Bench signs Reserve Player Contract with PWHL Minnesota
We send congratulations and best wishes to Gopher Women's Hockey alumna Lauren Bench, who was named Tuesday as having signed a Reserve Player Contract with PWHL Minnesota. She was mistakenly overlooked in our report on PWHL team rosters in Wednesday's Penalty Box Post, and we apologize for the oversight.
Rivalry Series: Murphy scores, Team USA wins Game 3 in OT
Current Gopher Women's Hockey forward Abbey Murphy lit the lamp for the U.S. Women's National Team in Game 3 of the 2023-2024 Rivalry Series against Canada, and American captain Hilary Knight buried a power-play one-timer in overtime to take the contest, 3-2. Knight assisted earlier on Murphy's goal, while Murphy and Taylor Heise earned assists on the gamewinner. With the victory, Team USA takes a 3-0 lead in the series.
Danielle Serdachny gave the Canadians a 1-0 lead, but Kirsten Simms evened things up for the Americans in her senior national team debut. Murphy's goal came 63 seconds later to put the U.S. up 2-1, but Emily Clark tallied in the second period to knot the score for Team Canada. After that, Team USA netminder Aerin Frankel held firm to force overtime, making 32 saves in total, and Knight ended the contest 28 seconds into the extra period. Canadian goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 19 shots.
Game 4 will be tomorrow (Saturday, December 16) in Sarnia, Ontario at 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT, with live TV coverage on NHL Network.
Bouveng, Kreisz, Laitinen also in national team action
Meanwhile, three of Abbey Murphy's current Gopher teammates are playing with their respective national teams in Europe.
Josefin Bouveng is playing for Sweden and Nelli Laitinen is on the Finland National Team roster for the 5 Nations Cup which started this past Wednesday (December 13) in Falun, Sweden. The round-robin event also includes Teams Czechia, Germany, and Switzerland. In Wednesday's action, Czechia defeated the Swiss, 4-1, and Sweden topped Germany, 3-2. Finland won their first game of the tournament, defeating Germany 4-1 yesterday, and Sweden earned a 3-2 win over Switzerland with Bouveng lighting the lamp with 21 seconds left in the second period. Games continue through Sunday.
Elsewhere, Emma Kreisz is in action with the Hungary National Team, which is hosting France, Japan, and Slovakia in another round-robin tournament which started yesterday in Budapest. In opening day competition, Kreisz dished out a pair of assists as the Hungarians shut out the Slovakians, 4-0, and France edged out Japan 2-1. This event continues with games today and tomorrow (Saturday).
We wish Josefin, Emma, and Nelli continued success with their teams, and look forward to seeing them back with the Gophers after the break!!
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