Tim Shaughnessy skates off the ice after stopping 31 of 32 shots in Hill-Murray's 3-1 victory over Edina on Saturday night at Braemar Arena in Edina.

 
EDINA, Minnesota - The last game Hill-Murray and Edina played against each other was a title bout...the second felt like one.

The Hill-Murray Pioneers defeated the Edina Hornets at Braemar Arena on Saturday night 3-1 in a re-match of the 2008 class "AA" championship game, in a game that felt as though more was on the line than a regular season win.

Though both Hill-Murray coach Bill Lechner and Edina coach Curt Giles downplayed the game as nothing more than a regular season contest, the intensity was high early one. It was a scoreless battle until late in the first period, when Jeff Westerhaus beat goalie Johnny Ankeny for the goal to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead, with the goal being Westerhaus' first. Edina had a power play late in the first period, but they could not convert, giving Hill-Murray the 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

The two teams played even once again in the second period, until Hill-Murray was the beneficiary of a power play, which they took advantage of, with David Burchu scoring his first goal of the season for the 2-0 lead, which they held into the third period. Again, Edina had a late power play in the final two minutes of the period, but could not push the puck through goaltender Tim Shaughnessy, who had 31 saves on the night.

In the third, Edina finally scored midway through the period, on a Cole Kretzman goal to cut the lead in half at 2-1. Hill-Murray would retake a two-goal lead not long after that, however, on a Nick Widing goal for the 3-1 lead, one that would eventually hold for the final score.

With the win, Hill-Murray moves to 2-0 on the season, while Edina falls for the first time this year, now with a record of 3-1. Edina's next test is this coming Tuesday vs. Woodbury, while Hill-Murray plays next on Thursday, December 11 vs. Hill-Murray.

Check the MSBN full schedule to see when Hill-Murray and Edina will have their next games broadcast on the Minnesota Sports Broadcast Network.