ST. PAUL -- It didn't take the No. 1 team in Minnesota to flex its muscle.
Warroad -- with hat tricks from Layla Marvin and ninth-grader Kayla Gardner -- scored three times in the first period and rolled past Chisago Lakes 11-1 on Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the Minnesota state Class A girls hockey tournament at the Xcel Energy Center.
Warroad advances to Friday's semifinal round, where the Warriors will play Alexandria.
Warroad improved to 26-1-1 while Chisago Lakes dropped to 12-14-3.
The Warriors' scoring was started by Gardner, who scored at 6 minutes, 35 seconds of the first. Brook Story and Layla Marvin added the other first-period goals for the Warriors.
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Despite the lopsided score, there were a few bumps along the way for Warroad.
"To be honest with you, we weren't as crisp as I'd like to see," Warroad coach David Marvin said. "But we worked hard. We finally started getting bounces late in the game."
Chisago Lakes' Ashley Ricc scored at 15:03 to cut Warroad's lead to 2-1, but Layla Marvin responded with another Warroad goal 39 seconds later.
Warroad scored three more times in the first 10 minutes of the second period and ended with a 7-1 lead after two.
"We got scoring from all three lines so it was a balanced attack," David Marvin said.
While Layla Marvin and Gardner picked up the hat tricks, three other Warroad players -- Karley Sylvester, Beth Olson and Lisa Marvin -- each recorded three assists.
Warroad goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie finished with 14 saves, while Kallie McBride came up with two more.
The Warriors outshot Chisago Lakes 55-17.
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Warroad scored shorthanded and on the power play. The Warriors also survived two 5-on-3 power play opportunities for Chisago Lakes.
The road to the state title, Marvin, said should intensify.
"We're glad this one is one is in the books," David Marvin said. "It'll get a little tougher each game."
Alexandria's 2-1 win over Faribault was the only upset of the day. And it was the only close contest of the quarterfinal round.
Fairbault was the only seed (No. 4) not to advance to the semifinal round.
In other quarterfinal games, South St. Paul beat Hutchinson 6-0 and The Breck School downed New Ulm 10-0.
