Irondale girls' hockey coach Tom Rodefeld hears his players talking in the locker room then looks around for a camera crew.

"They say thing like, 'Win or lose, it's all about what we do on the ice,'" he said. "As a coach, it's like they are reading from a script of exactly what you want 17-year-olds to say."

The older, more confident Knights started this season 6-0 on the strength of two comeback victories.

Down 4-2 after two periods to defending Class 1A champion Breck, the Knights rallied to score four consecutive goals in a 6-5 victory.

Irondale twice came back to tie Coon Rapids in the third period before winning 5-4 in overtime.

Rodefeld credited standouts Meghan Lorence and Gina McDonald, ranked No. 1 and No. 3 in all-time scoring in school history, respectively, for "pushing the team to play better than maybe they thought they could."

But the entire team is mentally tougher after qualifying for the Class 2A state tournament last season.

"The little things that used to get us down don't anymore," he said.