The Penalty Box Post
Wednesday, October 20th
“Goals for a Goal” returns for 2021-2022!
The Power Play Club and the Golden Gophers Fund invite you to pledge your support to Gopher Women’s Hockey through the “Goals for a Goal” campaign.
Pledge a dollar amount for every goal the Gophers score. This year, the goal count will include both the regular season and postseason. We are also providing the option for you to double your pledge for power play goals! Over the last five years the team has averaged 122 goals per season, and the team is already at 19 goals (4 on the power play) through its first six games this year.
Your donation will support the team's participation in a tournament in Las Vegas next season.
Make your pledge online, or download this form and mail it in to the Golden Gopher Fund.
After the postseason, you will receive an email with your pledge total and giving instructions. All contributions are tax-deductible donations to the Golden Gopher Fund.
Go Gophers!
#4/5 Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-3-0, 3-3-0-0 in WCHA)
at #3/3 Colgate University Raiders (8-0-0, 0-0-0 in ECAC)
Friday and Saturday, October 22 & 23
Both games at 2:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. CT
Class of 1965 Arena, Hamilton, NY
After six WCHA contests to open the season, the Minnesota Women's Hockey team heads to upstate New York for a non-conference, top-five matchup against the Colgate University Raiders. The teams will play a Friday-Saturday matinee series on October 22 & 23, with both games starting at 2:00 p.m.ET / 1:00 p.m. CT at the Class of 1965 Arena in the village of Hamilton.
Follow the Gophers – Video web streaming of the games at Colgate is available through the ESPN+ subscription service. Free, live audio is also available on Gophersports.com (Friday and Saturday), as are live stats (Friday and Saturday).
Last time against the Raiders – Minnesota and Colgate faced each other on the opening weekend of the 2019-2020 regular season at Ridder Arena. Madeline Wethington went end-to-end in the first period, lighting the lamp with her first collegiate goal to put the Gophers up 1-0. Sarah Potomak doubled the lead in the second stanza, burying a feed from Taylor Wente, and Alex Gulstene & Sydney Scobee combined for 14 saves for a 2-0 win. Taylor Heise, Olivia Knowles, and Grace Zumwinkle tallied in the first period of the rematch, Potomak and Emily Brown extended the lead in the second frame, and Heise, Knowles, and Zumwinkle each scored again in the third. Colgate's Malia Schneider broke up Minnesota's shutout bid with less than 3 minutes remaining, but the Gophers claimed the series sweep with an 8-1 victory. Scobee made another 17 saves. Heise and Potomak each posted 4 points in the series, adding two assists apiece to their respective two goals, while Zumwinkle also dished out an assist to tally three points on the weekend. Colgate netminders Liz Auby and Alexa Dobchuk combined for 66 saves in the series.
Analyzing Colgate – With the Ivy League schools and RPI cancelling their 2020-2021 seasons due to the pandemic, the Raiders won the four-team ECAC regular-season championship with a .611 points percentage, going 8-4-0 in 12 conference games with 2 of the wins coming in overtime. They also went 5-2-1 in eight games considered non-conference (though six of those were against Clarkson). They went on to claim the ECAC Tournament Championship with wins over Quinnipiac (2-1) and St. Lawrence (3-2), but fell to Minnesota Duluth in the NCAA Quarterfinals, 1-0 in overtime.
Colgate has opened 2021-2022 with 8-straight non-conference victories, sweeping RIT, Mercyhurst & Syracuse from the CHA and Hockey East's Vermont. They have outscored their opponents 50-9 over those eight games, with six of their goals coming on the power play and one scored shorthanded. Currently they hold the #3 ranking in both national polls.
The Raiders feature three players who have already reached double-digit points. Junior Danielle Serdachny (#9) leads the team in total scoring with 17 points on six goals and 11 assists. Sophomore Kalty Kaltounkova (#98) is tied for the goal-scoring lead, lighting the lamp 7 times, while dishing out 9 assists for 16 points. Junior transfer Dara Greig (#77), who previously played for Wisconsin, also has 7 goals for Colgate so far this year while adding 8 assists for 15 points. Another trio of players – junior Sydney Bard (#11), freshman Katie Chan (#15), and senior Rosy Demers (#81) – each have 2 goals and 7 assists.
Sophomore Kayle Osborne (#31) has seen a majority of the Raiders' action between the pipes this season, posting one shutout, a 1.34 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage in her 6 starts; she also played in all 23 of the team's games last season, starting 22 of them and earning 2 shutouts. Freshman Hannah Murphy (#83) has only yielded one goal in two full games for a 0.50 GAA and .955 SV%. Fellow freshman Averill McCorkle (#30) has yet to see any action.
Last weekend: Raiders sweep Syracuse – Colgate never trailed in their home-and-home series against the Orange, winning in Hamilton last Thursday night, 7-1, and completing the weekend sweep at Syracuse with a 5-2 victory on Saturday. Danielle Serdachny scored three goals in the series, Sammy Smigliani lit the lamp twice in the opener, and Dara Greig (1g, 3a) and Rosy Demers (4a) each recorded a 4-point weekend. Hannah Murphy started the series, stopping 14 of 15 shots, while Kayle Osborne made 15 saves in the rematch. Madison Primeau tallied two goals and an assist for Syracuse.
Gophers sweep Minnesota State – Minnesota's power play converted on 3 of 4 opportunities on Friday against the Mavericks at Ridder Arena; Madeline Wethington opened the scoring in the first period, Gracie Ostertag doubled the lead in the second stanza, and Taylor Heise extended it early in the third frame. That was all the Gophers needed, as Makayla Pahl started between the pipes and stopped all 14 shots on goal she faced for a 3-0 shutout victory. Moving to Mankato for the second game of the series, Ostertag netted her second PPG of the weekend, Savannah Norcross tallied her first goal as a Golden Gopher, and Peyton Hemp and Amy Potomak extended the Gopher lead to 4-0 early in the second period. MSU's Sydney Langseth and Kennedy Bobyck cut the Mavericks' deficit in half, but Potomak converted a steal into her second goal of the game and Emily Oden lit the lamp in the third stanza for a 6-2 victory and the series sweep. Pahl earned the win with 9 saves in two periods of work; Skylar Vetter entered for the final 20 minutes and stopped the two shots she faced. Minnesota State netminder Calla Frank made a combined 87 saves in the series. Ella Huber led all Gophers in total scoring, dishing out 4 assists over the weekend, Ostertag and Potomak each added an assist for 3-point series, and Madeline Wethington recorded 2 assists to go with her goal. Additionally, Emily Zumwinkle tallied her first collegiate point, assisting on Potomak's first goal.
Pahl earns Goaltender, Performance of the Week honors
Making her season debut this past weekend, GWH junior netminder Makayla Pahl stopped a combined 23 shots in 5 periods of action against Minnesota State including a 14-save shutout on Friday, posting a .920 save percentage and 1.21 goals-against average for the series. That earned her the honor as the WCHA Goaltender of the Week, the first such award of Pahl's collegiate career and also the first recognition of the season for any Gopher player. The conference followed that up by further recognizing Pahl's weekend showing as the Howie's Hockey Tape Performance of the Week. Congratulations, Makayla!!
Around the WCHA...
Recent action: St. Thomas defeated St. Cloud State on Friday, 3-2, for their second win of the season; Saskia Maurer stopped 39 of 41 shots and Megan Korzack scored the game-winning goal. But the Huskies earned two standings points of their own on Saturday, playing the Tommies to a 2-2 overtime tie and winning the subsequent shootout on a 7th-round goal from Allie Cornelius. UST's Anna Solheim led all players in the series with a goal and two assists.
Ohio State remained perfect on the season, sweeping Bemidji State 7-0 and 3-1 in Columbus, outshooting the Beavers by a combined 80-27. Gabby Rosenthal posted a natural hat trick on Friday and added a 4th goal on Saturday, while Jennifer Gardiner recorded two goals and three assists in the series. Taylor Nelson tallied the lone BSU goal of the weekend.
Makenna Webster lit the lamp twice as Wisconsin shut out Minnesota Duluth on Friday, 3-0. In Sunday's rematch, Anna Klein scored twice to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, Sarah Wozniewicz lit the lamp twice for the Badgers to knot the score 2-2 at the second intermission, and the teams exchanged third-period goals – with UMD's Elizabeth Giguere finding the back of the net twice to erase a pair of one-goal UW leads – to finish regulation tied 4-4. However, Casey O'Brien netted her 11th goal of the season 23 seconds into the extra period for a 5-4 Wisconsin victory.
Upcoming games – Bemidji State is in non-conference action, hosting Clarkson on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Four other WCHA teams are in Saturday-Sunday matinee series as Minnesota Duluth visits St. Thomas and Wisconsin hosts Ohio State; Sunday's OSU-UW contest can be seen live on Big Ten Network at 3 p.m. CT. Minnesota State and St. Cloud State are idle.
Copyright © 2021 Power Play Club, All rights reserved.
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.