The Penalty Box Post
Tuesday, February 15th
Goals for a Goal reminder: postseason included this year!
The Gopher Women's Hockey team lit the lamp another 10 times this past weekend, including one coming on a power play. Those results bring the squad's season total to-date to 138 goals, with eighteen (18) of those on the power play!!
Our Goals for a Goal campaign collects pledges for every goal scored over the season, with an option to double your pledge for power-play tallies. We remind everyone that the program is being extended this year to include postseason goals. The collected funds will be used to support the squad's participation in a regular-season tournament in Las Vegas in 2022-2023. We encourage you to make your pledge online, or download the pledge form here and mail it in to the Golden Gopher Fund. The GGF will send out invoices following the end of the season
#1 Minnesota Golden Gophers (24-7-1, 19-6-1-1 WCHA) vs. Univ. of St. Thomas Tommies (5-23-1, 3-21-1-0 WCHA)
Thursday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m. - St. Thomas Ice Arena, Mendota Heights
Saturday, Feburary 19 at 4:00 p.m. - Ridder Arena
The Gopher Women's Hockey team concludes the 2021-2022 regular-season with its second series against its new cross-town rival, the University of St. Thomas Tommies. The home-and-home matchup will begin with a special Thursday night game, February 17 at 7:00 p.m. at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights. After a day off, the series then moves to Ridder Arena for the rematch on Saturday, February 19 at 4:00 p.m.
GWH Senior Day Saturday – We encourage all fans to arrive at Ridder Arena early on Saturday as the Gopher Women's Hockey program recognizes its seniors as part of pregame festivities.
WCHA championship watch – Entering the final weekend of the regular season, Minnesota leads the WCHA standings. Regardless of other results in the conference, the Gophers can clinch the league's regular-season championship – which would be the program's 11th – by earning 4 or more standings points against the Tommies. The Gophers could also clinch with fewer points, but would be dependent on results in the Wisconsin at Ohio State series.
Last time against St. Thomas – Fourteen different Gophers recorded a point as they cruised to a sweep in their first-ever series against Tommies in January, 8-0 and 8-2. Abigail Boreen lit the lamp twice in the opener and followed that up with her first career hat trick plus an assist in the rematch. Saturday's contest also featured Savannah Norcross' first multi-goal game as a Gopher, Tristana Tatur's first collegiate point, and a 16-save shutout by Skylar Vetter. Taylor Heise also posted a 6-point weekend with a goal and 5 assists, Madeline Wethington tallied a goal and dished out 4 helpers, and Amy Potomak matched Norcross with 2 goals and 2 assists. Peyton Hemp netted a short-handed goal Saturday and a power-play goal & an assist on Sunday for 3 points. Lauren Bench stopped 11 shots in Sunday's game. UST goaltender Alexa Dobchuk made a combined 74 saves in the series.
Analyzing the Tommies – Having made the jump to Division I this past off-season, St. Thomas is going through the requisite growing pains. They currently hold the last position in the WCHA standings. That said, they have earned five victories this year, taking 7 of 12 standings points from St. Cloud State, sweeping RIT in a non-conference road series, and also getting a win over Bemidji State.
Similar to St. Cloud State, the Tommies are missing two European players due to the Winter Olympics. In UST's case, both are freshmen playing for Team Switzerland. Despite being gone since the holiday break, Nicole Vallario (#26) is still the team's top-scoring defender with 4 goals and 3 assists. Saskia Maurer (#29) was the goaltender of record in three of the Tommies' victories, posting a 3-6-0 record in her 9 starts with a 3.16 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.
Three different players lead the three primary scoring categories for St. Thomas. Freshman Abby Promersberger (#11) is the Tommies' overall scoring leader with 12 points on 5 goals and 7 assists. Junior Allie Monrean (#14) has a team-high 6 goals plus 5 assists for 11 points, while senior Anna Solheim (#19) is UST's assist leader with 8 while lighting the lamp twice herself for 10 points. Junior Luci Bianchi (#15) has also netted five goals for the Tommies while dishing out 3 assists.
Senior Alexa Dobchuk (#30) split time with Maurer during the first-half of the season, and has started all 11 games since the break; in her 20 total starts this year, she is 2-17-1 with a 4.24 GAA and an .897 SV%. Fellow senior Eryn Cooley (#35) has seen spot-duty with four relief appearances, stopping 25 of 29 shots faced in just over 35 minutes of action.
Last action for St. Thomas – The Tommies came up empty during their trip to the North Shore to face Minnesota Duluth. Alexa Dobchuk made 39 saves for UST in the opener, but goals by Gabby Krause and Anneke Linser put the Bulldogs up 2-0; Brieja Parent lit the lamp for St. Thomas but they fell short, 2-1. UMD found their scoring touch in the rematch; Naomi Rogge recorded two goals & two assists, Clara Van Wieran added two goals & an assist, and Taylor Anderson & Gabby Krause each talled a goal and two assists in an 8-1 rout. Allie Monrean lit the lamp for the Tommies, Alexa Dobchuk made another 39 saves before being relieved, and Eryn Cooley stopped 7 shots over the final 9-1/2 minutes. UMD netminders Jojo Chobak & Holly Gruber faced only 16 shots for the entire series, stopping 14.
Gophers extend winning streak to 5 with sweep of St. Cloud State
The top line of Abigail Boreen, Catie Skaja, and Taylor Heise combined for 7 goals – including all five Gopher tallies on Friday – and 7 assists to lead Minnesota to a sweep of St. Cloud State, 5-3 and 5-1. After yielding goals to the Huskies' Emma Gentry & Nicole Ness in the first period on Friday, Boreen recorded a hat trick plus 2 helpers, Skaja tallied a goal and 2 assists, and Heise tacked on an empty-netter after 3 earlier assists. SCSU's Olivia Cvar scored a late power-play goal with an extra attacker, but Lauren Bench made 14 saves for the win. Emma Polusny stopped 55 shots for the Huskies. Skaja got things started in the rematch with an unassisted tally before Cvar evened the score with another power-play goal. However, the Gophers took control after the first intermission; Savannah Norcross put Minnesota up 2-1 in the second, Olivia Knowles lit the lamp in the third, Skaja scored unassisted again with a short-handed, empty-net tally, and Ella Huber added her first-career short-handed goal on the same penalty kill. Knowles posted a 3-point game, recording two assists to go with her goal. Makayla Pahl made 19 saves and earned an offensive assist on Huber's goal, while Sanni Ahola stopped 42 shots for the Huskies.
Brown earns special recognition after nomination from team
In a special recognition before this past Saturday's contest, Minnesota senior captain Emily Brown was honored as the “PNC Achiever of the Game”. The PNC Achievers program celebrates achievement among student-athletes and showcases student success through its honors and recognition program. Honorees are selected by designated panels at each respective school, and selection criteria requires each honoree to have distinguished themselves in the classroom and in their community through academic achievement, community service and student leadership. As of last November, the program is currently active at nearly 20 schools and universities across the markets PNC Bank serves. Brown was nominated by her teammates and coaching staff for her academic accomplishments, community service, and demonstration of GWH team values! Congratulations, Emily!!
2022 Winter Olympics Gold Medal Game – USA vs. Canada
Wednesday, February 16 at 10:10 p.m. US Central
Television coverage on NBC
For the fourth-straight Winter Olympics and sixth overall, the U.S. and Canada Women's Ice Hockey teams will battle for the gold medal. Team USA is the defending Olympic champion after winning the 2018 Gold Medal Game 3-2 in a shootout, but the Canadians are 7-2 against the Americans over the last seven months, including the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship and pre-Olympic exhibition action. Canada claimed the 2021 World Championship gold medal with a 3-2 overtime victory.
We wish good luck to the eight Gopher Women's Hockey representatives playing as members of Team USA: Megan Bozek, Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Amanda Kessel, Abbey Murphy, Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein & Grace Zumwinkle.
Bronze Medal Game: Finland vs. Switzerland, Wednesday at 5:30 a.m. CT – Team Finland, including incoming Gopher freshman Nelli Laitinen, will look for its fourth Olympic bronze medal and second-straight. They take on a Swiss team looking for their second Olympic medal. This is a rematch of the 2021 Women's World Championship bronze medal game, which Finland won 3-1. The game will be streamed through NBC's peacocktv.com subscription service, with a replay on USA Network Wednesday afternoon at noon CT.
Semifinal recaps
Canada 10, Switzerland 3 – Marie-Philip Poulin lit the lamp twice, Claire Thompson recorded a goal and 2 assists, and Sarah Nurse dished out four helpers as the Canadians outshot the Swiss 61-13. Switzerland netminder Andrea Braendli was relieved less than 10 minutes into the contest after yielding 4 goals in a span of just 2:05, though teammate Lara Stalder made a showing with two goals and an assist.
USA 4, Finland 1 – Hannah Brandt's pass across the slot found Cayla Barnes, who buried the power-play goal to open the scoring in the second period. Hilary Knight and Hayley Scammura extended the American lead to 3-0. Susanna Tapani netted an extra-attacker goal for the Finns with 26 seconds remaining, but Abby Roque tacked on an empty-netter for Team USA with Amanda Kessel earning an assist. Alex Cavallini made 25 saves and was named the U.S. Player of the Game, while Finland's Anni Keisala stopped 38 shots.
Around the WCHA...
Last weekend – In a 2-2 game late in the third period Friday night, Ohio State pulled their goaltender in search for a regulation victory at Bemidji State; however, a save off the goal line by Beavers goaltender Kerigan Dowhy – her 51st stop in the contest – rebounded to teammate Paige Beebe, who launched the puck down the ice and into the empty net with 0.3 seconds remaining and the 3-2 BSU upset. OSU responded in force in the rematch as eight different Buckeyes lit the lamp for an 8-1 victory and the series split; Clair DeGeorge recorded 2 goals and 3 assists over the weekend.
Daryl Watts posted a 9-point series with 4 goals and 5 assists, Casey O'Brien added 3 goals and an assist, and Makenna Webster tallied a goal and 4 helpers as Wisconsin rolled over Minnesota State, 5-2 and 7-2. Kelsey King recorded 2 goals & 2 assists and Brittyn Fleming had 2 goals & an assist for the Mavericks.
Upcoming games – Minnesota Duluth & St. Cloud State have three games remaining, all against each other; as mentioned last week, they will play a make-up game in St. Cloud this afternoon (Tuesday, Feb. 15) before squaring off in Duluth on Friday and Saturday. Also on Friday and Saturday, Wisconsin and Ohio State will battle in Columbus while Minnesota State hosts Bemidji State in Mankato.
Standings:
1. Minnesota – .795 pts%, 19-6-1-1, 0-3 in OT, 62 points (24-7-1 overall)
2t. Ohio State – .760 pts%, 19-6-0-0, 1-1 in OT, 57 points (23-6-0 overall)
Wisconsin – .760 pts%, 18-4-3-2, 2-0 in OT, 57 points (23-4-4 overall)
4. Minnesota Duluth – .680 pts%, 17-8-0-0, 1-1 in OT, 51 points (20-9-0 overall)
5. Minnesota State – .333 pts%, 8-17-1-1, 1-1 in OT, 26 points (12-17-1 overall)
6. Bemidji State – .321 pts%, 8-16-2-0, 1-0 in OT, 25 points (11-16-3 overall)
7. St. Cloud State – .208 pts%, 4-18-2-1, 1-1 in OT, 15 points (9-19-2 overall)
8. St. Thomas – .133 pts%, 3-21-1-0, 0-0 in OT, 10 points (5-23-1 overall)
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