The Penalty Box Post
Wednesday, October 5th
“Drop the Puck Pre-game Tailgate” – Friday, Oct. 7 at 5 p.m.
JUST ANNOUNCED!! Gopher Women's and Men's Hockey fans are invited to meet in front of 3M Arena at Mariucci on the east lawn this Friday, October 7, for the “Drop the Puck Pre-game Tailgate”, featuring drinks, music, games, and other activities. The event begins at 5:00 p.m.
Chalk Talk – Saturday, October 8 at 12:30 p.m.
The first of this year's Power Play Club Chalk Talks with a member of the Gopher Women's Hockey coaching staff is scheduled for Saturday, October 8, at 12:30 p.m. in the Ridder Arena weight room (upstairs), prior to the team's second game against the Bemidji State Beavers. The Chalk Talk will include a discussion of team strategy, reviewing the previous night's game film, and time for a brief question & answer session.
Note that this is an exclusive event for registered Power Play Club members.
Watch for a Two-Minute Minor email in your inbox tomorrow
with PPC fundraising and membership enrollment updates!
Regular Season & Conference Opener!!
#2/2 Minnesota Gophers vs. Bemidji State University Beavers
Friday, October 7 at 6:00 p.m. CT
Saturday, October 8 at 2:00 p.m. CT
Ridder Arena
The 26th year of Gopher Women's Hockey officially gets underway with the start of the regular season and a WCHA in-conference matchup against the Bemidji State University Beavers. The series at Ridder Arena begins Friday, October 7, at 6:00 p.m. and continues on Saturday, October 8, at 2:00 p.m.
TRAFFIC ALERT!! As noted previously, the Gopher Men's Hockey team is also in action at home this weekend, taking on in-state rival Minnesota State. Please allow time for additional vehicular and pedestrian traffic on campus.
Live streaming of all 112 WCHA in-conference games along with non-conference matchups hosted by WCHA schools is available on the BTN+ subscription service. A guide on how to purchase a subscription package can be found here.
Free audio coverage of Gopher Women's Hockey continues with play-by-play announcer Dan Hamann. Individual game links can be found on the GWH schedule page, including those for the contests this Friday and Saturday.
Last season against Bemidji State – The Gophers completed a four-game season sweep of the Beavers, winning 5-2 & 3-2 at Sanford Center last October and 7-0 & 5-2 at Ridder Arena in February. Thirteen (13) different Gophers recorded a point against BSU, led by Taylor Heise's 9 on two goals and seven assists. Abigail Boreen recorded a team-high 4 goals in the four games while dishing out a pair of assists, and the quartet of Peyton Hemp (3G, 2A), Amy Potomak (3G, 2A), Savannah Norcross (2G, 3A), and Catie Skaja (1G, 4A) each tallied five points. After Skylar Vetter won the first of the four games with 21 saves on 23 shots (a .913 save percentage), Lauren Bench played the other three contests against her former team, stopping 78 of 82 shots for a .951 SV% and 1.33 goals-against average. For Bemidji State, Graysen Myers netted two of their six goals while adding two assists for four points and Reece Hunt dished out 3 assists. Hannah Hogenson played between the pipes in three of the games, posting a .914 SV% with 127 saves and a 4.04 GAA; Kerrigan Dowhy started the first game at Ridder, stopping 43 of 50 shots (.860 SV%).
About the Beavers – Bemidji State finished the 2021-2022 regular season sixth in the WCHA with an 8-18-2 league record (1-0 in overtime, 0-2 in the shootout), though they posted a 3-0-1 non-conference record. Their season concluded when they were swept by Wisconsin in the conference quarterfinals, 2-1 & 5-0.
Senior Reece Hunt (#29) led the Beavers in total scoring & and assists last year with 20 and 13, respectively, while lighting the lamp 7 times. However, the second- & third-highest scorers in 2021-2022 – Graysen Myers and Paige Beebe – have both graduated. That said, two others are back after each tallying more that 10 points last season: junior Taylor Nelson (#8; 5G-8A-13 pts) and sophomore Claire Vekich (#15; 7G-5A-12 pts). Freshman Raeley Carney (#10) joins both Nelson and Vekich with two goals apiece four games into their 2022-2023 campaign, while sophomore defender Adriana Van De Leest (#24) has four assists.
Between the pipes, junior Hannah Hogenson (#1) returns as the only BSU netminder with meaningful experience, having gone 8-10-3 in 22 appearances (20 starts) last year with a .914 save percentage and 3.08 goals-against average; she is 1-1-1 in her 3 starts so far this season with a .900 SV% and 2.90 GAA. Sophomore Abbie Thompson (#35) has already played more time this year than all of 2021-2022; she stopped 13 of 16 shots in a winning effort against Lindenwood two weekends ago, after making 21 saves on 26 shots in a combined 45 minutes of relief action against Wisconsin & UMD as a freshman. Madison Faucher (#33) joined the Beavers' roster but has yet to see any action.
Bemidji State takes loss, salvages tie at Clarkson – After the Beavers earned a win and a tie at home against the Golden Knights in Bemidji in 2021-2022, Clarkson returned the favor this past weekend in Potsdam, NY, with a 5-0 victory over BSU followed by a 2-2 tie. Anne Cherkowski recorded 2 goals & 2 assists in the series and Michelle Pasiechnyk stopped all 20 shots in Friday's shutout for the Golden Knights. BSU's Paige Anderson dished out two assists and Claire Vekich tallied the game-tying goal on Saturday, while Hannah Hogenson stopped 56 of 63 shots over the weekend.
Gophers come from behind to top Whitecaps – Four different Gophers lit the lamp and five others dished out assists as they defeated the Minnesota Whitecaps in exhibition action at Ridder Arena last Friday night, 4-2. Taylor Heise put the Maroon & Gold on the board first in the opening period, but Sydney Brodt and Natalie Snodgrass (PP) gave the Whitecaps the lead in the second stanza. Josefin Bouveng knotted the score shortly after the midpoint of the contest, Emily Oden capitalized on a power play early in the third period to put the Gophers ahead, and Tristana Tatur added an insurance goal with 6:25 to play. Gopher alumna Amanda Leveille stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Whitecaps over the first two periods; Makalya Pahl and Skylar Vetter combined for 17 saves for the Gophers.
Around the WCHA...
Ohio State opens national title defense with sweep of Minnesota State – In the first in-conference WCHA series of 2022-2023, the Buckeyes needed a pair of come-from-behind efforts in Mankato to sweep the Mavericks, 2-1 & 5-4. Gabby Rosenthal & Jenn Gardiner each posted two goals & an assist for OSU, assisting on each other's goals in the opener and both lighting the lamp in rematch. Madison Mashuga recorded a goal & an assist for MSU.
Huskies sweep Rensselaer – In their first regular-season action, St. Cloud State defeated the RPI Engineers 5-0 and 3-2 at home for Brian Idalski's first series sweep as the Huskies' head coach. Taylor Lind tallied 2 goals & 2 assists, Emma Gentry recorded 2 goals & 1 assist, and Jenniina Nylund added a goal & 2 assists. Jojo Chobak stopped all 17 shots she faced in her SCSU debut on Friday and Sanni Ahola made 26 saves on Saturday.
Minnesota Duluth earns pair of victories – Remaining in the state of New York between their first and second weekends of action, UMD improved to 4-0-0 with a 3-2 overtime victory over St. Lawrence this past Thursday and a 4-0 win over Penn State on Friday. Mannon McMahon recorded two goals & an assist, Anneke Linser lit the lamp twice, Maggie Flaherty tallied Thursday's OT gamewinner, Gabbie Hughes dished out 3 assists, and Emma Soderberg made a combined 45 stops including a 24-save shutout on Friday.
Wisconsin shuts out Lindenwood – Lacey Eden and Maddi Wheeler each posted 3 goals & 4 assists as the Badgers routed the visiting Lions, 6-0 & 10-0, holding a combined 139-14 shots-on-goal advantage. Sophie Shirley added 3 goals & 2 assists, and Caroline Harvey dished out five helpers.
Upcoming games – Like the Gophers, St. Thomas opens their regular season this weekend, facing Wisconsin in Madison. The oher four WCHA teams are also in in-conference competition on Friday & Saturday as St. Cloud State takes on Ohio State Columbus while Minnesota State visits Minnesota Duluth.
Copyright © 2022 Power Play Club, All rights reserved.
Follow the Power Play Club 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 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.