The Minnesota girls high school hockey season officially started Thursday.

The Proctor/Hermantown Mirage were able to sneak in one more practice with their opener slated for Friday. A week-and-a-half into training head coach Emma Stauber said she feels ready for the 2023-2024 slate.

“Just right from the get go it just feels like a really good group so we’re excited for that. We have nine seniors this year, so that’s another big year. We had eight last year, so it’s always different,” Stauber added. “There’s a lot of changes right at the beginning that the girls got to fill the roles.”

The Mirage are riding their third straight Section 7A title and fifth in six years. They won the Class A state tournament in 2021, then were beat out in the 2022 title game by Warroad who also won in 2023.

This makes the Mirage extra excited to open this season visiting the house of the Warriors.

“It’s fun. We’re both northern teams and we got a lot of talent. It’s a good opposing team to start off with. Start getting chemistry going for our team and whatnot, it’s going to be fun. It’s a good rivalry,” senior defender Katie Sandelin said.

The Mirage and Warriors faceoff Friday at 7 p.m. in Warroad.