Power Play Club

PPC & GWH events this Saturday (January 11)

Locker Sponsor gathering at 8:45 a.m. – Locker Sponsorship tier members of the Power Play Club are reminded that our special event is on Saturday morning. You are asked to arrive in the Ridder Arena lobby no later than 8:45 a.m.

Chalk Talk at 12:30 p.m. – The second of our Power Play Club Chalk Talks with a member of the Gopher Women's Hockey coaching staff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Ridder Arena Weight Room (upper level, across the hall from the suites). This is an exclusive event for enrolled 2024-2025 club members. We look forward to seeing many of you there!!

Skate with the Gophers after the game – Spots are still available for the Skate with the Gophers event following Saturday's contest against St. Thomas. Fans are encouraged to attend this fun time with the team, though you must have a ticket to the game and register in advance at z.umn.edu/WHOSkate2025.

Goals for a Goal

As the official booster organization of Gopher Women's Hockey, one of the Power Play Club's primary objectives is to support the team financially, and we need your help!! Our Goals for a Goal pledge-per-goal program converts every goal scored by the Gophers into donations back to the program. Restarting WCHA play, Minnesota has tallied 76 goals, eighteen (18) of which have come on the power play! Submit your pledge at z.umn.edu/GoalsForAGoal, with the option to double the pledge for power play tallies! GO GOPHERS!!

#3 Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-5-1, 9-4-1-0 WCHA)
vs. University of St. Thomas Tommies (5-13-2, 2-11-1-1 WCHA)
Friday, January 10, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 11, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.
Ridder Arena

With non-conference play completed, the Gopher Women's Hockey team will be in WCHA action for the duration of the regular season, starting with a home series against the University of St. Thomas Tommies. The teams square off at Ridder Arena on Friday, January 10, at 6:00 p.m. and continue Saturday, January 11, at 2:00 p.m.

Game coverage – Both contests will have video streaming on the B1G+ subscription service (Friday / Saturday), and Saturday's game will also be televised on Fox 9+. Free audio play-by-play on GopherSports.com continues Friday & Saturday, and live stats can be found here.

Last time against St. Thomas – The Gopher Women's Hockey team had little difficulty at Saint Thomas Ice Arena in their last series before the winter break, sweeping the Tommies 5-0 and 6-2. Josefin Bouveng netted Minnesota's first two goals of the weekend, Abbey Murphy took over with an 8-point series on 3 goals and 5 assists, Chloe Primerano recorded a goal & an assist in each game for a 4-point weekend, Nelli Laitinen and Sydney Morrow each added a goal and two helpers, Ella Huber dished out 3 assists, and Peyton Hemp lit the lamp twice. Rylee Bartz and former Gopher Sadie Lindsay scored for St. Thomas. Hannah Clark needed only 14 saves in the opener to earn her first collegiate shutout and she stopped another 20 shots in the rematch, while Tommies starter Dani Strom made 64 saves in five periods of action and Maggie Malecha added 14 saves in relief.

Analyzing the Tommies – While we documented St. Thomas' multiple changes before the Gophers faced them in December, little has occurred in the interim as the Tommies have not played an official game since then. They remain seventh in the WCHA standings with a 2-11-1-1 record, having a 5-13-2 mark overall.

Sophomore Maddie Brown (#17) continues to lead the Tommies with 9 goals and now 13 total points, tallying an assist against the Gophers in December. Sophomore Cara Sajevic (#7) also dished out an assist in the earlier series, improving her total to 11 points on 5 goals and 6 helpers, while freshman Chloe Boreen (#20) remains at 11 points on four goals and seven assists. With two helpers in the December series, sophomore Keara Parker (#13) improved to 10 points (4g, 6a), while classmate Rylee Bartz (#6) has 9 points (5g, 4a).

With the two losses to Minnesota, freshman Dani Strom (#1) now has a 2-11-2 record, with her goals-against average increasing to 3.51 and her save percentage falling to .898. Grad student Calla Frank (#32) remains 3-1-0 in her four starts, with a 2.00 GAA and .927 SV%. Junior Maggie Malecha (#33) saw her stats improve after stopping 14 of 15 shots in one period of action against the Gophers; she now has a 3.35 GAA and .863 SV%.

Last weekend for St. Thomas – Though not in official action, the Tommies played an exhibition last Saturday against St. Cloud State in St. Louis Park. That said, no game report has been provided by either team.

Gophers rout Brown, fall to Penn State in East/West Showcase

Hosting non-conference competition in the East/West Showcase at Ridder Arena, the Gopher Women's Hockey team posted a 9-1 victory over the Brown Bears Friday, but were upset by the #11/12 Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday, 6-2.

Nelli Laitinen's goal 1:39 into the contest against the Bears got the ball rolling. Peyton Hemp netted her 50th career goal and added 2 assists; Carly Humphrey tallied her first collegiate goal; Natalie Mlynkova lit the lamp twice, her 4th & 5th goals over a two-game span; Abbey Murphy added a goal & 2 helpers; Sydney Morrow tallied a goal & an assist; and Ava Lindsay & Ella Huber each dished out 3 assists. While India McDadi lit the lamp for Brown to break up a shutout bid, Hannah Clark stopped the other 15 shots she faced.

Unfortunately, the game against Penn State went downhill quickly for Minnesota. Though the Gophers held a 12-6 advantage in shots-on-goal after 20 minutes, they found themselves down 4-0 at the intermission. From there, the teams traded goals, with Morrow lighting the lamp both times for Minnesota, the first coming on a power play. Stella Retrum found the back of the net twice for the Nittany Lions, Tessa Janecke added a goal & an assist, and Katie DeSa stopped 32 shots. Clark made 19 saves for the Gophers.

Morrow earns WCHA award; Hemp, Humphrey score milestones

With a combined 4-point (3g, 1a) performance in the East/West Showcase, recording multiple points in each game and netting her 4th & team-high 5th power-play goals of the season, Gopher Women's Hockey junior Sydney Morrow was named WCHA Defender of the Week. It is the first such award of her collegiate career. Congratulations, Sydney!!

As mentioned above, Gopher Women's Hockey senior co-captain Peyton Hemp's goal against Brown was the 50th of her collegiate career! This is the second milestone mark of the season for Hemp after she surpassed the career 100-point mark in November. She now has 106 points with 56 assists to go with her 50 goals. Congratulations, Peyton!!

At the other end of the spectrum, Gopher freshman Carly Humphrey netted her first collegiate goal on Friday against Brown. It was also her first collegiate point, and came in only her 4th game played. Congratulations, Carly!!

IIHF U-18 Women's World Championship update –
Primerano, Fanale lead Canada & USA into elimination round

Current Gopher Women's Hockey defender Chloe Primerano and future Gopher Bella Fanale have captained Teams Canada and USA, respectively, to the top positions of their groups through preliminary round play at the 2025 IIHF U-18 Women's World Championship in Vantaa, Finland, placing them at opposite sides of the bracket in the elimination round which begins tomorrow (Thursday, January 9).

Team Canada took the top spot in Group B with wins over Slovakia (6-2), Switzerland (5-1), and Czechia (5-0). Primerano, already holding the record she set last year for most points by a defender in a single U18 Championship (16 points on 8g & 8a), has tallied two goals and a helper in this year's tournament. Her 19 combined points over the two events is a new record for scoring by a defenseman in U18 Women's Worlds competition.

Fanale, who will join the Gophers as a freshman next autumn, leads the American squad with 5 points on 2 goals & 3 assists, currently placing her in a second-place tie for scoring among all players this year. Team USA finished first in Group A without yielding a goal in their three preliminary games, shutting out Japan (6-0), Sweden (3-0), and Finland (5-0).

In the quarterfinals, Team USA will take on Slovakia and current tournament scoring leader Nela Lopusanova (4g, 4a, 8pts) at 5:30 a.m. U.S. Central Time tomorrow, while Canada faces Japan at 12:30 p.m. U.S. Central. The other two games feature Sweden vs. Switzerland and Czechia vs. Finland. Winners will advance to Saturday's semifinals, with the Bronze & Gold Medal Games on Sunday.IIHF U-18 Women's

World Championship update –
Primerano, Fanale lead Canada & USA into elimination round

Current Gopher Women's Hockey defender Chloe Primerano and future Gopher Bella Fanale have captained Teams Canada and USA, respectively, to the top positions of their groups through preliminary round play at the 2025 IIHF U-18 Women's World Championship in Vantaa, Finland, placing them at opposite sides of the bracket in the elimination round which begins tomorrow (Thursday, January 9).

Team Canada took the top spot in Group B with wins over Slovakia (6-2), Switzerland (5-1), and Czechia (5-0). Primerano, already holding the record she set last year for most points by a defender in a single U18 Championship (16 points on 8g & 8a), has tallied two goals and a helper in this year's tournament. Her 19 combined points over the two events is a new record for scoring by a defenseman in U18 Women's Worlds competition.

Fanale, who will join the Gophers as a freshman next autumn, leads the American squad with 5 points on 2 goals & 3 assists, currently placing her in a second-place tie for scoring among all players this year. Team USA finished first in Group A without yielding a goal in their three preliminary games, shutting out Japan (6-0), Sweden (3-0), and Finland (5-0).

In the quarterfinals, Team USA will take on Slovakia and current tournament scoring leader Nela Lopusanova (4g, 4a, 8pts) at 5:30 a.m. U.S. Central Time tomorrow, (Thursday, January 9, 2025) while Canada faces Japan at 12:30 p.m. U.S. Central. The other two games feature Sweden vs. Switzerland and Czechia vs. Finland. Winners will advance to Saturday's semifinals, with the Bronze & Gold Medal Games on Sunday.

Around the WCHA...

Beavers also fall to Penn State, defeat Brown – In the other half of the East/West Showcase, Bemidji State could not hold on to a 3-1 lead over the Nittany Lions, falling 6-4. However, they rallied from 4-1 down to Brown to post the largest comeback in their program's history, winning 5-4. Morgan Smith led the Beavers with a combined 5 points on 2 goals & 3 assists, Hailey Armstrong scored both the game-tying and game-winning goals Saturday and dished out two assists, and Isa Goettl added two goals and an assist.

Badgers get win, tie vs. Buckeyes, OSU earns shootout point – Lacey Eden led Wisconsin with two goals & an assist and Ava McNaughton stopped all 18 shots she faced for a 6-0 shutout win over Ohio State in Madison on Thursday. Playing outdoors Saturday in The Frozen Confines game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the teams traded leads in regulation; Joy Dunne put the Buckeyes up 3-2 at the 2:38 mark of the third period, but Kelly Gorbatenko knotted the score for the Badgers with 5:43 to play, and the contest finished in a 3-3 tie. OSU picked up the shootout point, winning when Jenna Buglioni netted the only goal in 7th round.

Bulldogs sweep Orange in Duluth – Clara Van Wieren tallied 2 goals & 2 assists including Thursday's game-winning goal, Caitlin Kraemer added two goals & an assist including Friday's game-winner, and Olivia Wallin also lit the lamp twice with an assist as Minnesota Duluth swept Syracuse at AMSOIL Arena, 6-2 and 2-1.

Mavericks earn road sweep of Lindenwood – Whitney Tuttle lit the lamp 4 times and Audrey Garton added a goal & 3 assists as Minnesota State routed Lindenwood Friday, 8-1. Alexis Paddington and Taylor Otremba each tallied a goal & an assist Saturday as the Mavericks completed the sweep of the Lions, 4-1. Otremba had 3 helpers in Friday's contest, giving her a five-point weekend.

Upcoming games – Returning to league play throughout the conference, St. Cloud State heads to Columbus to face Ohio State and Minnesota Duluth hosts Bemidji State, with both those series being played Friday & Saturday. Minnesota State visits Wisconsin on Saturday and Sunday.

Standings:
1. Wisconsin – 43 points (.896 pts%), 14-1-1-0, 0-0 in OT (20-1-1 overall)
2. Minn. Duluth – 28 points (.667 pts%), 8-4-2-2, 0-0 in OT (13-5-2 overall)
3. Minnesota – 27 points (.643 pts%), 9-4-1-0, 1-0 in OT (15-5-1 overall)
4. Ohio State – 27 points (.563 pts%), 8-5-3-2, 2-0 in OT (13-5-3 overall)
5. St. Cloud State – 18 points (.429 pts%), 5-6-3-1, 1-0 in OT (10-6-4 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 16 points (.381 pts%), 4-9-1-0, 0-3 in OT (10-9-1 overall)
7. St. Thomas – 9 points (.214 pts%), 2-11-1-1, 0-1 in OT (5-13-2 overall)
7. Bemidji State – 6 points (.143 pts%), 2-12-0-0, 0-0 in OT (4-16-1 overall)

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