Penalty Box Post
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Penalty Box Post
Thursday, January 21st
Member-only Chalk Talk – Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 4:00 p.m.
An online edition of our Chalk Talks with GWH head coach Brad Frost is now scheduled for Wednesday, January 27 at 4:00 p.m., and will be held on Zoom. As mentioned last week, topics will include a review of the recent series and a discussion of playing strategy. This is a member-only event for 2020-2021 Power Play Club members. The Zoom link will be shared to members via email that morning.
If you enrolled or renewed your membership this month or wish to verify your membership status, please contact Laura Halldorson by email at halld002@umn.edu. While we are doing our best to document our records accurately, we are experiencing a lag of roughly a week to process registrations due to the current work-from-home situation.
Membership registration remains open!! A donation of $50 of more to the Power Play Club Fund at the University of Minnesota Foundation will enroll your household into the PPC for the season. To make your donation online, go to the Power Play Club Fund web page here. If you prefer to submit your donation by check, you can download the registration form here, fill it out, and mail it and your check to Laura Halldorson at the address listed on the form. If you have already enrolled as a Locker Sponsor for 2020-2021, you do not need to register again.
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Recap... Gophers swept by Wisconsin
A trip to Madison for the Border Battle series against Wisconsin did not go well for the Gopher Women's Hockey team, as they were swept by the Badgers, 5-0 and 6-3.
Four different Badgers – Sophie Shirley, Britta Curl, Daryl Watts, and Makenna Webster – each tallied a goal and an assist in the opening game on Friday, Dara Greig also scored, and UW's Kennedy Blair stymied Minnesota by stopping all 30 shots she faced. Lauren Bench made 21 saves in two periods of work, but yielded four goals; Makalya Pahl entered in relief for the third period, stopping 8 of 9 shots.
Wisconsin again took a two-goal first-period lead on Saturday when Brette Pettet and Lacey Eden lit the lamp. The Gophers battled back, as Grace Zumwinkle converted a power play before the end of the stanza and Amy Potomak netted her first goal of the season early in the second frame. Curl put the Badgers back ahead with a power-play goal, but that lead was short-lived as Josey Dunne scored on a wrap-around for Minnesota just 41 seconds later. Unfortunately, Wisconsin retook the lead again when Watts scored 2:30 into the third period, Pettet added an insurance goal at the 4:50 mark, and Watts tacked on an empty-netter late for her 6th point of the series (3g, 3a). Bench made 22 saves, while Blair stopped 23 shots. Anne Cherkowski dished out two assists for the Gophers.
As a result of the sweep, Wisconsin and Minnesota flipped positions again in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national polls. The Badgers regained the top spot, while the Gophers fell back to #2.
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Around the WCHA...
St. Cloud State gets win and earns tie against Bemidji State, but shootout result vacated by league – The SCSU Huskies earned their third win of the season Friday, defeating BSU 3-1; Paige Beebe initially put the Beavers ahead in the first period, but Nicole Ness and Emma Gentry scored in the second stanza to give the Huskies the lead, and Taylor Lind added an empty-netter to go with an earlier assist.
Saturday's game, however, ended in controversy; Lind & Gentry put SCSU up 2-0 after 20 minutes, and Clair DeGeorge & Taylor Nelson scored for BSU in the 2nd stanza. The game finished as a 2-2 tie after a scoreless third period and overtime. The subsequent shootout appeared to have been won by the Beavers, but it was later determined to have been incorrectly ended after 2 rounds, as it was supposed to go 3 rounds rather than using a "sudden death" round-by-round format. The WCHA announced yesterday that the league's Advisory Council vacated the shootout result and awarded each team 1.5 standings points for the 2-2 tie.
Minnesota Duluth, Ohio State split – The series between UMD and OSU was a goaltending battle. Bulldogs netminder Emma Söderberg stopped all 34 shots she faced in the opener, Anna Klein scored in the first period, and Taylor Anderson added an empty-netter to give Minnesota Duluth a 2-0 victory. Söderberg made another 44 saves in the rematch but yielded a goal to Buckeyes forward Brooke Bink in the second period; that was the difference as OSU goalie Andrea Brändli stopped all 32 shots from the Bulldogs to earn a 1-0 shutout win and the weekend split.
Upcoming games – All six upcoming contests in the league will be played on Friday and Saturday. Wisconsin heads to St. Cloud to face the Huskies in a pair of afternoon games. Ohio State hosts Minnesota State while Minnesota Duluth visits Bemidji State, with both of those series starting Friday evening and continuing Saturday afternoon.
Standings – As noted on the league's standing's page, “points percentage” will be used to determine the postseason seedings and regular-season champion. 1. Wisconsin, .792 pts%, 19 points in 8 games (6-2-0-0, 0-1 in OT); 2. Minnesota, .727, 24 pts in 11 gms (8-3-0-0, 0-0); 3. Minnesota Duluth, .625, 15 pts in 8 gms (5-3-0-0, 0-0); 4. Ohio State, .567, 17 pts in 10 gms (6-4-0-0, 1-0); 5. Minnesota State, .361, 13 pts in 12 gms (4-7-1-0, 0-0); 6. St. Cloud State, .318, 10.5 pts in 11 gms (3-7-1-0, 1-1, 1 shootout no-decision); 7. Bemidji State, .271, 6.5 pts in 10 gms (1-7-2-1, 1-1, 1 shootout no-decision).
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Follow the Gopher women's hockey team and all Univ. of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics at www.gophersports.com. You can also find the Gopher women's hockey team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GopherWomensHockey and on Twitter at twitter.com/GopherWHockey.