Bay Area senior defenseman Morgan Zirbel said she and her team knew the Schwan Cup would be good competition, “because Minnesota has good hockey.”

Whatever competition level they faced this week, it didn’t stop Bay Area (10-0-1) from winning the Schwan Cup Bronze Division with a 2-1 championship victory over Mahtomedi (7-8-1) Wednesday afternoon at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.

Zirbel scored the game-winning goal early in the third period. She said she saw an opportunity to get around the defenders, and her coach Brandon Erkkila said they always give her a green light when she has an opportunity to go toward the net.

“So I drove around them and kind of cut to the middle for a shot, just to try to make an opportunity whether it was a goal or even a rebound,” Zirbel said. “I was just trying to get a shot on net for a play, and it went in.”