Power Play Club

Looking ahead:

PPC Chalk Talk, February 1 at 12:30 p.m.

The third and final Power Play Club Chalk Talk of the 2024-2025 season with a member of the GWH coaching staff is scheduled for Saturday, February 1 at 12:30 p.m., before the Gophers host the second game of their series against Ohio State. We will again be meeting in the Ridder Arena Weight Room, on the upper level across the hall from the suites. This is an exclusive event for enrolled 2024-2025 club members, and we hope to see many of you there!!

Goals for a Goal

The lamp keeps lighting up for the Gopher Women's Hockey team!! With five weekends left in the regular season, Minnesota has tallied 98 goals with twenty-three (23) coming on the power play! Help us convert each of those goals into a donation back to the team by enrolling in our Goals for a Goal pledge-per-goal program. Submit your pledge at z.umn.edu/GoalsForAGoal, with the option to double the pledge for power play tallies! GO GOPHERS!!

Playoff ticket reminders...

2025 WCHA Final Faceoff, March 7-8 in Duluth – All-session packages for the WCHA Final Faceoff, sponsored by Kwik Trip, are now on sale. The tournament will be played at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth on Friday & Saturday, March 7 and 8. Ticket can be purchased through the UMD Ticketmaster site. Reserved seats – primarily from the faceoff dots at one end of the ice to the other, with some handicapped seating on the concourse – are $35 for adults and $25 for youth & seniors, while general admission seating in all other sections is $25 for adults and $20 for youth & seniors. Single-session tickets will go on sale at a later date.

2025 NCAA Frozen Four, March 21 & 23 at Ridder Arena – The University of Minnesota is once again hosting the NCAA Frozen Four in Minneapolis, and tickets are now on sale through the U. of M. Ticket Office. Chairback seating is $50 for adults and $35 for seniors, students & children, while bench seating is $40 for adults and $25 for seniors, students & children. Reduced rate seating for groups of 15 or more is also available. Single-day tickets are also on sale.

#3 Minnesota Golden Gophers (19-5-1, 13-4-1-0 WCHA)
vs. Bemidji State University Beavers (4-20-1, 2-16-0-0 WCHA)

Field Trip Day at Ridder Arena – Friday, January 24 at 12:00 p.m.

Hockey Day Minnesota 2025 - Saturday, January 25 at 11:30 a.m.
Valleyfair Amusement Park – Shakopee

Minnesota and Bemidji State square off in their last two meetings of the 2024-2025 regular season with a pair of special games. The Gophers host their first Field Trip Day at Ridder Arena on Friday, January 24, with puck drop scheduled for 12:00 p.m. The two teams will then take things outside on Saturday, January 25, for Hockey Day Minnesota 2025 at Valleyfair Amusement Park in Shakopee, scheduled for an 11:30 a.m. start.

Ticket information – Friday's Field Trip Day game is sold out; if you are still in need of tickets to the game, you are encouraged to check the SEATGEEK secondary market.

Tickets for Saturday's full slate of Hockey Day Minnesota games can be purchased here and include admission into the Hockey Day Village and Valleyfair itself.

Saturday parking – On-site parking is available for Saturday but on a pre-pay basis only through the Hockey Day MN ticketing site. Two off-site shuttle options are also available: SouthWest Transit is running a $6 round-trip shuttle service from the SouthWest Station in Eden Prairie (with free rides for kids 5 & under and for disabled veterans with ID), while a free shuttle service is will be running from Mystic Lake Casino Hotel at their bus entrance. Maps and more details are available here.

Game coverage – Friday's game will be streamed on the B1G+ subscription service here. Saturday's contest will be televised on Fan Duel Sports North (check with your cable or satellite service provider for availability) and streamed through the FDSN subscription service. Free audio play-by-play on GopherSports.com continues Friday & Saturday, and live stats can be found here.

This season against Bemidji State – The Gophers are 3-0 against the Beavers in 2024-2025, sweeping their early November series in Bemidji, 2-1 & 4-1, and winning the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum Women's Faceoff Classic by a 4-1 score on New Year's Day. Natalie Mlynkova has 6 of Minnesota's 10 goals plus an assist against BSU, recording a hat trick and her assist in the Hall of Fame Game. Abbey Murphy (2g, 3a) and Ella Huber (1g, 4a) each have 5 points against the Beavers. In net, Hannah Clark has all three wins, stopping a combined 51 of 54 shots for a 1.02 goals-against average and .944 save percentage, and Sophia Johnson made her collegiate debut in a short relief appearance in Bemidji but did not face an official shot on goal. Izy Fairchild, Morgan Smith, and Kate Johnson lit the lamp for the Beavers, Kaitlin Groess stopped 55 of 61 shots (3.06 GAA, .902 SV%) in the two games at the Sanford Center, and Eva Filippova made 28 saves (.903 SV%) in the third meeting.

Analyzing the Beavers – Bemidji State finds itself still stuck at the bottom of the WCHA standings, only recording a home sweep of St. Thomas in mid-November over their 18 league games. Their other success came in non-conference play, earning a win and tie against Lindenwood in October and their program's biggest come-from-behind victory against Brown earlier this month.

A trio of underclassmen lead the Beavers in scoring, as sophomore Hailey Armstrong (#29), freshman Morgan Smith (#21), and redshirt freshman Isa Goettl (#9) each have 13 points. Armstrong is BSU's goals leader with 8 while dishing out 5 assists, Smith has 7 goals & 6 assists, and Goettl is tied with a team-high 7 assists while lighting the lamp 6 times herself. Sophomore Kate Johnson (#14) also has 7 assists and two goals.

As we noted prior to the Hall of Fame Game, four different goaltenders have seen action for BSU this season. Freshman Kaitlin Groess (#1) is now 3-12-0 in 15 starts, with her goals-against average at 3.36 and her save percentage at .901. Sophomore Eva Filippova (#30) has started four games this month (including the New Year's Day contest against the Gophers) but remains winless at 0-6-0 with a 3.87 GAA and .881 SV%. Freshman Lauren Mooney (#35) is 1-0-1 with the tie against Lindenwood and the win over Brown, posting a 3.36 GAA and .841 SV%. Grad student Josie Bothun (#33) lost her two starts with a 5.88 GAA and .813 SV%, and she has not played since the second weekend of the season.

Last weekend for Bemidji State – St. Cloud State netminder Emilia Kyrkkö made 17 saves and Alice Sauriol dished out assists on goals by Emma Gentry, Sofianna Sundelin (PP), and Siiri Yrjölä (PP) to shut out the Beavers in the weekend opener, 3-0. Izy Fairchild and Isa Goettl lit the lamp to put Bemidji State up 2-0 early in the second period of the rematch, but Yrjölä and Laura Zimmermann converted two more power plays for the Huskies to even the score and Sundelin lit the lamp with just 1:09 remaining in the third period to give SCSU a 3-2 victory and the series sweep. Sauriol recorded two more assists to finish with 5 points. BSU's Kaitlin Groess took Friday's loss despite a 28-save performance, and Eva Filippova stopped 18 shots on Saturday.

Gophers earn home-and-home sweep of Minnesota State

Josefin Bouveng (4g, 3a) & Abbey Murphy (2g, 5a) each recorded 7 points as the Gopher Women's Hockey team completed a home-and-home sweep of Minnesota State, 8-3 and 5-2. Bouveng netted her second career hat trick in Saturday's contest in Mankato.

Josefin opened the scoring Friday just 1:01 into the game. MSU's Bella Shipley lit the lamp eight minutes later to even the score, 1-1, but Emma Kreisz put home a loose puck after a goal-mouth scramble late in the first period to put the Gophers back in the lead. Murphy buried a wrister 20 seconds into the 2nd period, though the Mavericks closed back within one on a goal by Kianna Roeske. But Ella Huber and Chloe Primerano (power play) pushed the Gopher lead to 5-2 at the second intermission and Gracie Graham lit the lamp twice in the third to make it 7-2. Alexis Paddington converted a Minnesota State power play, but Peyton Hemp tacked on a short-handed goal for the final result.

The Gophers got an early power play in the rematch and Bouveng finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play from Primerano & Murphy for a 1-0 lead 1:47 into the first period. Allie Franco scored her second goal of the season before the first intermission, Murphy buried a rebound of a shot by Huber 3:18 into the second period, and Bouveng put home a centering pass from Kreisz to put the Gophers up 4-0. Paddington netted her second power-play goal of the weekend and JuliAnna Gazdik lit the lamp halfway through the 3rd stanza to bring the Mavericks within two. However, with MSU's net empty for an extra attacker, Murphy outraced an MSU defender to negate a potential icing call and found Bouveng for the insurance goal and the hat trick.

Hannah Clark stopped a combined 44 shots for the two wins. Hailey Hansen made 42 saves in just over 5 periods of action for Minnesota State, and Jessie McPherson added 8 saves in a 17-minute relief appearance.

Huber finished with 5 points, recording 4 assists to go with her goal. Primerano & Franco also posted 3-point weekends with two assists apiece to go with their respective goals.

Primerano earns weekly award following return to the Gophers

With her one-goal, two-assist performance this past weekend against Minnesota State, Gopher Women's Hockey defender Chloe Primerano was named WCHA Rookie of the Week. This is the second weekly award for Primerano after she was named Defender of the Week following the December series at St. Thomas. It also marks the fourth-straight weekend of action the Gophers have played resulting in a Player of the Week honor. Congratulations, Chloe!!

Gopher news and notes...

Murphy breaks into GWH Top-10 for goals – Abbey Murphy's two goals against Minnesota State were the 89th and 90th of her Gopher career. In reaching 90, Murphy is now 10th all-time in Minesota Women's Hockey history (passing Ambria Thomas' 89); she now sits 3 behind Dani Cameranesi for ninth place.

Additional milestone watches – With her 7 points against the Mavericks, junior forward Josefine Bouveng has 93 career points (39g, 54a), quickly approaching the century mark! Meanwhile, senior Ella Huber's goal this past Friday was the 44th of her collegiate career as she closes in on the 50-goal mark!

Klepinger named to Dean's List – We give a special shout-out to Gopher Women's Hockey sophomore defender Elly Klepinger upon being named to the Dean's List for the Fall 2024 term!! We provide an apology for overlooking her in last week's Penalty Box Post. Keep up the great work, Elly!!

Around the WCHA...

Buckeyes earn road sweep over Bulldogs – Minnesota Duluth netminder Ève Gascon made a career single-game high 58 saves on Friday and added 44 more on Saturday, but five different players lit the lamp for Ohio State as they earned 3-1 and 2-1 victories in Duluth. Kiara Zanon and Joy Dunne each recorded a goal and an assist for OSU, while Olivia Wallin did the same for UMD.

Badgers trounce Tommies – Laila Edwards posted a 9-point series, including a four-goal, one-assist performance on Saturday, as Wisconsin blew out St. Thomas in Mendota Heights, 6-1 & 11-1. Casey O'Brien (3g, 3a) and Kirsten Simms (6a) each tallied six points over the weekend, and Cassie Hall lit the lamp four times (twice in each game). Lauren Stenslie (PP) and Maddy Clough found the back of the net for UST. With their wins, Wisconsin has already secured home ice to open the WCHA conference playoffs at the end of February.

Upcoming games – Ohio State is in Erie, PA, tonight (Tuesday, 1/21) for their rescheduled non-conference game against Mercyhurst. Following that, this coming weekend's action stretches from Thursday through Sunday: St. Thomas will host Minnesota Duluth to open things up on Thursday night and Friday afternoon, Minnesota State will visit Ohio State for a Friday-Saturday series, and St. Cloud State will travel to Madison to face Wisconsin on Saturday and Sunday.

Standings (* clinched home ice for WCHA playoff quarterfinals):
1. Wisconsin* – 55 points (.917 pts%), 18-1-1-0, 0-0 in OT (24-1-1 overall)
2. Minnesota – 39 points (.722 pts%), 13-4-1-0, 1-0 in OT (19-5-1 overall)
3. Ohio State – 39 points (.650 pts%), 12-5-3-2, 2-0 in OT (17-5-3 overall)
4. Minn. Duluth – 34 points (.630 pts%), 10-6-2-2, 0-0 in OT (15-7-2 overall)
5. St. Cloud State – 24 points (.444 pts%), 7-8-3-1, 1-0 in OT (12-8-4 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 16 points (.296 pts%), 4-13-1-0, 0-3 in OT (10-13-1 overall)
7. St. Thomas – 9 points (.167 pts%), 2-15-1-1, 0-1 in OT (5-17-2 overall)
8. Bemidji State – 6 points (.111 pts%), 2-16-0-0, 0-0 in OT (4-20-1 overall)

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Follow the Gopher women's hockey team and all Univ. of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics at gophersports.com. You can also find the Gopher women's hockey team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GopherWomensHockey and on X at x.com/GopherWHockey.