Power Play Club

PPC Chalk Talk – Saturday (Feb. 10) at 12:30 pm

We provide one more reminder that our next Power Play Club Chalk Talk is scheduled for this Saturday, February 10, at 12:30 p.m., prior to the Gophers' second game of the weekend against St. Cloud State. The Chalk Talk will be held in the Ridder Arena Weight Room on the upper level across the hall from the suites. This is an exclusive event for enrolled 2023-2024 club members; you can still register through our membership page on this website.

Gopher Women's Hockey Senior Celebration
Thursday, February 22 – Doors open at 5:00 p.m.
Club Cambria – Huntington Bank Stadium

RSVPs due this coming Monday, February 12

RSVPs to the 2024 Gopher Women's Hockey Senior Celebration, honoring its senior and 5th-year players, are due next Monday, February 12. The event is being held Thursday, February 22 at Club Cambria inside Huntington Bank Stadium, with doors opening at 5:00 p.m. followed by a meal & program starting at 5:30 p.m. The meal will be a buffet, with a vegetarian option and a children’s meal (12 & under) available. Tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for children. RSVPs should be made to Ashley Holmes by email at holme965@umn.edu or by text at 612-296-0057; please submit any vegetarian or children's meal requests with your RSVP, and any questions should also be sent to her. Payment can be submitted at the event – with checks payable to "University of Minnesota" – and should be accompanied by the registration form downloadable here.

GWH Online Auction continues until 7 p.m. Monday (Feb. 12)

The Gopher Women's Hockey Online Auction remains open through 7 p.m. CT on Monday, Feb. 12 at gophersports.com/auctions. Check out all 26 items available for bidding such as: a 2014-2015 National Championship team signed stick, items signed by members of the current 2023-2024 team including a jersey, and photos of several GWH greats!! We again thank the staff at the Golden Gopher Fund and the U. of M. Intercollegiate Athletics Department for their coordination of the event.

#5/5 Minnesota Golden Gophers (22-5-1, 16-5-1-1 in WCHA)
vs. #10/10 St. Cloud State Univ. Huskies (15-12-1, 10-11-1-0)

Friday, February 9 at 6:00 p.m. - Herb Brooks National Hockey Center – St. Cloud
Saturday, February 10 at 2:00 p.m. – Ridder Arena

Just about every weekend for the Gopher Women's Hockey team is a rivalry series, and this weekend is no different as they face the St. Cloud State University Huskies in home-and-home action. The puck drops Friday, February 9, at 6:00 p.m. at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud; the teams then move to Ridder Arena for the rematch Saturday, February 10 at 2:00 p.m.

Saturday notes – Even if you're not planning on attending our Power Play Club Chalk Talk on Saturday, we encourage early arrival at Ridder Arena as the Gopher Men's Hockey team will be in action next door at 3M Arena at Mariucci starting at 3:00 p.m.

Saturday is also Fan Appreciation Day at Ridder, featuring extra t-shirt tosses, random prize drawings with in-game seat deliveries, $5 footlong hot dogs and more! On top of that, the team will be recognizing National Girls & Women in Sports Day!

Game coverage – Video from both contests will be streamed on the B1G+ subscription service, and free audio play-by-play will be on GopherSports.com (Friday and Saturday) starting 15 to 20 minutes before puck drop.

This season against St. Cloud State – Scoring has been at a premium between the Gophers & Huskies as they combined for only 5 goals in their first two meetings. In Minnesota's home opener at Ridder in October, Ava Lindsay cleaned up the rebound of an initial shot by Emily Zumwinkle in the 2nd period and Taylor Stewart doubled the lead with a short-handed bouncer into an empty net despite a deflection off a Huskies defender's stick; SCSU's Avery Farrell broke up the shutout bid, lighting the lamp with 5.2 seconds remaining, but Skylar Vetter's 14 saves were enough for a 2-1 win. Emma Kreisz assisted on both Gophers goals, and St. Cloud State netminder Jojo Chobak stopped 29 shots. In the second game, occurring at the National Hockey Center in December, Vetter stopped another 29 of 30 shots on goal and Peyton Hemp scored on a first-period power play, but Addi Scribner knotted the score for the Huskies and Sanni Ahola made 27 saves through overtime for a 1-1 tie. The Gophers earned the "bonus point" in the league standings when Ella Huber and Allie Franco found the back of the net for the Gophers in the subsequent shootout while Vetter stopped both shots she faced from St. Cloud State.

Analyzing the Huskies – As we documented prior to their previous meetings against the Gophers, St. Cloud State is trying to earn home ice for the WCHA quarterfinals for the first time since 2009-2010. However, a current five-game losing skid has put a damper on that objective by dropping them to fifth place, two points behind Minnesota Duluth.

Veteran players have led St. Cloud State so far this season. Fifth-year forward Klára Hymlárová (#12) has a team-high 23 points and 15 assists, plus 8 goals of her own. Fellow grad student Katie Kaufman (#10) is second in scoring with 18 points on 4 goals & 14 assists. Senior Emma Gentry (#20) has a team-leading 9 goals while adding 5 assists for 14 points. Freshman Alice Sauriol (#4) is the lone underclassman in the top-five in scoring; she and grad student Taylor Lind (#13) each have 6 goals & 8 assists, joining Gentry with 14 points apiece.

Eight (8) of SCSU's 15 wins have been by shutout. Senior Sanni Ahola (#1) has five of those shutouts, posting a 9-4-1 record in her 14 starts with a .947 save percentage (2nd in the WCHA) and 1.36 goals-against average (3rd in the WCHA). Fellow senior Jojo Chobak (#29) has the other 3 shutouts, a .933 SV% (5th in the WCHA) and a 1.87 GAA, but only a 6-8-0 record. Freshman Paige Hoogendam (#31) has not seen any official action.

Last weekend for St. Cloud State – The Huskies took a pair of 1-0 leads on the road at Wisconsin but couldn't hold those leads, being swept 2-1 (OT) and 5-2. Taylor Lind, Alice Sauriol, and Emma Gentry (PP) lit the lamp for St. Cloud State and Katie Kaufman dished out two assists. Caroline Harvey netted the overtime gamewinner for the Badgers on Saturday and added a power-play goal & an assist Sunday, Lacey Eden recorded a goal & 3 helpers, Laney Potter scored twice, and Casey O'Brien dished out four assists in the series. Despite taking the loss on Saturday, SCSU's Jojo Chobak was named WCHA Goaltender of the Week for her 45-save performance. Sanni Ahola stopped 27 shots for the Huskies on Sunday. UW netminder Jane Gervais stopped 24 of 25 shots Saturday, and Ava McNaughton made 23 saves Sunday.

Gophers complete season sweep of St. Thomas – The visiting Tommies took a 1-0 lead Friday at Ridder Arena as Nicole Vallario lit the lamp, but Abbey Murphy & Josefin Bouveng each lit the lamp and assisted on the other's goal, Ella Huber assisted on both, and Madison Kaiser added an empty-netter with 22.1 seconds to play for a 3-1 Gopher victory. Lucy Morgan made 17 saves for the win, while former Gopher Olivia King stopped 18 shots for UST. Bouveng netted her second goal of the weekend on a power play to put Minnesota up 1-0 on Saturday, but Lauren Stenslie knotted the score for St. Thomas a minute later. Murphy gave the Gophers a 2-1 lead in the second period, but Ella Boerger tied the score again for the Tommies less than two minutes later. Finally, Emma Kreisz tallied the Gophers' third power-play goal of the weekend to go up 3-2, Murphy added her third goal of the weekend, and Peyton Hemp also lit the lamp for a 5-2 win. Skylar Vetter stopped 14 shots, while King made another 29 saves. Murphy finished the weekend with 5 points, adding a second assist to her 3 goals, while Bouveng had a 4-point series (2g, 2a), Kreisz had a pair of assists to accompany her goal, and Huber dished out her third assist of the weekend on Saturday.

Rivalry Series resumes tonight, concludes Sunday in St. Paul
Gopher alumnae Brown, Heise, Pannek, Zumwinkle on Team USA roster

As we shared last week, 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. Team USA holds a 3 games to 1 lead in the series and can clinch with a win in any of the remaining contests.

Action in the Rivalry Series resumes tonight – Wednesday, February 7 – when the teams meet in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at 7 p.m. CT. They'll play again in Regina, SK, on Friday night, February 9 at 7 p.m. CT before concluding the series on Sunday afternoon, February 11, at 1 p.m. CT at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Tickets for Sunday's game at Xcel Energy Center are available through Ticketmaster.com. All three contests will be televised live on NHL Network.

Gopher Women's Hockey posts record GPA figures
We send a shout-out to the entire Gopher Women's Hockey team following publication of their latest academic results, posting a 3.67 grade-point average for the Fall 2023 semester and a 3.57 cumulative GPA. Both are record marks for the program!!

Congratulations, ladies!! Keep up the excellent work!!

Around the WCHA

Buckeyes rout Bemidji State – Hannah Bilka posted a 6-point series on two goals & four assists, Jenna Buglioni lit the lamp 4 times – including a hat trick Saturday – and had an assist, Jocelyne Amos added 3 goals & 2 assists, and five other Buckeyes recorded 4 points apiece as they crushed Bemidji State, 11-1 and 9-1. Calli Forsberg and Kayla Santl tallied for the Beavers.

Bulldogs sweep Mavericks in Duluth – Danielle Burgen lit the lamp twice, Mannon McMahon added a goal & an assist, and Hailey MacLeod stopped all 16 shots she faced as Minnesota Duluth shut out Minnesota State, 3-0, in their opening contest at AMSOIL Arena; Hailey Hansen made 31 saves for MSU. Olivia Wallin & Clara Van Wieran both scored on power plays to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 in the rematch; Sydney Langseth netted an extra-attacker goal for the Mavericks with 1:11 left, but UMD held on for the 2-1 victory. Ève Gascon made 28 saves for the win, while Hansen stopped another 31 shots.

Badgers clinch home ice for WCHA quarterfinal series – With their weekend sweep of St. Cloud State, Wisconsin has now clinched home ice for the quarterfinal / opening round of the WCHA conference playoffs.

Upcoming games – All four league series feature Friday and Saturday games. Minnesota State hosts Ohio State in Mankato, Wisconsin goes on the road to face Bemidji State, and St. Thomas hosts Minnesota Duluth in Mendota Heights.

Standings: (* clinched home ice for conference quarterfinal series)
1. Ohio State* – 61 points (.924 pts%), 21-1-0-0, 2-0 in OT (24-2-0 overall)
2. Wisconsin* – 54 points (.818 pts%), 18-4-0-0, 1-1 in OT (24-4-0 overall)
3. Minnesota – 50 points (.758 pts%), 16-5-1-1, 1-1 in OT (22-5-1 overall)
4. Minn. Duluth – 35 points (.530 pts%), 12-10-0-0, 1-0 in OT (15-11-2 overall)
5. St. Cloud State – 33 points (.500 pts%), 10-11-1-0, 0-2 in OT (15-12-1 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 13 points (.197 pts%), 4-18-0-0, 1-2 in OT (10-19-0 overall)
7. Bemidji State – 10 points (.152 pts%), 3-18-1-0, 1-1 in OT (4-22-2 overall)
8. St. Thomas – 8 points (.121 pts%), 2-19-1-1, 0-0 in OT (8-20-1 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.