Ramsey Parent’s answer when asked if she enjoys being an agitator on the ice was succinct:

“Yeah, sometimes,” the Blaine sophomore responded with a grin.

Parent scored a goal and added an assist as the Blaine Bengals took advantage of an obviously frustrated Maple Grove squad in Friday night’s Class AA, Section 5 final, in which Blaine rolled to a 3-0 victory.

Senior Paige Beebe and junior Abby Jones also added goals for the Bengals, ranked No. 4 in the latest Class AA state coaches’ poll.  

“We played really good defensively,” Blaine head coach Steve Guider said after the win. “Our goaltender (Jaela O’Brien) was exceptional tonight,” Guider continued. “That’s probably the most poised game I’ve seen her play.”

Poise was in short supply in several instances during the game, with both teams refusing to shy away from being as physical as they could be.

Parent’s prowess for getting under an opponent’s skin became apparent early in the second period, when Maple Grove goaltender Coco Francis took issue with Parent invading her crease with thump of her blocker.

“Everybody’s on edge, it’s a big game, section championship, state tournament on the line,” Parent explained. “Everybody’s kind of getting into everybody’s heads, so that (helped) to mess with them I guess.”

Parent has totaled 24 goals and 53 points thus far, second in the Bengal lineup behind linemate and fellow Ohio State commit Gabby Rosenthal’s 57 points.

The stifling Blaine (22-3-2) defense certainly messed with the No. 3 Crimson (22-5-1), with senior and three-year captain Emily Brown at the forefront of shot-blocking and pass-disrupting.

Brown is one of 10 seniors who made the trip to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center as sophomores, where the Bengals were promptly bounced by Lakeville South in the quarterfinals.

“It’s everything,” Brown said of getting another shot at glory on the state’s biggest stage. “We’re definitely not going to let this opportunity go to waste,” Brown added. “We’re going to come into the next game prepared and only focused on that game.”

Those are wise words from a Ms. Hockey finalist and Minnesota commit, who says that seeing an underclassmen like Parent contribute sweetens the experience.

“She was on our roster as a manager when we went to State last,” Brown said. “To be able to have her play such a big role this time around is pretty cool to see.”