The Penalty Box Post
Thursday, March 2nd
Goals for a Goal: Total increases to 165 goals!
The Power Play Club's Goals for a Goal campaign is collecting pledges for every goal scored by the Gopher Women's Hockey Team, with the resulting donations used to support Ridder Arena improvements. Goals scored in the postseason are included in the count, and so far the team has recorded 165 goals, 31 of which have come on the power play!!
If you have not yet made a pledge, we encourage you to do so online (preferred), or download the pledge form, print it, and mail it in to the Golden Gopher Fund at the listed address. The GGF will send out invoices following the completion of the season. Thanks, and GO GOPHERS!!
Heise named WCHA Forward of the Month, Forward of the Year
We send hearty congratulations to Minnesota Women's Hockey fifth-year co-captain Taylor Heise, as she was named WCHA Forward of the Year yesterday, going back-to-back after earning the award last season!!
Heise led the league with 25 goals and 32 assists for 57 points throughout the regular season, including four short-handed goals, seven on the power play, four game-winners, and a pair of hat tricks. She became the 10th player in Gopher Women's Hockey history to reach the career 200 point mark and was named Hockey Commissioners Association’s National Player of the Month for December. Following a four-goal, five-point series this past weekend in the WCHA First Round / Quarterfinals, she is the national leader in both points-per-game (1.77) and goals-per-game (0.83).
The full-season award follows the fourth WCHA Forward of the Month award in Heise's career, her first this season. Heise recorded 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) in eight February games while posting a +9 rating.
Additionally, Heise continued her climb up the GWH career leaderboards. Most notably, she became Minnesota's all-time leader in games played, with last Saturday's contest being her 169th. She moved up to 6th for career points with 222 (passing Kelly Stephens - 219) and 8th for career goals at 96 (passing Dani Cameranesi - 93).
2023 Kwik Trip WCHA Final Face-off at Ridder Arena
Semifinals – Friday, March 3
#1/1 Ohio State (1st seed) vs. #7/7 MN Duluth (4th seed) – 1 p.m.
#3/3 Minnesota (2nd seed) vs. #6/6 Wisconsin (3rd seed) – 5 p.m.
Championship – Saturday, March 4 at 2:00 p.m.
Ridder Arena hosts the WCHA Final Faceoff for the eighth-consecutive year, featuring four of the top seven teams in the nation. Top ranked and top seeded Ohio State will face Minnesota Duluth in the first semifinal tomorrow – Friday, March 3 – at 1:00 p.m. The 2nd-seeded Golden Gophers will face 3rd-seeded Wisconsin in a fifth round of the Border Battle this season, playing in the second semifinal at 5:00 p.m. The winners will advance to the championship game on Saturday, March 4, at 2:00 p.m.
Tournament television/video coverage – Continuing the WCHA's partnership, all three Final Faceoff contests will have video streaming on the B1G+ subscription service. Additionally, all three will also be broadcast on FOX 9+ in the Twin Cities, with streaming of that station through Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV, fuboTV, and YouTube TV. More information has been posted by the WCHA here.
Ticket information – All-session packages are still available and single-session tickets can be purchased from the University of Minnesota Ticket Office through GopherSports.com or by calling 1-800-U-GOPHER during normal business hours (M-F, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
All-session packages are $37 for reserved chairback seating, $27 for adult general admission (bench) seating, $20 for general admission for seniors, students & youth, and $10 per ticket for general admission groups of 10 or more.
Semifinal Friday tickets are $20 for reserved chairback seating, $15 for adult general admission (bench) seating, $12.50 for general admission for seniors, students & youth, and $7 per ticket for general admission groups of 10 or more.
Championship Saturday tickets are $25 for reserved chairback seating, $18 for adult general admission (bench) seating, $12.50 for general admission for seniors, students & youth, and $8.50 per ticket for general admission groups of 10 or more.
How they got here...
Gophers sweep St. Thomas in conference quarterfinals
Grace Zumwinkle posted a six-point weekend on 3 goals and 3 assists, Taylor Heise lit the lamp 4 times and recorded an assist, Abbey Murphy tallied 2 goals & 2 assists, Catie Skaja added a goal & 3 helpers, and Skylar Vetter stopped a combined 36 of 38 shots – including all 14 she faced on Friday – as the Gopher Women's Hockey team swept 7th-seeded St. Thomas, 7-0 and 6-2, in the WCHA First Round / Quarterfinals. Peyton Hemp, Madeline Wethington, and Crystalyn Hengler also found the back of the net for Minnesota. Tommies goaltender Saskia Maurer made 34 saves over the first two periods Friday before being relieved by Maggie Malecha, who stopped 10 shots; Maurer made another 51 saves on Saturday. Breija Parent and Maija Almich scored for St. Thomas.
Zumwinkle's 107th, 108th, and 109th career goals moved her to 3rd in Minnesota program history, passing Krissy Wendell (108). She also passed both Dani Cameranesi and Ambria Thomas on the overall scoring list and now sits 8th with 206 points.
Wisconsin took third in the WCHA standings with a 19-7-2-1 (2-2 in OT) conference record, plus a 4-2-0 mark in non-conference action. Hosting 6th-seeded Minnesota State, the Badgers got a 21-save shutout performance from Cami Kronish and second-period goals by Kirsten Simms, Caroline Harvey, and Sarah Wozniewicz to win the opener, 3-0. Sydney Langseth put the Mavericks ahead 1-0 at the first intermission of Saturday's Game 2, but Britta Curl & Laila Edwards gave Wisconsin the lead in the second stanza and Wozniewicz & Lacey Eden scored in the third for a 4-1 victory and the series sweep. Kronish made another 26 saves. MSU's Alexa Berg stopped a combined 86 shots.
Ohio State earned their first WCHA regular-season championship with a 23-4-1-1 (3-2 in OT) conference record plus a 5-0-1 mark in non-conference play. The Buckeyes swept 8th-seeded Bemidji State in the quarterfinals, posting 4-1 and 2-1 victories. Sophie Jaques did much of the damage in the opener, recording her first career hat trick, including the game-winning goal with 0.2 seconds left in the second period. Emma Maltais added an empty-net tally and two assists. Sloane Matthews put OSU up 1-0 two minutes into Game 2, and Jenn Gardiner doubled the Buckeyes' lead with 3:43 remaining in regulation. Claire Vekich pulled the Beavers back within one on a power-play goal 80 seconds later, but they could not find the equalizer as their season came to an end. Amanda Thiele made 27 saves in the series for OSU, while BSU's Hannah Hogenson stopped 69 shots.
Minnesota Duluth finished fourth in the conference standings, posting a 17-8-3-2 (4-2 in OT) mark in WCHA play, though they were a perfect 6-0-0 in non-conference action. The Bulldogs faced St. Cloud State in the quarterfinals, also earning a sweep with 1-0 and 5-1 wins. Former Bulldog Jojo Chobak stopped 32 shots for the Huskies in the opener, but Maggie Flaherty scored on a power play with 2:34 remaining in regulation and Emma Soderberg earned her 11th shutout of the season with 23 saves. Naomi Rogge scored twice and Kylie Hanley tallied a goal and two assists for UMD in the rematch, and Soderberg stopped another 23 shots. Sanni Ahola and Chobak combined for 43 saves.
Final Faceoff Semifinal Matchups
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin – Friday's semifinal game may not only decide whether the Gophers or Badgers advance to Saturday's championship contest, but could also be the determining factor as to which of the two teams hosts an NCAA quarterfinal and which goes on the road.
Wisconsin had Minnesota's number in the regular season, going 2-0-2 in the four meetings and taking 9 of the 12 conference standings points. In Madison in November, the teams played to a 3-3 tie with the Gophers earning the extra point with the shootout win, but the Badgers won the rematch 4-1. Last month at Ridder Arena, it was Wisconsin taking the bonus point for a shootout win after a 2-2 tie, and they again won the rematch in a wild 7-5 game. Grace Zumwinkle led the Gophers in total scoring in the season series with 6 points on 2 goals & 4 assists, while Taylor Heise lit the lamp 4 times & added an assist and Abbey Murphy tallied 2 goals & 2 assists. Jesse Compher recorded 3 goals & 2 assists for the Badgers, Lacey Eden dished out 5 assists, and Kirsten Simms (3g, 1a), Laila Edwards (2g, 2a) & Casey O'Brien (1g, 3a) each posted 4 points. Shots on goal slightly favored the Gophers 157 to 149 but Skylar Vetter recorded an .899 save percentage with a 3.60 goals-against average, compared to Cami Kronish's .929 SV% and 2.69 GAA for Wisconsin.
Ohio State vs. Minnesota Duluth – The Buckeyes are comfortably in the NCAA Tournament field and the Bulldogs appear to be safely in as well but could use a good weekend showing.
While Ohio State had a 3-1-0 against UMD in their four head-to-head contests, each of the games was decided by one goal with two of them going to overtime. The Buckeyes took the first two meetings in Columbus in late October, 3-2 (OT) and 3-2, then won their first meeting in Duluth in December by a 2-1 score before the Bulldogs won the rematch 5-4 (OT). A 69-42 shots on goal advantage in the October meetings gave the Buckeyes a combined 131-108 edge in the season series. Gabby Rosenthal led the Buckeyes with 6 points on 3 goals & 3 assists against the Bulldogs, Jenn Gardiner added 5 points on 2 goals & 3 assists, the quartet of Sophie Jaques, Paetyn Levis, Emma Maltais & Makenna Webster each added a goal & two assists, and Jenna Buglioni lit the lamp twice. UMD's Nina Jobst-Smith recorded 5 points on a goal & 4 assists in the four contests, Mannon McMahon added a goal & 3 helpers, Clara Van Wieren found the back of the net 3 times, and Kylie Hanley (2g, 1a) & Gabbie Hughes (1g, 2a) each also tallied 3 points. Between the pipes, OSU's Amanda Thiele posted a .905 save percentage & 1.94 GAA in the October series and Raygan Kirk recorded a .909 SV% & 2.91 GAA in December. Bulldogs goaltender Emma Soderberg played all four games, registering a .908 SV% and 2.98 GAA.
Current Pairwise Rankings
Top 10 plus other teams still active in respective conference tournaments
1. Ohio State (30-4-2 overall record, .6698 NPI)
2. Yale (28-2-1, .6554)
3. Minnesota (27-5-3, .6459)
4. Colgate (30-5-2, .6401)
5. Northeastern (32-2-1, .6259)
6. Wisconsin (25-9-2, .6223)
7. Minnesota Duluth (25-8-3, .6106)
8. Quinnipiac (29-8-0, .6007)
9. Clarkson (28-9-2, .5809)
10. Penn State (26-8-2, .5754)
14. Providence (22-10-4, .5577)
18. Mercyhurst (21-13-2, .5344)
22. Long Island Univ. (19-13-3, .5071)
27. St. Anselm (18-16-4, .4851)
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday, March 5 at Noon ET / 11 a.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNews. New this year, the playoff champion from the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) earns an autobid to the 11-team field, joining the playoff champions from the CHA, ECAC, Hockey East, and WCHA. Rankings and NPI calculations courtesy of USCHO.com.
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