PPC and GWH events to kick off season's “second half”
Brunch with the Coaches – Saturday, January 6 at 9:45 a.m. – Join us early in the new year in the 3M Arena at Mariucci Club Room as we welcome University of Connecticut women's hockey head coach Chris MacKenzie (pictured) and our own Brad Frost. We look forward to hearing from Coach MacKenzie about playing in Hockey East and battling for a league title & an NCAA Tournament berth. At the holiday break, the Huskies are tied atop the Hockey East standings. Register by mail by Saturday, December 30 using the downloadable form (PDF) available here and sending it in to the listed address. Tickets are $30 per person and Power Play Club membership is not required.
Skate with the Gophers – postgame on January 6 – Skate with the Gophers returns following the Saturday contest against UConn. Stick around to skate on the Ridder ice, play games on the concourse and get autographs from Gopher players. All participants must register here by Friday, December 29. Attendance at the game is required.
Locker Sponsor gathering – January 13 – We thank all of our Power Play Club members for supporting Gopher Women's Hockey. Our special event for Locker Sponsors with the team is scheduled for Saturday, January 13, before that afternoon's game against Ohio State. More details will be shared as that date approaches.
Goals for a Goal: Gophers hit 74 goals (20 on PP) at break
With 18 games down and 16 to play, the Gopher Women's Hockey team has lit the lamp 74 times this season, netting 20 of those while on the power play! The Power Play Club's Goals for a Goal program converts those into charitable contributions back to the team through your pledges to donate a dollar amount per goal scored during the regular season and postseason. We also encourage you to exercise the option to double your pledge for power play goals. Pledges can be submitted electronically through this online form.
Recap: Gophers, Badgers split Border Battle series at Ridder
Abbey Murphy lit the lamp twice, Sadie Lindsay netted her second career goal, Solveig Neunzert tallied her first goal in Maroon & Gold, Nelli Laitinen also scored, and Lucy Morgan made 33 saves at the other end of the ice to lead Minnesota to a 5-3 victory over Wisconsin in their series opener this past Friday night at Ridder Arena. Kirsten Simms recorded a goal and an assist for the Badgers, but Jane Gervais made only 17 saves.
Josefin Bouveng put the Gophers up 1-0 in the second period of Saturday's rematch, but the Badgers responded with five-straight goals, two coming from Lacey Eden. Simms recorded another goal & assist for a four-point series, and Ava McNaughton stopped 23 of 24 shots. Skylar Vetter made 36 saves for Minnesota.
Abbey Murphy reaches – and surpasses – 100 career points
Gopher Women's Hockey junior forward Abbey Murphy's opening goal in the first period Friday night was her 100th career point with Minnesota, and she followed it up with her 101st point on a power-play goal later in the stanza. She now has 58 career goals and 43 assists. Congratulations, Abbey! We look forward to seeing what awaits when the season resumes in January!
Mid-season recap...
The Golden Gopher Women's Hockey team finds themselves second not only in the WCHA standings but also in both national polls, behind top-ranked Ohio State and just ahead of #3 Wisconsin. Minnesota has a 14-3-1 overall mark and 10-3-1-1 record in conference play, losing twice to the Buckeyes (one in overtime), the recent weekend split against the Badgers, and the tie eight days ago against St. Cloud State. That said, they have sweeps of Minnesota State, Bemijdi State, and St. Thomas, plus non-conference wins against RIT (twice), Harvard, and Cornell.
Special teams have been special for the Gophers this season. Their 37.7% power play conversion rate (20 of 53) leads WCHA teams and is second nationally (Colgate - 38.1%). Minnesota also leads the WCHA in penalty kill rate at 92.4% (61 of 66), though they slipped to fourth nationally after this past weekend; even so, the Gophers have scored 6 short-handed goals versus the 5 opposing power-play goals they've yielded.
Overall, Minnesota is third in the WCHA and fourth nationally in scoring offense, netting 4.11 goals per game. Abbey Murphy tops the national individual goal scoring lists with her 21 overall and 1.17 goals-per-game average. With 12 assists to give her 33 points, Murphy's tied for third in Division I with a 1.83 points-per-game average. Josefin Bouveng is having a breakout sophomore season, already passing her freshman season point total; she has 22 points on 5 goals and 17 assists. The third member of the line with Murphy & Bouveng, junior Ella Huber, has also surpassed the 20-point mark so far this season; she has 21 on 8 goals and 13 assists. Following Peyton Hemp's 15 points (7g, 8a), freshmen Emma Kreisz (3g, 11a) and Ava Lindsay (7g, 6a) are next of the Gopher scoring list with 14 & 13 points, respectively. Nelli Laitinen is the top-scoring defender, also with 13 points (6g, 7a).
At the defensive end, Minnesota is in the top 10 nationally, placing ninth at 1.67 goals-per-game, though that's fifth among WCHA teams. Junior Skylar Vetter is 7-3-1 with two shutouts in her 11 starts, posting a 2.00 goals-against average and .932 save percentage. Graduate transfer Lucy Morgan is a perfect 7-0-0 so far this season with one shutout, a 1.13 GAA (5th nationally), and a .953 SV% (4th nationally).
Team USA, three Gophers face Canada in Rivalry Series this week
We again provide a reminder that the U.S. Women's National Hockey Team will take on Canada in the third and fourth games of the 2023-2024 Rivalry Series tomorrow night (Thursday, December 14) in Kitchener, Ontario at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT, and Saturday, December 16, in Sarnia, ON at 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT. Both games will be televised live on NHL Network.
Current Gopher forward Abbey Murphy and Minnesota alumnae Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek, and Grace Zumwinkle were named to the American roster for this month's games on November 30. Unfortunately, Zumwinkle will not be playing as she recovers from an injury. We wish the other three all the best in these contests.
Games 5 & 6 of the Rivalry Series will be held on February 7 & 9 in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan (respectively), with tickets available here. The teams will then come south of the border to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Sunday, February 11, for the series finale at 1 p.m. CT; tickets for that game can be purchased here.
Gopher recruits Clark, Graham named to Canada's U18 team – Staying on the subject of national teams, we send congratulations to incoming 2024-2025 Gopher freshmen Hannah Clark & Gracie Graham, who were named to the Team Canada roster for the 2024 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship yesterday (December 12). We also wish them good luck at the tournament, which runs January 6 through 14 in Zug, Switzerland.
Ten (10) Gopher alumnae named to PWHL final team rosters
The Professional Women's Hockey League released its final team rosters for the 2024 season yesterday afternoon, and we congratulate the ten (10) Gopher Women's Hockey alumnae who will be suiting up!
Boston – Hannah Brandt, Emily Brown, and Gigi Marvin
Minnesota – Taylor Heise, Amanda Leveille, Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein, and Grace Zumwinkle
New York – Savannah Norcross
Toronto – Olivia Knowles
Additionally, we recognize Abigail Boreen upon signing a Reserve Player Contract with Minnesota.
Toronto will host New York to open the league's inaugural season on New Year's Day (Monday, January 1) at 12:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. CT. Minnesota will visit Boston in the first regular-season action for both teams on Wednesday, January 3, at 7:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. CT. Minnesota will then open its home schedule at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday, January 6, against Montreal at 2:30 p.m. CT.
Around the WCHA...
Ohio State sweeps Minnesota State – Cayla Barnes, Jenna Buglioni, and Hadley Hartmetz each tallied a goal & two assista, and goaltenders Raygan Kirk and Amanda Thiele combined to stop 42 of 44 shots for the Buckeyes, defeating the Mavericks 6-1 and 4-1 in Columbus. Kianna Roeske & Sydney Langseth lit the lamp for MSU, Whitney Tuttle assisted on both goals, and Lauren Barbro & Suzette Faucher made a combined 75 saves.
Huskies take 4 points from Bulldogs – Minnesota Duluth defeated St. Cloud State, 2-1, in their series opener in St. Cloud, but needed overtime to do it as Tova Henderson lit the lamp on a power play 2:53 into the extra period; Ève Gascon stopped 37 of 38 shots. However, five different Huskies lit the lamp in the rematch in a 5-1 victory; Alice Sauriol netted the game-winning goal, Avery Farrell scored her second goal of the weekend short-handed, and Sanni Ahola made 35 saves. UMD netminder Hailey MacLeod suffered her first loss in 14 career starts.
Beavers, Tommies split in Mendota Heights – Ella Boerger tallied the game-winning and insurance goals after an earlier assist, and Olivia King made 22 saves as St. Thomas defeated Bemidji State in the opener of their weekend series, 4-2. However, BSU netminder Eva Filippova stopped all 35 shots she faced in the rematch, Taylor Nelson netted her second goal of the weekend, and three other Beavers scored for a 4-0 victory and the series split.
Next action – All eight WCHA teams are idle the next two weekends for the holiday break. Bemidji State will resume action at the end of December, playing in the Battle in the Burgh against host Robert Morris on the 29th and either Colgate or Maine on the 30th.
Standings:
1. Ohio State – 37 points (.881 pts%), 13-1-0-0, 2-0 in OT (16-2-0 overall)
2. Minnesota – 33 points (.786 pts%), 10-3-1-1, 0-1 in OT (14-3-1 overall)
3. Wisconsin – 31 points (.738 pts%), 10-4-0-0, 0-1 in OT (14-4-0 overall)
4. St. Cloud State – 26 points (.619 pts%), 8-5-1-0, 0-1 in OT (13-6-1 overall)
5. Minn. Duluth – 23 points (.548 pts%), 8-6-0-0, 1-0 in OT (11-6-1 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 9 points (.214 pts%), 3-11-0-0, 1-1 in OT (7-12-0 overall)
7. Bemidji State – 6 points (.143 pts%), 2-12-0-0, 1-1 in OT (2-15-1 overall)
8. St. Thomas – 3 points (.071 pts%), 1-13-0-0, 0-0 in OT (7-14-0 overall)
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