Hill-Murray coach Bill Lechner was asked if this year’s team stands out somehow. Is this the most complete or most balanced group he has had in some time?

And what about the defensemen? Is it perhaps the best group he’s had?

“Yes,” he began and then caught himself. “Well, probably since 2020. We had a pretty good group then. But so far, they’ve been just as good.”

The last state title Hill-Murray won was in 2020, and the Pioneers did it by allowing about a goal per game for the season. The current team is following a similar path through seven undefeated games, with wins over six ranked teams.

Led by assistant captains and Division I commits Graham Greeder (Minnesota State) and Landon Cottingham (Alaska-Fairbanks), who have put up seven goals and 21 points while helping keep a lid on opposition scoring to the tune of 1.29 goals allower per game, the Pioneers roll out depth and consistency. 

“We feel like any set can be out against the other team’s top line, and that’s a big asset,” Lechner said Saturday after the Pioneers shut out arch rival White Bear Lake 3-0. “It’s almost more critical than the forward matchups, and because of that skillset in our own end, we can pick and choose more what we want to do with our forwards.”

Defensemen who can lock it down and score. Forwards who can score and lock it down. It’s part of the complete package Hill-Murray has shown so far in the first third of the season. 

For the No. 4-ranked Pioneers, to all starts with their captain Boden Sampair, a gritty forward who encapsulates what Hill-Murray is bringing this winter. 

“Fast, smart, good vision, good hockey IQ with a will to win,” Lechner says of Sampair’s game. “He backchecks incredibly hard … just a complete player.”

Sampair took charge against White Bear Lake before a full house at Aldrich Arena, giving Hill-Murray the upper hand in the heated The Rivalry game held every year just before Christmas. 

Sampair scored the game’s first goal early in the first period, then set up the team’s second with a slick move and a perfect centering pass to linemate Riley Zupfer in the second period. In the third, short-handed, Sampair chased down a loose puck in the neutral zone and raced in for an empty-netter to ice the victory for the Pioneers. 

An eclectic mix of speed, flash and grit, Sampair showed it all Saturday.

“He’s our captain and our leader,” Lechner said of the Holy Cross commit. “He leads by example, and he leads with his voice. He’s a vocal guy, and he backs up what he says. He’s a good hockey player, and he’ll do well in college, too.”

The right wing on the top line centered by junior Chaz Lentz and with Zupfer on the other side, the three have skated together since Lechner grouped them as linemates last December. 

Together, the three have 21 goals and 53 points through seven games, led by Sampair (11-11-22) and his better than three points-per-game start. 

“The line works well,” Zupfer says. “Chaz brings defensive grit and Bode brings the speed and it all just comes together.”