Here are four matchups to watch in girls hockey section tournaments

Reigning champs. Hopeful drought-snappers. Rising stars.

Minnesota’s top girls hockey teams this week will battle through 16 section tournaments — eight each in Class 1A and 2A — with spots at the state tournament on the line (here’s the most recent Minnesota Top 25, the Star Tribune’s statewide rankings). Section champions will take the ice at state Feb. 19-22 at Xcel Energy Center.

Here are four section matchups to keep an eye on:

These teams have met in the Section 6 title game the past five seasons. Edina won last year’s section final 5-4, and a matchup in January led to a 0-0 tie.

Edina has made the Class 2A state tournament every year since 2015 and has won five titles in that span, including last season. The Hornets' success has come at the expense of two-time state champ Benilde-St. Margaret’s, a team looking to end a 10-year tournament drought.

Lorelai Nelson (Penn State), Whitney Horton (St. Thomas), Cate McCoy (Dartmouth) and sophomore Audrey Davis lead the scoring attack for the Hornets (19-3-1), who have two future Division I goalies — Nora Hannan (St. Thomas) and Reese McConnell (Maine) — in the net.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s (18-2-3) features 12 seniors and has three players with 34 points or more, led by 39 points from sophomore Talla Hansen.

In the past five years, Andover has won two state titles and had two runner-up finishes and a fourth-place finish. The Huskies (16-7-1) haven’t missed the state playoffs since 2017.

Defenseman Mackenzie Jones, who will play at Wisconsin next year, leads the Huskies with 30 points, including 20 assists. She’s one of five Division I commits with at least 20 points for the Huskies this season.

Grand Rapids/Greenway (17-5-1) has not had much luck getting within striking distance of the Huskies. Their Jan. 17 loss to Andover, 4-1, was their narrowest margin of defeat against the Huskies since 2018.

Should Grand Rapids/Greenway win the section, it would be the Lightning’s first trip to state since 2012. It will come, in part, thanks to the standout season from Minnesota State Mankato commit Mercury Bischoff, who leads the state in scoring with 47 goals.

The state’s southwestern section pits two recent state tournament debutants.

Last year, in its first appearance at state, Dodge County finished runner-up with a 5-2 loss to Warroad. Long Island University commit and senior goaltender Ida Huber is in the net for the Wildcats (17-3-2) and leads the state in save percentage (95.9%) with a 0.85 goals-against average.

Albert Lea (19-3-1) reached the state tournament in 2022 and 2023 but in both years was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Senior defender Mika Cichosz, a Minnesota State Mankato commit, leads the Tigers in goals (35) and assists (20).

Last year, Holy Angels (15-6-3) ended an 18-year state tournament drought by earning the No. 1 seed in Class 1A. The Stars lost 4-2 in the semifinals to Dodge County.

A trio of seniors — Taylor Lesnar, Harper Poehling and Masyn Mullin — have netted the most goals for the Stars.

Blake (13-10-1), the winner of eight 1A state titles, has not reached the state tournament since its 2017 championship. The Bears moved up to Class 2A and spent six seasons in the same section as Edina before moving back to Class 1A last year.

Blake sophomore goaltender Janie McGawn has saved 94.8% of shots faced this season. The Bears are young, with only three seniors on the roster.

Holy Angels beat Blake 4-2 in November.