Power Play Club

#5/4 Minnesota Golden Gophers (16-5-1, 10-5-1-1 in WCHA)
vs.
Bemidji State University Beavers (3-18-1, 2-14-0-0)

Friday, January 19 at 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 20 at 3:00 p.m.
Sanford Center – Bemidji

The Gopher Women's Hockey team looks to get back in the win column and will do so with its first road trip of 2024, heading north to take on the Bemidji State University Beavers. Action at the Sanford Center begins Friday evening, January 19 at 6:00 p.m. and continues Saturday, January 20 at 3:00 p.m.

Game coverage – Saturday's game will be televised on Fox 9+ (channel finder). Once again, video from both games will be streamed on the B1G+ subscription service and audio play-by-play can be found on GopherSports.com (Friday and Saturday) starting 15 to 20 minutes before each contest.

Last time against Bemidji State – After spotting the Beavers a 1-0 lead in the opener of their early December series at Ridder Arena, Minnesota exploded for 18 goals in a 9-2, 9-1 weekend sweep. Abbey Murphy scored early and often, recording 8 points on 4 goals & 4 assists, Ella Huber dished out 5 assists while also lighting the lamp once for a 6-point weekend, and Ava Lindsay (3g, 2a) & Peyton Hemp (2g, 3a) each added 5 points. Josefin Bouveng also lit the lamp twice with two assists, Emma Kreisz tallied a goal and two assists, and Solveig Neunzert dished out 3 helpers. On top of that, freshman Lauren O'Hara netted her first two collegiate goals and junior Sadie Lindsay also tallied the first goal of her Gopher career. Skylar Vetter stopped 17 shots on Friday and Lucy Morgan posted 25 saves – including one in a brief appearance in the opener while Vetter made a skate change. BSU's line of Genevieve Hendrickson, Talya Hendrickson, and Kate Johnson accounted for all their scoring as each recorded a goal and assisted on the other two. Beaver netminders Abbie Thompson & Eva Filippova combined for 75 saves as Minnesota held a 93-45 SOG advantage.

Analyzing the Beavers – Bemidji State has yet to earn a standings point against the top five teams in the WCHA, having only gotten wins over Minnesota State (in OT) and St. Thomas. They've also posted only a 1-4-1 non-conference record and have been outscored 97-27 in all contests.

Two Beavers have reached the 10-point mark in total scoring: senior Taylor Nelson (#8) has 6 goals & 5 assists, while freshman Hailey Armstrong (#29) has a team-leading 9 goals plus one assist. Senior Gabbie Smith (#20) is third in scoring with one goal and 8 assists.

Junior goaltender Abbie Thompson (#35) is winless in her 13 starts, going 0-12-1 with a 4.73 goals-against average and .877 save percentage. Freshman Eva Filippova (#30) has all three BSU victories, posting a 3-5-0 record with one shutout, a 3.16 GAA, and a .913 SV%. Redshirt junior Emerald Kelley (#1), a transfer from Minnesota State, started one game against Wisconsin and stopped 26 of 33 shots in two periods of action. Sophomore Madison Faucher (#33) has not seen any action this season.

Last action for Bemidji State – The Beavers went on the road to Minnesota Duluth but were shut out for the weekend, falling 2-0 & 7-0. The opener was about goaltending as Eva Filippova stopped 42 of 43 shots for BSU, but Hailey MacLeod posted a 21-save shutout for the Bulldogs; Grace Sadura scored in the first period and Hanna Baskin tacked on an empty-netter late. Former Beaver Reece Hunt, now playing for UMD, did a number on her previous team in the rematch with a hat trick plus an assist, Mannon McMahon recorded a goal & 3 assists, Baskin dished out 4 helpers, and Ève Gascon stopped 18 shots for the shutout, while BSU's Abbie Thompson and Filippova combined for 28 saves.

Gophers swept by Ohio State – Minnesota suffered a tough weekend at home against the Ohio State Buckeyes, falling 7-0 & 6-1 and being outshot by a combined 72-38. Joy Dunne recorded a hat trick plus and assist in the opener, Hannah Bilka also recorded three goals & an assist in the series, Jenn Gardiner & Sloane Matthews each added a goal and two assists, and Raygan Kirk stopped 37 shots. The Gophers' lone highlight came on Madison Kaiser's third-period goal on Saturday. Skylar Vetter made 48 saves, while Lucy Morgan added another 11.

Gopher alumna Darwitz named 2024 IIHF Hall of Fame inductee

Minnesota Women's Hockey alumna Natalie Darwitz was one of eight former hockey players named to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame Class of 2024!! Darwitz, a two-time NCAA Champion with the Gophers, appeared in 11-consecutive major tournaments with Team USA, spanning a period from 1999 through 2010. Over that span, she won three gold medals & five silvers at the IIHF Women’s World Championships and two silvers & a bronze in three Olympics; she was named to the media's All-Star Team four times and honored as the IIHF Directorate Best Forward at the 2008 Women's Worlds. She was previously inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.

In 55 combined games at the Olympics & World Championships, Darwitz scored 43 goals and dished out 40 assists for 83 points. Over her three-year, 99-game Gopher career, she tallied 246 points on 102 goals and 144 assists, putting her still #1 on Minnesota's points-per-game & assists-per-game lists (with 2.48 & 1.45, respectively). Following her playing career, Darwitz went into coaching at the high school & collegiate level, including two stints as an assistant with the Gophers. Last summer she was named general manager of the Minnesota team in the new Professional Women's Hockey League.

Darwitz and the other seven new inductees will be honored during the 2024 Men’s World Championship in May in Prague & Ostrava, Czechia. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor, Natalie!!

Other Gopher news and notes

Heise, Pannek & Stecklein named to PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase – Gopher Women's Hockey alumnae Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek and Lee Stecklein have been named among 24 players who will participate in the Canadian Tire PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase™ taking place during NHL All-Star Thursday™ on February 1 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The trio are joined by Kendall Coyne Schofield and Nicole Hensley as PWHL Minnesota's representatives. Pannek & Stecklein have been chosen for Team King while Heise is a member of Team Kloss; the teams are named in honor of PWHL Advisory Board members Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss.

PWHL scoring "firsts" – We send shout-outs to GWH alumnae Hannah Brandt, Pannek and Stecklein following their respective first goals in Professional Women's Hockey League play! Brandt netted the game-tying goal for Boston in their 3-2 come-from-behind overtime victory on the road at Montreal this past Saturday. Stecklein and Pannek lit the lamp for Minnesota on Sunday at home against New York, though the team suffered a 3-2 overtime loss.

We also recognize Gigi Marvin on recording her first two PWHL points on a pair of assists for Boston in the game against Montreal, her second coming on the overtime game-winning goal by Amanda Pelkey.

Future Gophers Distad, Clark, Graham medal at U18 Worlds – We congratulate incoming Gopher freshman class of 2024-2025 members Kendra Distad, Hannah Clark & Gracie Graham on earning medals at the 2024 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship!

Distad and Team USA claimed the gold medal with a 5-1 victory over Czechia. Distad finished the tournament with a goal, two assists, and a +4 plus-minus rating.

Though the Canadians were upset by the Czechs, 4-2, in the semifinals, Clark and Graham earned bronze medals as Canada bounced back with an 8-1 victory against Finland. Over the duration of the tournament, Graham recorded a goal, 5 assists, and a +12 rating. Clark went 2-1-0 between the pipes with both wins coming by shutout while posting a 1.08 goals-against average and an 85.7% save percentage.

Around the WCHA

Mavericks, Huskies split in St. Cloud – Whitney Tuttle & Claire Vekich put Minnesota State up 2-0 in the first period of their weekend opener at St. Cloud State; Taylor Lind cut the Huskies' deficit to 2-1 before the intermission, but they could not get closer as MSU netminder Hailey Hansen stopped 25 of 26 shots in total to win by that margin. Jojo Chobak made 30 saves for SCSU. The Huskies took a 2-0 lead in the rematch but Mackenzie Bourgerie and Tuttle pulled the Mavericks even in the second stanza; however, Ella Anick netted her second goal of the game and Laura Zimmermann added an insurance tally for a 4-2 St. Cloud State victory and the weekend split. Sanni Ahola made 30 saves for the win, while Hansen stopped another 18 shots.

Badgers cruise in sweep of Tommies – Sarah Wozniewicz netted a hat trick on Saturday, Cassie Hall also lit the lamp 3 times over the weekend, Casey O'Brien (2g, 3a) & Laila Edwards (1g, 4a) each tallied 5 points, and Maddi Wheeler added a goal and 3 assists as Wisconsin rolled to 7-0 and 5-1 victories over St. Thomas. Jane Gervais needed only 10 saves to earn the shutout in the opener, and Ava McNaughton stopped 22 of 23 shots in the rematch. Brieja Parent scored for UST in the third period Sunday to break up the series shutout attempt, and Maggie Malecha & Calla Frank combined for 79 saves.

Upcoming games – All four weekend series will be played Friday & Saturday. St. Thomas and St. Cloud State meet in a home-and-home series starting with a Friday afternoon matinee in St. Cloud, Minnesota Duluth heads to Columbus to face Ohio State, and Minnesota State hosts Wisconsin.

Standings:
1. Ohio State – 43 points (.896 pts%), 15-1-0-0, 2-0 in OT (18-2-0 overall)
2. Wisconsin – 37 points (.771 pts%), 12-4-0-0, 0-1 in OT (18-4-0 overall)
3. Minnesota – 33 points (.688 pts%), 10-5-1-1, 0-1 in OT (16-5-1 overall)
4. Minn. Duluth – 29 points (.604 pts%), 10-6-0-0, 1-0 in OT (13-7-2 overall)
St. Cloud State – 29 points (.604 pts%), 9-6-1-0, 0-1 in OT (14-7-1 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 12 points (.250 pts%), 4-12-0-0, 1-1 in OT (10-13-0 overall)
7. Bemidji State – 6 points (.125 pts%), 2-14-0-0, 1-1 in OT (3-18-1 overall)
8. St. Thomas – 3 points (.063 pts%), 1-15-0-0, 0-0 in OT (7-16-0 overall)

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