The Penalty Box Post
NCAA Bracket Update
Sunday, March 5th
Gophers Win 2023 WCHA Playoff Championship!!
Gopher Women's Hockey redshirt sophomore Abbey Murphy tallied game-winning, power-play goals in both the WCHA semifinal and championship games to earn the Final Faceoff Most Outstanding Player honor, as Minnesota defeated Wisconsin 4-2 on Friday and Ohio State 3-1 yesterday to claim the program's eighth WCHA Tournament Championship. With the win, the Gophers also earned the automatic berth to the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Savannah Norcross opened the scoring for the Gophers in the first period of title game, netting her second goal of the season. Murphy found the inside of the far post in the second stanza to extend the lead to 2-0 over the Buckeyes. Gabby Rosenthal lit the lamp for Ohio State to cut Minnesota's advantage to one, but Peyton Hemp responded just 57 seconds later to restore the two-goal lead. That was enough for Skylar Vetter, who stopped 34 shots in total including all 13 she faced in the final period. Amanda Thiele made 36 saves for OSU.
In the first two periods of the semifinal against the Badgers, Madison Kaiser & Madeline Wethington gave Minnesota a pair of one-goal leads, but Casey O'Brien and Nicole LaMantia (PP) evened the score for the Wisconsin. Murphy's third-period tally put the Gophers ahead for good and Catie Skaja sealed the win with an empty-netter. Vetter made 23 saves, including a couple of the highlight reel variety, while Taylor Heise dished out a pair of helpers.
Ohio State advanced to the championship game with a 2-1 semifinal victory over Minnesota Duluth. Brooke Bink and Emma Maltais converted a pair of Bulldog turnovers into a 2-0 second-period lead for the Buckeyes. Nina Jobst-Smith scored an extra-attacker goal for UMD with 2:48 to play, but they could not find an equalizer and OSU advanced behind 26 saves from Thiele. Emma Soderberg stopped 34 shots for the Bulldogs.
All-Tournament Team – In addition to Murphy, four other Gophers were also named to the Final Faceoff All-Tournament Team. Here's the full list of honorees.
F - Taylor Heise, Minnesota
F - Peyton Hemp, Minnesota
F - Abbey Murphy, Minnesota
D - Sophie Jaques, Ohio State
D - Madeline Wethington, Minnesota
G - Skylar Vetter, Minnesota
NCAA Tournament – Single-elimination
First Round – Minnesota Duluth (25-9-3) vs. Clarkson (29-10-2)
Thursday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m. CT
Quarterfinal – First-round winner (UMD or Clarkson) vs. #2-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers (29-5-3)
Saturday, March 11 at 2:00 p.m. CT
Both games at Ridder Arena
With the autobid as being the WCHA Tournament Champions, the Golden Gophers enter the 2023 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Hockey Tournament as the #2 seed, earning a quarterfinal home game. Minnesota Duluth and Clarkson will come to Ridder Arena for a First-Round Game on Thursday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m. CT, with the winner advancing to face Minnesota in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 11 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets for both games – individually or as a two-game package – are now on sale, and can be purchased online or by calling the ticket office at 1-800-U-GOPHER (Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm).
More information about these “Minneapolis Regional” games will be shared in our regular issue of the Penalty Box Post on Wednesday.
Other NCAA Tournament Matchups – First Round
University of Wisconsin (25-10-2) vs. Long Island University (20-13-3) – at Colgate
Thursday, March 9 at 6 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT
Quinnipiac University (29-9-0) vs. Penn State (27-8-2) – at Ohio State
Thursday, March 9 at 6 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT
Quarterfinals
Wisconsin / Long Island at #3-seed Colgate University (32-5-2)
Saturday, March 11 at 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT
#5-seed Northeastern University (33-2-1) at #4-seed Yale University (28-3-1)
Saturday, March 11 at 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT
Quinnipiac / Penn State at #1-seed Ohio State University (31-5-2)
Saturday, March 11 at 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT
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