closed the regular season by recording her first hat trick, in a 7-1 win against Red Wing.
• Makena Underwood, Farmington: The senior goalie for the No. 9-ranked Tigers sits in the top 25 in the state in both goals-against average (1.78) and save percentage (.921). She has also recorded four shutouts this season. Underwood has won four consecutive starts. She hopes to get the Tigers to state for a second straight year and a sixth time in 10 seasons.
• Reese Peroutka, Northfield: On a team where Minnesota State University, Mankato, commit Mia Miller draws a lot of attention, Peroutka, a sophomore forward, sticks out as a high-powered offensive threat. She is fourth in the state in total points (60), 14th in the state with 30 goals, and 10th in the state with 30 assists. She has 19 points on the power play and has scored four short-handed goals.
Albert Lea’s Morgan Goskeson (20) attempts to take the puck from Dodge County’s Maren Hodgman (10) during the girls hockey Section 1, Class 1A championship match on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at Steele County Four Seasons Centre in Owatonna. Dodge County won 4-2.
Maya Giron / Post Bulletin
• Alexa VanStraaten, Dodge Co.: The senior — who is committed to Division I Assumption University in Worcester, Mass. — rarely leaves the ice, playing a key role in all situations for the defending section and state champion Dodge County Wildcats. She is one of the team’s top two defenders, and is second in goals (13) and points (31). VanStraaten will run the power play and kill penalties, all while averaging 1.41 points per game.
• Morgan Goskeson, Albert Lea: The junior is one of three key players for the No. 14-ranked Tigers who played big roles when the team last went to state, in 2023. The junior forward has been dynamic this season, with 42 goals — tied for second-most in the state — and 53 points, which is tied for ninth in the state. Goskeson has nine power-play goals and three short-handed goals, and she has recorded six hat tricks this season.
• Ella Sanders, Simley: If the Spartans need a goal, odds are they’ll look to Sanders to deliver. The senior forward has scored 28 goals and 41 points this season. Just one of those goals has come on a power play, and she has a pair of short-handed goals. So, she’s producing considerably at even strength. Simley has struggled with scoring depth, though; Sanders has 48.3% of her team’s goals.
• Sawyer Loucks, Austin: Just an eighth-grader, Loucks is already one of the top goal scorers in the section. She has 21 this season (and 30 total points), with just one goal coming on a power play. Another positive sign for Loucks and Austin: She closed the regular season with five goals in the final two games, including a hat trick at Winona on Jan. 27.
• Payton Nelson, Red Wing: Red Wing lost both of its regular-season matchups against Austin — their section quarterfinal opponent — this year, but Nelson was a pain in the Packers’ side. Red Wing has scored six total goals against Austin, and Nelson has had a hand in all of them. The sophomore has scored three of them and assisted on the other three (and two of those three assists were primary assists). Nelson enters the playoffs with 24 goals and 33 points.
• A Win for Rochester?: It’s been awhile since a Rochester public-school team has won a section playoff game. John Marshall did so in 2019, beating rival Mayo in a first-round game, when the teams were the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds in the nine-team section. The last time a Rochester team advanced to the section semifinals was Century in 2015, when it beat John Marshall in overtime in the quarterfinals, then fell to Lakeville North in the semifinals. Mayo last did it in 2012, when it beat Winona 3-0 in the quaterfinals, then fell to Lakeville South 4-0 in the semifinals.
Could this be the year a Rochester team breaks the drought and advances out of the quarterfinals?
Mayo is the No. 5 seed in the Section 1-2A playoffs, and plays its quarterfinal matchup at No. 4 Owatonna at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Century/JM is No. 6 and plays at No. 3 Northfield in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Mayo took Owatonna to overtime in their only regular season matchup, on Jan. 21 in Rochester. Mayo led 2-1 from the first period until the final minute of the third, when Owatonna scored an extra-attacker goal. The Huskies then won it with 1:05 to play in OT.
Century/JM fell to Northfield 5-2 in their lone matchup so far this season, on Jan. 27 at Northfield. Northfield built a 4-0 lead in that game, but Century/JM scored twice in the middle of the third period to pull within 4-2. The Panthers couldn’t come all the way back, and fell 5-2. They do have a great equalizer, senior goalie Isabella Scranton. She made 32 saves in that loss to Northfield last week, and has averaged 32.2 saves per game over the past five.
• ‘Cats, Tigers on a collision course?: Dodge County and Albert Lea have met in two of the past three Section 1, Class 1A championship games, with each team winning once. Albert Lea won 3-2 in overtime in 2023, a game in which Dodge County outshot it 30-11, including 24-4 over the first two periods. Last year, Dodge County got the better of the Tigers, scoring three first-period goals and winning a physical battle 4-2.
Albert Lea (15-10-0) is ranked No. 14 in the most recent Class 1A state poll. Dodge County (18-6-1) is ranked No. 3. The teams don’t face each other in the regular season, so if they happen to meet in the section final again, it will be their first matchup since last year’s title game.
Albert Lea went 3-0-0 against section opponents this season, beating No. 4 seed Austin 10-0, No. 5 seed Red Wing 10-1 and No. 6 seed South Central 13-0. Dodge County played just one game against a section opponent, beating No. 3-seeded Simley 2-0, at Simley, on Dec. 18.
Of course, they’ll both have to win a section semifinal game on Saturday in order to reach the title game. Dodge County will host the winner of Wednesday’s Red Wing at Austin game, while Albert Lea will host Simley or South Central.
• Can anyone stop Farmington?: The Farmington Tigers enter the Section 1-2A tournament on a roll. They’ve never really stopped rolling this season, and bring a 20-4-1 mark and a five-game winning streak into the postseason. The Tigers are looking for a second consecutive trip to state — they went 0-2 there last year — and their sixth in the past 10 seasons.
No. 9-ranked Farmington is 4-0-0 this year against section opponents. The Tigers beat No. 2-seeded Lakeville South twice in the regular season (4-1 on Nov. 20 and 5-4 on Jan. 9), No. 3-seeded Northfield (5-1 on Dec. 30) and No. 4-seeded Owatonna (4-0 in the season opener on Nov. 11).
The Tigers are led by senior goalie Makena Underwood (15-4-1, 1.78 GAA, .921 save percentage, 4 shutouts) and sophomore forward Jenna Goblirsch (22 goals, 48 points, state-leading 4 short-handed goals). The team’s only losses this season came against teams ranked in the top 10 in the state — Edina (No. 5, Class 2A); Blake (No. 9, Class 1A);
Benilde-St. Margaret’s (No. 10, Class 2A) and Centennial/Spring Lake Park (No. 1, Class 2A).