The Pioneer High School girls hockey team hopes the third time is the charm today.

The Pioneers face Grosse Pointe South for the Michigan Girls High School Hockey League state championship in 3 p.m. game at Eddie Edgar Arena in Livonia. It’s the third time in four years that the Pioneer has played the Blue Devils in the title game.

Grosse Pointe South beat Pioneer 4-2 in 2008 and 3-2 in overtime in 2009.

In fact, Grosse Pointe South (18-3-1) has had Pioneer’s number over the past four years not only in championship showdowns, but twice every year during the regular season as well.

That is until this year, when Pioneer (16-6) finally got the best of South, 5-2, on Feb. 3.

“When we won that game, we looked at it as this made us a serious contender for the state championship,” coach Lon Grantham said. “That was the first time this group of seniors had beaten them, and it’s given us the confidence that we can win the whole thing.”

Pioneer removed another thorn-in-the-side opponent from the playoffs on Wednesday, beating regular season MGHSHL points leader Grosse Pointe North, 2-1. The Norsemen had beaten Pioneer by one goal in both regular season games.

Grantham said his team needs to stay out of the penalty box and - by the same token - take full advantage of its power play opportunities if it hopes to skate away with the championship today.

“With a game like this that we expect to be close again, we know special teams could play a huge role,” Grantham said.