Power Play Club

Upcoming Power Play Club Chalk Talks

We hope to see many of you – our fellow Power Play Club members and Gopher Women's Hockey fans – at our two remaining Chalk Talks for the 2023-2024 regular season. These events each feature a member of the GWH coaching staff, discussing game strategy and reviewing the team's performance from the prior evening. Join us in the Ridder Arena Weight Room (upstairs, across the hall from the suites), on...

Saturday, February 10, at 12:30 p.m. (before SCSU game)

Saturday, February 24, at 12:30 p.m. (before UMD game)

We provide a reminder that the Chalk Talks are exclusive events for enrolled 2023-2024 club members. You can still register through our membership page on powerplayclub.org.

Goals for a Goal: Gophers add 6 more goals with 3 on PP

The Gopher Women's Hockey team netted another 6 goals last weekend, three of them on the power play, bringing their season-to-date total to 94 goals with 27 scored while having the advantage! We encourage all our fellow fans to pledge to the Power Play Club's Goals for a Goal program, donating for each goal scored by the team throughout the season (including the playoffs) with the option to double your pledge for power play goals. Submit your pledge electronically at z.umn.edu/GoalsForAGoal. Thanks, and GO GOPHERS!!

#5/5 Minnesota Golden Gophers (20-5-1, 14-5-1-1 in WCHA)
vs.
University of St. Thomas Tommies (8-18-1, 2-17-1-1)

Friday, February 2 at 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 3 at 4:30 p.m.
Both games at Ridder Arena

The newest rivalry will get its next chapter as the Gopher Women's Hockey team hosts the University of St. Thomas Tommies at Ridder Arena this weekend. Action begins on Friday, February 2 at 6:00 p.m. and continues Saturday, February 3 at 4:30 p.m.

Saturday schedule reminder and traffic alert – We emphasize the 4:30 p.m. start time on Saturday, which is a change from the original schedule published before the start of the season. We also share that the Gopher Men's Basketball team is playing at Williams Arena earlier that afternoon and will be letting out around 3:30 p.m., so those of you coming to Ridder Arena are encouraged to take proper care around campus due to increased vehicular & pedestrian traffic.

Game coverage – For the fourth series in a row, Saturday's game will be televised on Fox 9+ (channel finder). Otherwise, you can find both contests streamed on the B1G+ subscription service, and the free audio play-by-play will be on GopherSports.com (Friday and Saturday) starting 15 to 20 minutes before puck drop.

Last time against St. Thomas – Abbey Murphy posted a 4-goal, 2-assist weekend and Skylar Vetter & Lucy Morgan stopped all 43 shots they faced (combined) as Minnesota swept the Tommies, 8-0 at Xcel Energy Center to open the series and 4-0 at St. Thomas Ice Arena in the rematch. Murphy scored the Gophers' first three goals for a natural hat trick, including a short-handed tally, and Vetter made 27 saves at the X. The Gophers were held scoreless over the first 43 minutes in Mendota Heights, but Emma Kreisz netted her first collegiate goal, the eventual game-winning tally, on a power play; at the other end, Morgan made 16 saves to blank UST. In the series, Ella Huber lit the lamp twice and added an assist, while Josefin Bouveng scored her first goal of the season and dished out two helpers. Emma Conner, Peyton Hemp, Audrey Wethington (PP) & Nelli Laitinen joined Bouveng in recording their first goals of the season. Madeline Wethington dished out 3 assists, and Lauren O'Hara earned her first collegiate point with an assist.

Analyzing the Tommies – Like Minnesota State, St. Thomas is 6-1-0 in non-conference play. However, they have struggled in WCHA action this season with only 2 wins and 8 standings points in 20 contests, lighting the lamp only 24 times in those games while yielding 81 goals to their conference opponents.

Youth is the story for the Tommies, with 4 of their top 6 scorers being freshmen. Ella Boerger (#15) has a team-high 19 points and 9 goals while dishing out 10 assists. Rylee Bartz (#6) is second in scoring with 18 points, posting a team-high 11 assists and lighting the lamp 7 times herself. Ellah Hause (#18) is fourth with 10 points on 5 goals & 5 assists, and Maddie Brown (#17) is tied for fifth with 9 points on 5 goals & 4 assists. Junior defender Nicole Vallerio (#26), a member of the Swiss National Team, is third in team scoring, recording 4 goals & 8 assists for 12 points.

UST has relied on two graduate transfers for much of their goaltending. Former Gopher Olivia King (#1) is 5-7-1 in 13 starts, posting a 3.00 goals-against average and .889 save percentage, while Calla Frank (#32), formerly at Minnesota State, is 3-8-0 with a 3.99 GAA and .886 SV%. Sophomore Maggie Malecha (#33) has seen action in 5 games, going 0-3-0 in her three starts, posting a 4.70 GAA and .885 SV%.

Last weekend for St. Thomas – Maddie Clough recorded a goal & an assist and Nicole Vallario dished out two helpers, all on the power play, to turn a 1-0 deficit to Bemidji State into a 2-1 lead for the Tommies. Unfortunately for UST, Makenna Deering netted an extra-attacker goal for the Beavers with 1:25 left in regulation to knot the score, and neither team found the back of the net in overtime, resulting in a 2-2 tie. Clough tallied the only goal of the subsequent shootout to give the Tommies the third point in the WCHA standings. In the rematch, Ella Boerger and Haley Maxwell scored for St. Thomas to erase a pair of one-goal deficits after BSU goals by Taylor Nelson and Alyssa Watkins, but Watkins lit the lamp again with 14:42 to play and Kayla Santl added an empty-netter for a 4-2 Bemidji State victory. Olivia King (UST) and Eva Filippova (BSU) were between the pipes for both games; King made a combined 45 saves, while Filippova stopped 57 shots.

Gophers persevere for sweep of Minnesota State – Ella Huber, Abbey Murphy, and Peyton Hemp each recorded a goal & an assist in the first 40 minutes of their game against MSU at Ridder Arena to put the Gophers up 3-0 at the second intermission, but the Mavericks evened the score with 3 goals on their first 5 shots of the third period; Jamie Nelson lit the lamp twice and assisted on Jenessa Gazdik's game-tying power-play goal. However, the Gophers earned their own power play with 7:07 to play and Murphy buried the go-ahead goal 19 seconds later after a cross-ice pass from Huber. Lucy Morgan shut the door the rest of the way, finishing with 24 saves, to give the Maroon & Gold a 4-3 win. Suzette Faucher made 19 saves for Minnesota State. In the rematch in Mankato, Josefin Bouveng buried a long bomb on a first-period power play to put the Gophers up 1-0, but MSU netminder Hailey Hansen stopped the other 26 shots she faced in regulation. Meanwhile, Kennedy Bobyck knotted the score for the Mavericks 9:17 into the third period, forcing overtime. In the extra period, Nelli Laitinen carried the puck into the offensive zone, drawing the attention of two Minnesota State players; Laitinen dropped the puck into an open area for Murphy, who then found Hemp driving the net for the game-winning goal. Skylar Vetter earned the win, stopping 15 of 16 shots. Murphy (2g, 2a) and Huber (1g, 3a) each posted 4-point weekends while Hemp (2g, 1a) & Bouveng (1g, 2a) each tallied 3 points.

Four GWH alums named to USA roster for Feb. Rivalry Series games

Minnesota Women's Hockey alumnae Emily Brown, Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek, and Grace Zumwinkle have been named to the 25-player U.S. National Team roster for the final three games of the 2023-2024 Rivalry Series against Canada, as announced last Thursday by USA Hockey. Heise, Pannek and Zumwinkle were members of the national team roster for this past November & December's Rivalry Series games, while Brown represented the U.S. in the 2022-2023 series.

The remaining games are scheduled for

Wednesday, February 7, at 7 p.m. CT in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Friday, February 9, at 7 p.m. CT in Regina, Saskatchewan
Sunday, Feburary 11, at 1 p.m. CT at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul

Hockey Canada announced the Canada National Team roster on Monday. Team USA holds a 3 games to 1 lead in the series and can clinch with a win in any of the remaining contests.

Tickets for the game at the Xcel Energy Center are available through Ticketmaster.com. Tickets for next week's games in Saskatchewan can be purchased from Ticketmaster.ca via HockeyCanada.ca.

Congratulations and good luck, Emily, Taylor, Kelly & Grace!!

PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase™ – tomorrow night (February 1)

Before the final three Rivalry Series games, Gopher Women's Hockey alumnae Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek and Lee Stecklein will be participating in the Canadian Tire PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase™ taking place during NHL All-Star Thursday™ tomorrow night – February 1 – at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The trio was named to the event roster two weeks ago. As we previously shared, 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. Video coverage: The event will be streamed on the ESPN+ subscription service starting at 5 p.m. CT, and will be televised on a delay at 11 p.m. CT on NHL Network.

Another PWHL scoring "first" – We send another shout-out to GWH alumna Abigail Boreen after she netted her first goal for PWHL Minnesota, an overtime gamewinner on the road at New York this past Sunday, January 28, which also earned her Player of the Game honors. After starting the season as a reserve for Minnesota, Boreen signed a 10-day contract before last Wednesday's (Jan. 24) game against Montreal. Congratulations, Abby!!

Around the WCHA

Buckeyes hold off Gentry-led Huskies in St. Cloud – Ohio State's Makenna Webster recorded two goals & an assist and Kiara Zanon added a goal and 3 helpers to lead the Buckeyes a road sweep of St. Cloud State, 4-2 & 3-2. OSU took a 3-0 lead the third period of the opener, but Emma Gentry lit the lamp for SCSU 22 seconds into the final stanza; Webster pushed the Buckeyes' lead back to three later in the frame before Gentry scored on a power play 34 seconds after that. Amanda Kirk made 15 saves for OSU, retaining the two-goal final margin, while Jojo Chobak stopped 31 shots for the Huskies. Gentry netted her third goal of the weekend unassisted midway through the first period of the rematch to put SCSU up 1-0, but Zanon, Webster, and Joy Dunne scored to put OSU up 3-1 with 7 minutes to play. Taylor Lind scored a 6-on-4 power-play, extra-attacker goal to pull St. Cloud State within one, but they could not find the equalizer. Amanda Thiele earned the win with 18 saves, while Sanni Ahola took the loss despite 33 saves.

Badgers battle for sweep of Bulldogs in Duluth – Lacey Eden tallied 3 goals & an assist and Casey O'Brien added 2 goals & 2 assists as Wisconsin earned 2-1 & 5-4 road victories over Minnesota Duluth, despite a pair of goals by UMD's Danielle Burgen and a goal & assist from Nina Jobst-Smith. Eden's power-play goal a minute into the third period of the opener broke a 1-1 tie to win it for the Badgers; Jane Gervais made 20 saves for UW, while Hailey MacLeod stopped 32 shots for UMD. The Bulldogs took leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the rematch, but Wisconsin lit the lamp three times in a 2-minute, 27-second span of the third period to knot the score; Eden tallied two of those goals. Kirsten Simms then netted the gamewinner for the Badgers with 1:31 to play. Ava McNaughton made 27 saves for the victory, while Ève Gascon took the loss despite stopping 41 shots.

Buckeyes clinch home ice for WCHA quarterfinal series – With last weekend's results in St. Cloud and Duluth, Ohio State has clinched home ice for the quarterfinal / opening round of the WCHA conference playoffs.

Upcoming games – Two other league series will including Friday evening and Saturday afternoon games; Bemidji State heads to Columbus to face Ohio State, while Minnesota Duluth hosts Minnesota State, with the second game of the MSU-UMD series televised on Fox 9+ on Saturday at 2 p.m. Wisconsin will host St. Cloud State in a Saturday-Sunday series.

Standings: (* clinched home ice for conference quarterfinal series)
1. Ohio State* – 55 points (.917 pts%), 19-1-0-0, 2-0 in OT (22-2-0 overall)
2. Wisconsin – 49 points (.817 pts%), 16-4-0-0, 0-1 in OT (22-4-0 overall)
3. Minnesota – 44 points (.733 pts%), 14-5-1-1, 1-1 in OT (20-5-1 overall)
4. St. Cloud State – 32 points (.533 pts%), 10-9-1-0, 0-1 in OT (15-10-1 overall)
5. Minn. Duluth – 29 points (.483 pts%), 10-10-0-0, 1-0 in OT (13-11-2 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 13 points (.217 pts%), 4-16-0-0, 1-2 in OT (10-17-0 overall)
7. Bemidji State – 10 points (.167 pts%), 3-16-1-0, 1-1 in OT (4-20-2 overall)
8. St. Thomas – 8 points (.133 pts%), 2-17-1-1, 0-0 in OT (8-18-1 overall)

Follow the Power Play Club online at www.powerplayclub.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PowerPlayClubMN, or on Twitter at twitter.com/powerplayclub.

Follow the Gopher women's hockey team and all Univ. of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics at gophersports.com. You can also find the Gopher women's hockey team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GopherWomensHockey and on Twitter/X at twitter.com/GopherWHockey.