Wednesday night’s Section 6AA final at Mariucci Arena was the perfect snapshot of Wayzata doing Wayzata things, because it’s Wayzata.

Airtight defense. Impeccable goaltending. Timely goals.

The Trojans checked all the boxes and edged Lake Conference rival, No. 2 ranked and top-seeded Edina 3-1, earning the defending state champs a shot at a repeat performance in St. Paul.

“This team has been so fun. At practice every day the kids are chomping at the bit,” Wayzata head coach Pat O’Leary said. “When you’re a sub-five hundred team and losing 10 or 11 one-goal games, I don’t know how kids want to continue to come to the rink and practice every day so hard.”

O’Leary was close - the Trojans have lost seven games by just one goal.

For junior forward Griffin Ness, there was a belief that eventually the work in practice would begin to pay off in games.

“We just knew that if we stuck to our systems and our game plan that we can beat anyone in the state,” Ness said after scoring two goals on Wednesday for the Trojans.

Ness’ role for the Trojans has evolved since he joined the varsity lineup as a scrappy freshman skating on the fourth line.

“For me this year it was scoring, last year it was coming off the bench and giving the team energy,” Ness said candidly.

Ness gave the Trojans (10-17-1) a 1-0 lead just 25 seconds into the game, and iced the win with an empty-net goal with one second remaining.

“You gotta do what you gotta do in order to help your team win,” Ness said.

Senior Tyler Stevens scored the eventual game-winner for the Trojans. 

The mere second between Ness’ empty-netter and the end of the games may have been hardest of all on Trojans’ goaltender Reid Waszczenko, who had already dropped his glove and blocker in anticipation of the pending celebration.

“I was anxious, because I started celebrating, and then they wanted to stop us,” Waszczenko laughed about having to retrieve his mitts and stand in the crease for the final face-off.

Throughout the section playoffs, no team has been able to solve Waszczenko, with the senior posting two shutouts in the quarterfinals and semifinals before holding the Hornets (20-7-1) to a single Ben Brinkman goal.

Ness has a simple answer for Waszcenko’s lights-out performance in the postseason.

“He’s Wuzz Buzz,” Ness said with grin, using Waszcenko’s team-preferred moniker. “He saves everything in these big games.”