Edina native Ayrlahn Johnson has been the announcer at Burnsville Ice Arena for 11 years, and even he can’t remember the last time the Blaze defeated their section rival Edina. 

“Well, my son graduated in ’04 and in the ‘01-02 year we beat them, but I’m trying to remember … gosh, we always lose,” Johnson said.

Not tonight. 

In front of a packed crowd and rowdy student section, Burnsville (9-4-0) upset No. 1-ranked Edina (11-3-0) 4-2, less than a week after suffering a heart-breaking defeat to the same Hornets team. 

It had been years since the Blaze came out on top over Edina, but every section final loss, blown lead, and agonizing game was put to rest.

“The stat I heard tonight is that we lost 13 in a row to Edina,” Johnson said. 

The unlucky streak would end on that unlucky number. With a 2-1 lead going into the third period, the Blaze knew that they couldn’t sit back against a fast Edina team. The Blaze blew a three goal lead to the Hornets last Friday in the Schwan’s Cup semifinals, so everyone was aware of what was at hand. 

“That was definitely sitting in the back of my mind,” forward Brock Boeser said. “We were just trying to do the little things tonight like get the puck deep, block shots, and just not collapse like we did last week.”

Boeser, a University of Wisconsin commit, scored the second goal of the game when he found the puck on his stick and fired it through the five-hole of Andrew Rohkohl at 9:22 of the second period. 

With 13 straight wins over Burnsville, Edina has been notorious for getting lucky from time to time. 

“They always get kinda lucky. They’ve got the horseshoe edge,” Johnson said. 

But tonight, Burnsville had luck on its side.

With the game tied 2-2 late in the third, Dylan Weigel threw the puck in front of the slot from behind the goal line. It bounced off Rohkohl and into the net, eventually turning into the game-winning goal. 

“I was looking for Brock [Boeser] coming down the back-door, and I saw him look for a pass,” Weigel said. “But I didn’t see anything open so I just chucked it at the net because anything can happen.”

That anything did happen, and the Blaze would score another goal late in the third to solidify their 4-2 win over Edina. 

“Beating the number one team in state is always a great feeling, and it being Edina makes it even better. It’s the best feeling in the world right now,” Weigel said.

– Will Jarvis