Power Play Club

Penalty Box Post
Wednesday, March 9th

Goals for a Goal program continues counting...

We continue asking for assistance supporting Minnesota Women's Hockey's participation in a regular-season tournament in Las Vegas in 2022-2023.

The Power Play Club's Goals for a Goal campaign is collecting pledges for every goal scored by the Gophers, and we again provide a reminder that postseason goals are included in the count this year. Entering NCAA Tournament play, the team has recorded 168 goals, twenty (20) of which have come on the power play!!

There's still time to submit a pledge! We encourage you to do so online, or download the pledge form here and mail it in to the Golden Gopher Fund. The GGF will send out invoices following the completion of the season.

NCAA Tournament – Single-elimination

First Round – Minnesota Duluth (24-11-1) vs. Harvard (22-9-1)
Thursday, March 10 at 6:00 p.m. CT

Quarterfinal – First-round winner (UMD or Harvard)
vs. #2-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers (29-8-1)
Saturday, March 12 at 2:00 p.m. CT

Both games at Ridder Arena

After a tough loss in the WCHA Championship Game, the Golden Gophers looks to rebound and advance through the 2022 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Hockey Tournament as the #2 seed, earning a quarterfinal home game. Minnesota Duluth and Harvard will come to Ridder Arena for one of the new First Round games in the expanded 11-team field, playing on Thursday, March 10 at 6:00 p.m. CT. The winner of that contest advances to face Minnesota in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 12 at 2:00 p.m.

Ticket information – All advanced ticket sales are as all-session packages for both games, and are $15 per seat (both reserved chairbacks & general admission bench seating). They can be purchased online (or use this link) or by calling the U. of M. Ticket Office at 1-800-U-GOPHER.

Video coverage of both games will be free via the web, available on bigtenplus.com, with Thursday's First Round game here and Saturday's quarterfinal here.

Analyzing the Crimson – Despite matching 16-5-1 records in ECAC play in the regular season, Harvard had fewer losses in regulation than Yale & Colgate, giving them the league's regular-season championship. However, things unraveled for the Crimson in the conference playoffs, losing their quarterfinal series at home against 8th-seeded Princeton, two games to one. The Tigers took the opener 4-2, the Crimson evened the series with a 2-1 overtime win, but Princeton pulled off a second upset, 3-2, two Sundays ago.

Senior Becca Gilmore (#15) leads Harvard in total scoring with 45 points, recording a team-high 26 assists while lighting the lamp 19 times herself. Junior Kristin Della Rovere (#11) also reached the 40-point mark on 15 goals and 25 assists. Another junior, Anne Bloomer (#3) holds the Crimson's goal lead with 20 while dishing out 14 assists for 34 points. As a team, Harvard has outscored its opponents 113-68.

Senior goaltender Becky Dutton (#35) is 12-3-1 in her 16 starts, posting 3 shutouts with a 1.99 goals-against average and .922 save percentage. Dutton has split time primarily with junior Lindsay Reed (#29); Reed has 13 starts but only a 7-6-0 record, with 2 shutouts, a 2.40 GAA, and a .912 SV%. Freshman and Minnesota native Alex Pellici started Harvard's other three games, going 3-0-0 with one shutout, a 1.66 GAA, and an .898 SV%.

Minnesota Duluth vs. Harvard preview – The Bulldogs and Crimson are not strangers to each other, having squared off in Cambridge, MA, earlier this season on December 31 & January 1. UMD earned a sweep of their road series, winning 5-2 and 4-3. Gabbie Hughes led the way for Minnesota Duluth with a 4-goal, 2-assist performance, while Elizabeth Giguere also tallied 6 points with a goal & 5 helpers and Anna Klein added 2 goals & 2 assists. Five different Crimson players lit the lamp in the series, with Taze Thompson recording a goal and two assists; Becca Gilmore and Kyra Willoughby each dished out two assists. UMD netminder Emma Söderberg made 46 saves combined over both games; Lindsay Reed stopped 24 shots for Harvard in the opener, and Becky Dutton made 29 saves in the rematch.

Last meeting: Minnesota vs. Harvard – The Gophers and Crimson last met in November 2019 at the Country Classic Tournament in Nashville, TN. Sarah Potomak scored twice for Minnesota, Alex Woken & Abigail Boreen also lit the lamp, and Sydney Scobee stopped all 21 shots she faced to give Minnesota a 4-0 shutout victory. Lindsay Reed made 39 saves for Harvard.

Update: Minnesota vs. Minnesota Duluth – As noted in our email message on Monday, Catie Skaja, Abigail Boreen, and Emily Brown each recorded a goal and an assist, Crystalyn Hengler & Taylor Heise also lit the lamp, and Madeline Wethington dished out 2 helpers as the Gophers defeated the Bulldogs 5-1 in the WCHA semifinals. Elizabeth Giguere scored UMD's lone goal. Lauren Bench made 21 saves for the Gophers, while Jojo Chobak stopped 34 shots for the Bulldogs.

The victory last weekend gave Minnesota a 3 games to 2 advantage over Minnesota Duluth this season. Boreen took the Gophers' scoring lead in the head-to-head competition, posting 3 goals and 3 assists. Peyton Hemp remained with a goal and 4 assists for 5 points, while Audrey Wethington and Taylor Heise each recorded two goals and two assists. Gabbie Hughes and Giguere also each posted 3 goals and 3 assists across the five contests, while Anna Klein recorded a goal and 4 assists. In net, Lauren Bench improved to a 2.49 goals-against average and .891 save percentage against the Bulldogs this year, while Makayla Pahl stopped 24 of 25 shots in her one start. After UMD's Emma Söderberg went 2-2-0 with a 2.50 GAA and .919 SV% against the Gophers in the regular season, Jojo Chobak made 34 saves in the semifinal.

Hemp honored as national Rookie of the Year finalist

Minnesota Women's Hockey freshman forward Peyton Hemp was named one of five finalists for Division I Women's Hockey Rookie of the Year, as announced yesterday by the Hockey Commissioners Association. Hemp was a three-time WCHA Rookie of the Month honoree and led the conference in points and goals among freshmen. She became Minnesota's 10th WCHA Rookie of the Year winner behind 31 points on 12 goals (including 5 gamewinners) and 19 assists in the regular season. Congratulations, Peyton!!

As noted in the HCA's announcement, the award recipient is chosen by a vote of the NCAA D-I schools’ assistant coaches, with one vote per staff. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, March 16.

Other NCAA Tournament Matchups – First Round

Quinnipiac University (25-9-3) vs. Syracuse University (15-10-6) – at Ohio State
Thursday, March 10 at 6 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT

University of Wisconsin (25-7-4) vs. Clarkson University (22-11-3) – at Northeastern
Thursday, March 10 at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT

Quarterfinals

Wisconsin / Clarkson at #3-seed Northeastern University (30-4-2)
Saturday, March 12 at 1 p.m. ET / Noon CT

#5-seed Yale University (25-8-1) at #4-seed Colgate (30-7-1)
Saturday, March 12 at 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT

Quinnipiac / Syracuse at #1-seed Ohio State University (29-6-0)
Saturday, March 12 at 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT

The full interactive bracket can be found here.

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 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.