RYLEE BARTZ - WARROAD

15 QUESTIONS/60 SECONDS

Player: Rylee Bartz 
Team: Warroad
Year: Senior
College commitment: St. Thomas

The latest in a long line of highly productive Warroad forwards, Bartz currently leads the state in total scoring with 92 points in 26 games for the No. 1A Warriors, the defending state champions. 

Matched with playmakers and Bemidji State commits in Kate Johnson and Talya Hendrickson, the Warriors’ top offensive unit has combined for an absurd 117 goals and 262 points. 

Bartz has recorded nine hat tricks this season and has racked up 18 points in the last three Warrior games heading into the Section 8A semifinals. 

Like fellow finalists Ella Boerger and Ellah Hause, Bartz is a key piece of the incoming University of St. Thomas class.

Note: "Roll the Tape" was introduced after the Bartz interview had already been completed  

ELLA BOERGER - ANDOVER

Player: Ella Boerger 
Team: Andover
Year: Senior
College commitment: St. Thomas

A varsity contributor since her freshman year, Boerger has written herself into Andover program history, which is no small feat given the number of star players the program has churned out in recent years. 

Boerger introduced herself to varsity hockey with 13 goals and 22 points as the Huskies earned the school’s first state championship in either boys’ or girls’ hockey. Since then, she’s recorded 109 goals and 220 career points, good for second in program history after 2021 Ms. Hockey Peyton Hemp.

Over the last three seasons, Boerger has been a primary catalyst for the Huskies, leading the program to Class AA state championships in 2020 and 2022, as well as a runner-up finish in 2021.  

This season, Boerger leads the defending state champion Huskies with 38 goals and 67 points while missing two regular-season contests. The St. Thomas commit is averaging 2.68 points per game. 

ROLL THE TAPE

UMA CORNIEA - EDINA

15 QUESTIONS/60 SECONDS

Player: Uma Corniea 
Team: Edina
Year: Senior
College commitment: Princeton

Whenever the state’s high school record books are updated, the powers that be may as well rename the goaltending section after Uma Corniea. 

A fixture on the Minnesota girls’ hockey scene since leading Breck to the 2018 Class A state championship as a seventh-grader, Corniea nears the end of her six-year run as the state’s all-time leader in wins (100) and shutouts (43) according to MSHSL records. As the Hornets enter the Section 6AA semifinals, Corniea’s numbers have a chance of growing should the Hornets advance further in the postseason. 

After back-to-back state titles with the Mustangs in 2018 and 2019, Corniea led Edina to the Class AA state championship game in 2020 before losing to Andover. Corniea and the Hornets then won the 2021 state title, capping an undefeated season with a 2-1 revenge win over the Huskies.

Currently, Corniea is tied for third in the state with nine shutouts and ranks first in save percentage among goaltenders that have played at least 1,000 minutes this season at .958. 

ROLL THE TAPE

ELLAH HAUSE - HILL-MURRAY

15 QUESTIONS/60 SECONDS

Player: Ellah Hause 
Team: Hill-Murray 
Year: Senior
College commitment: St. Thomas

One of just three seniors on this season’s Hill-Murray roster, Ellah Hause is somewhat of an elder stateswoman among the young Pioneers. 

Over her five years in the Hill-Murray program, Hause’s role has grown from talented but green eighth-grade defender to do-it-all captain and blueline stalwart. 

Her scoring totals have risen each season, culminating in her senior year. Despite missing five games to skate with Team USA at this winter’s IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championships, Hause has scored 18 goals and totaled 43 points for the Pioneers. 

In her five-year career, Hause has totaled 42 goals and 112 points, impressive numbers for a defender, and especially one who has been described as “the player who blocks the most shots I’ve ever seen” by one of the other finalists. 

ROLL THE TAPE

AVA LINDSAY - MINNETONKA

15 QUESTIONS/60 SECONDS

Player: Ava Lindsay 
Team: Minnetonka
Year: Senior
College commitment: Minnesota 

Our second finalist who’s been a colorful thread in the girls’ hockey fabric over the last half-decade in addition to Corniea, Ava Lindsay has been scoring goals and winning games since her seventh-grade season with Breck, winning her first of three consecutive Class A state championships with the Mustangs. 

After four years in the Breck program, Lindsay transferred to Minnetonka, where she became the team’s top scorer as a junior with 22 goals and 58 points, leading the Skippers to the Class AA state championship game before losing to Andover. With the 

Skippers still very much alive in the Section 2AA playoffs, Lindsay should be able to build on her 23-goal, 40-point performance this season, which was paused when Lindsay missed five games to participate in her second tour with Team USA at the U18 Women’s World Championships. 

ROLL THE TAPE