Yes, Blake head coach Shawn Reid is aware of just how good his players are.

“The talent on this team is ridiculous,” Reid said after his Bears downed Northfield 4-1 to earn their fifth consecutive berth in the Class A state championship game.

“I’m very spoiled as a coach to be able to coach the players at this talent level that are having a tremendous amount of success in the regular season, a tremendous amount of success in the playoffs year in and year out,” Reid said. “It’s just a lot of fun.”

After a scoreless first period, the game couldn’t have been a lot of fun for the fifth-seeded Raiders (20-7-3), who had success in previous games slowing down two of the state’s top scorers in Red Wing’s Taylor Heise and Mound-Westonka’s Liz Schepers.

The Raiders’ method for stifling success was to deploy junior forward Maddie LaPanta as a shutdown defender against Heise and Schepers, a strategic move that was impossible to execute due to the absurd depth of the Bears.

“We knew coming in that we couldn’t shadow anybody,” Northfield coach Brent Bielenberg said. “It was really (about) team defense, trying to minimize their puck possession in the offensive zone,” Bielenberg added. “There’s just too many people to focus on.”

Freshman Lily Delianedis, sophomore Madeline Wethington, senior Lucy Burton and freshman Addie Burton all tallied goals for Blake, with Lucy’s goal putting the Bears (26-2-1) ahead 3-0 at the 10:47 mark of the third period. 

"I have to give basically all the credit to (defender) Sarah Chute,” Lucy said. “She made a nice step in the neutral zone, got the puck, we made eye contact and then I just broke and called for it,” Burton said in a breakdown of the play.

“She hit me (with a) beautiful tape-to-tape pass and I felt back pressure so I just took a backhand and shot the puck,” Lucy added.

Chute’s pass was right on the money, a testament to her growth into the defensive position after spending last season and half of 2016-2017 as a forward, a position change that also applies to junior C.C. Wallin.

“That’s pretty much when our team really took off is when we had both of them back there,” Reid said of Chute and Wallin’s transition.

Wallin said that her experience as a forward helps her ice vision as a "new-ish" member of the Blake blue line.

“It’s definitely been an experience,” Wallin said with a grin. “I’m really happy with where I am because I can definitely see the ice in a different light.”

Blake will face No. 2 seed St. Paul United in the finals on Saturday at 4 p.m., a rematch of last season’s championship, which the Bears won 8-0.

The Bears have defeated the United twice during the regular season by scores of 3-0 and 4-1.