The Penalty Box Post
Wednesday, March 8th
Goals for a Goal program continues counting...
After lighting the lamp 7 times during the WCHA Final Faceoff, the Gopher Women's Hockey team has recorded 172 goals this season, 33 of which have come on the power play!!
The Power Play Club's Goals for a Goal campaign is collecting pledges for each of those goals, with the resulting donations used to support Ridder Arena improvements. 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!!
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
After claiming the program's eighth WCHA Tournament Championship with wins over Wisconsin and Ohio State, 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, playing on Thursday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m. CT. The winner of that contest advances to face Minnesota in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 11 at 2:00 p.m.
Ticket information – Tickets for both games, individually or as a two-game package, can be purchased online or by calling the ticket office at 1-800-U-GOPHER (Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm).
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 Golden Knights – With a 15-6-1 conference record, Clarkson finished fourth in the ECAC standings. Hosting 5th-seeded Cornell to open the playoffs, the Knights took the opener 5-1 but fell in the second game, 2-1 in double overtime. They bounced back with a 4-1 victory in the deciding game against the Big Red, then played the role of spoiler in the ECAC semifinal by upsetting host and #1-seeded Yale 4-3 in another double-OT contest. However, they ran into a hot Colgate team and fell 8-2 in the conference championship game. Still, that was enough to earn the final at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
Junior Anne Cherkowski (#24) returns to Ridder Arena for the first time since playing with the Gophers in 2020-2021; she is tied with senior Gabrielle David (#8) for the Clarkson's overall scoring lead with 52 points. Cherkowski has a team-high 23 goals plus 29 assists, with 10 of her points (3g, 7a) coming in the postseason. David has 21 goals and a team-leading 31 assists. Senior Darcie Lappan (#27) is the Knights' third 40-point scorer, lighting the lamp 13 times and dishing out 27 assists.
Junior Michelle Pasiechnyk (#1) has been Clarkson's primary goaltender, posting a 24-9-1 record with 9 shutouts in her 34 starts, a 1.68 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. Freshman Julia Minotti (#31) is 4-1-1 in her six starts; along with two relief appearances, she has a 2.14 GAA and .863 SV%. Sophomore Holly Gruber (#35) won her lone start, stopping 16 of 17 shots against Brown in January, and sophomore Alexa Madrid (#30) made two saves with one goal against in a 20-minute relief appearance against Cornell in November.
Last meeting: Clarkson vs. Minnesota Duluth – The Golden Knights paid a visit to AMSOIL Arena in October 2019, splitting the non-conference series against the Bulldogs. Goals by Gabbie Hughes and Sydney Brodt put UMD up 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes, but Brooke McQuigge & Michaela Pejzlova lit the lamp for Clarkson in the second period and Elizabeth Giguere added an insurance goal for the Knights in the third, completing a 4-2 win. In the rematch, Hughes & Brodt scored again for the Bulldogs and Maddie Rooney stopped all 29 shots she faced for a 2-0 shutout victory.
Last meeting: Clarkson vs. Minnesota – The Golden Knights and Golden Gophers have not met since the 2017 NCAA Tournament Semifinals in St. Charles, Missouri. It was a back-and-forth contest with Clarkson taking a one-goal lead in each period and Minnesota tying it later in the same stanza. However, Rhyen McGill's goal with 1:31 remaining in regulation gave the Knights' their fourth lead of the game, and it held for a 4-3 victory to knock off the Gophers. Genevieve Bannon led Clarkson with a goal and two assists, and Shea Tiley stopped 28 shots for the win. Kate Schipper, Sarah Potomak, and Sophie Skarzynski lit the lamp for Minnesota, and Sidney Peters made 21 saves.
Clarkson would claim their second of their three NCAA championships two days later, defeating Wisconsin 3-0.
Minnesota vs. Minnesota Duluth this season – The Gophers won all four meetings against the Bulldogs so far this season, earning 3-2 (OT) and 5-3 victories at Ridder Arena in November, then sweeping the January series at AMSOIL Arena 3-1 and 4-3. Grace Zumwinkle led the Gophers in total scoring over the four contests, dishing out 5 assists; meanwhile, Catie Skaja & Abbey Murphy each found the back of the net 3 times, with Skaja also recording an assist for 4 points. Taylor Heise also tallied four points on a goal & 3 assists. UMD had 4 three-point scorers: Mannon McMahon (2g, 1a), Nina Jobst-Smith (1g, 2a), Hanna Baskin (3a), and Ashton Bell (3a); Gabby Krause also lit the lamp twice. Skylar Vetter earned all four wins, posting a 2.25 goals-against average and .921 save percentage. Emma Soderberg started all four games for the Bulldogs and recorded a 4.04 GAA and .873 SV%; Hailey MacLeod entered in relief of the second November contest and stopped all 15 shots she faced in 28 minutes of work.
Heise, Zumwinkle named Kazmaier Award Top 10 Finalists
Top 3 announcement expected later Wednesday, March 8
Catching up on news from last week, we congratulate Minnesota Women's Hockey fifth-year co-captains Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle on being named Top 10 Finalists for the 2023 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, as announced by the USA Hockey Foundation last Thursday!!
Already having earned back-to-back WCHA Forward of the Year awards, Heise leads the Gophers with 65 points on 29 goals & 36 assists and could become only the second player to win the Kazmaier Award twice, the first to do it in consecutive seasons. Red Line Editorial, Inc. put together a profile here.
Zumwinkle was a Top 3 Finalist for the 2021 Kazmaier Award before centralizing with Team USA for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. She now has 60 points on 25 goals and 35 assists this season. Her profile from Red Line Editorial, Inc. is available here.
The Top 3 Finalists announcement is expected later today (Wednesday, March 8), and we encourage you to watch social media for updates.
The presentation of the 2023 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award will take place Saturday, March 18, in the AMSOIL Arena Ticket Lobby in Duluth. The ceremony, part of Saturday at the NCAA Women's Frozen Four, will begin promptly at 11:30 a.m. CT, with doors opening at 11:00 a.m. CT. Fans are invited to attend free of charge, and the ceremony will also be televised live on NHL Network.
Heise named National Co-Player of the Month
Additionally, Taylor Heise earned another honor for her 15-point performance in February on 9 goals & 6 assists, being named National Co-Player of the Month by the Hockey Commissioners Association yesterday. The award accompanies her selection as WCHA Forward of the Month. Congratulations, Taylor!!
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
The full interactive bracket can be found here.
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