Power Play Club

PPC All-Member Meeting – Saturday, February 22 at 12 p.m.

Here's one more reminder that the annual Power Play Club All-Member Meeting is scheduled for this Saturday, February 22 at 12 p.m. in the Baseline Tennis Center Club Room. Again, this is an opportunity to touch base with other Power Play Club members and to provide feedback on the operation of the club and the Gopher Women's Hockey game experience. We will also have a Board of Directors election, including for the offices of president and vice president. All enrolled 2024-2025 club members are invited and encouraged to attend.

Goals for a Goal

Entering the final weekend of the regular season, the Gopher Women's Hockey team has netted 119 goals, with 28 coming on the power play!! We are still accepting enrollments into our Goals for a Goal pledge-per-goal program, which converts each time Minnesota lights the lamp into a donation back to the program. You can submit a pledge at z.umn.edu/GoalsForAGoal, with the option to double the amount for power play tallies! Once again, we send our thanks for your consideration of this campaign!

GWH Senior Weekend at Ridder Arena
#4 Minnesota Golden Gophers (23-9-1, 17-8-1-0 WCHA)
vs. #6 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (19-11-2, 14-10-2-2 WCHA)
Friday, February 21 at 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 22 at 2:00 p.m.

As the regular season concludes for much of NCAA Division I women's hockey, the Golden Gophers host their Senior Weekend series, taking on their rivals from the North Shore – the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. The top-six national battle at Ridder Arena begins Friday, February 21 at 6 p.m. and continues with the finale on Saturday, February 22 at 2 p.m.

Events this weekend – Fans are encouraged to arrive early for both contests. Friday's game features a free Chuck-a-Puck contest with a chance to win one of five prizes; pucks will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. The traditional recognition of our senior and fifth-year players will occur during the pregame festivities on Saturday.

Traffic alerts – Speaking of weekend events, we urge fans to allow extra time for traffic and parking around campus. The Gopher Men's Hockey team is hosting Ohio State at 3M Arena at Mariucci, with Friday's game set for 7 p.m. The U. has issued a formal advisory for Saturday; in addition to the Gopher Women's Hockey game at 2 p.m., Gopher Men's Basketball is playing at Williams Arena at 1 p.m., Gopher Gymnastics hosts a meet at Maturi Pavilion at 4 p.m., and the second game of the Gopher Men's Hockey series at 3M Arena starts at 5 p.m.

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

This season against Minnesota Duluth – The Gopher Women's Hockey team returned from a mid-November road trip to Duluth having earned a series sweep, winning 4-1 and 3-2. Minnesota's Sydney Morrow (PP) and UMD's Hanna Baskin exchanged first-period goals in the opener, but Abbey Murphy put the Gophers back in the lead and followed up with assists on a pair of Ella Huber goals, the first short-handed and the second into an empty net. Hannah Clark made 27 saves for Minnesota as they outshot Minnesota Duluth 52-28. The Bulldogs took an early lead in the rematch as Kamdyn Davis tallied her first collegiate goal, but Gracie Graham and Peyton Hemp (PP) lit the lamp on a power play, with Murphy assisting on both goals, to put the Gophers up 2-1 after 20 minutes. Following a scoreless second period, Emma Conner netter her first goal of the season, which turned out to be critical as UMD's Nina Jobst-Smith converted on a late 5-on-3 power-play. However, Clark kept the Bulldogs off the board in the final 3:21 for the win, finishing with 31 saves in the contest. In addition to Murphy's five-point series (1g, 4a), Huber dished out two assists as well to complete a 4-point weekend. UMD netminder Ève Gascon stopped 83 shots in the series but took both losses.

Analyzing the Bulldogs – Minnesota Duluth has been ranked in the top six nationally all season and last weekend clinched home ice to open the WCHA Playoff Tournament (more on that momentarily). Though having three fewer league wins than the Gophers, they trail by only 3 points entering this weekend thanks to an additional tie, two shootout wins, and bonuses from having a worse overtime record.

UMD has a bit of a scoring logjam at the top of their season stats. Graduate forward Clara Van Wieren (#25) is one of three Bulldogs with 16 goals; adding 17 assists, she has 33 points. Another fifth-year forward, Olivia Wallin (#14), also has 33 points on 13 goals and 20 assists. Freshman Caitlin Kraemer (#11) is in the running for WCHA Rookie of the Year, scoring 16 goals with 10 helpers for 26 points, while a third fifth-year player, Olivia Mobley (#15), also has 16 goals and 8 assists for 24 points.

Sophomore Ève Gascon (#1) is firmly Minnesota Duluth's primary goaltender, having started 23 of the Bulldog's 32 games; she is 12-10-1 with four shutouts, a 1.86 goals-against average, and a .941 save percentage. Senior Tindra Holm (#30) is 7-1-1 in the other nine games, also having four shutouts plus a 1.33 GAA and .932 SV%. Redshirt freshman Anna Byczek (#31) has yet to see any official action.

Recent action for Minnesota Duluth – Hosting Minnesota State, Clara Van Wieren recorded a hat trick plus two assists, Olivia Wallin posted a six-point performance on 2 goals & 4 assists, and Caitlin Kraemer added two goals and a helper in an 8-2 rout last Friday; Claire Vekich scored both goals for the Mavericks. UMD completed the sweep with a 4-1 victory Saturday; Olivia Mobley lit the lamp twice, Mary Kate O'Brien tallied a goal & an assist, and Kraemer dished out two assists. Ève Gascon and Tindra Holm each made 23 saves in their respective starts.

Gophers drop opener vs. Huskies, salvage split in St. Cloud

The Gopher Women's Hockey team lost a fourth-consecutive contest, falling 4-3 to St. Cloud State at Ridder Arena on Friday, but broke the streak with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud on Saturday.

The Huskies took the lead on a power-play tally by Sofianna Sundelin, and Emma Gentry doubled that lead less than two minutes later. Emma Kreisz cut the Gophers' deficit in half in the second period and Ava Lindsey knotted the score with a power play conversion with 9:09 left in regulation. Sundelin lit the lamp again for the Huskies with 3:15 to play but Ella Huber again tied things up, scoring in a 5-on-4 extra-attacker situation with 1:29 to go. Unfortunately, the Gophers were unable to take the lead or force overtime as SCSU's Ella Anick netted an unassisted goal with 30.4 seconds remaining. Huskies goaltender Emilia Kyrkkö earned the win with 33 saves, while Hannah Clark stopped 16 shots for the Gophers.

The rematch Saturday started with the Huskies again taking a first-period lead as Gentry split two Gopher defenders and scored her second goal of the weekend. However, Minnesota held St. Cloud State off the board the rest of the way. Still trailing 1-0 entering the third period, Audrey Wethington scored 4:33 into the stanza to knot the score and Emma Conner tallied on a power play two minutes later to put the Gophers in the lead. That was enough for the victory; Clark made 29 saves for the win. Sanni Ahola stopped 37 shots for the Huskies.

Minnesota reaches 800 wins all-time!! Saturday's victory in St. Cloud was the 800th in Gopher Women's Hockey program history. The team has an all-time record of 800-185-64, including 278-67-22 under inaugural head coach Laura Halldorson and 522-118-42 under current coach Brad Frost. We say thank you and congratulations to all the Gopher Women's Hockey players past and present who have contributed to this amazing achievement!!

Fifteen (15) Gophers named to WCHA All-Academic Team

The presentation of end-of-season awards has begun as the WCHA unveiled its 2024-2025 All-Academic Team featuring 129 student-athletes, including 15 Gopher Women's Hockey players. We send our congratulations to Josefin Bouveng, Emma Conner, Allie Franco, Peyton Hemp, Ella Huber, Sophia Johnson, Madison Kaiser, Elly Klepinger, Nelli Laitinen, Ava Lindsay, Abbey Murphy, Maggie Nicholson, Lauren O'Hara, Skylar Vetter & Audrey Wethington. Great job, ladies!!

To qualify, student-athletes must have a GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in their previous two semesters or three quarters and have achieved at least sophomore status in their academic careers.

Future Gopher Layla Hemp named Star Tribune Player of the Year

Meanwhile, the honors are also coming on the high school side, as Minnetonka (MN) H.S. and future Gopher Women's Hockey goaltender Layla Hemp was selected by the Star Tribune as their All-Minnesota Girls Hockey Player of the Year. Through last week's state section playoffs, Hemp posted a 16-2-0 record with 7 shutouts, a 0.92 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage during her senior season with the Skippers.

Congratulations, Layla!! We look forward to seeing you next fall!!

Around the WCHA...

Beavers, Tommies split series in Mendota Heights – Hailey Armstrong scored twice and Eva Filippova stopped all 27 shots she faced as Bemidji State earned their first true road win since December 2023, shutting out St. Thomas 5-0 on Friday. But, despite getting a hat trick from Morgan Smith and taking an initial 2-0 lead in their rematch on Saturday, the Beavers could not hold off the Tommies; Chloe Boreen scored twice and Lauren Stenslie netted the eventual game-winning goal as UST salvaged a split with a 4-3 victory.

Upcoming games – The season concludes with four Friday-Saturday series (including the Gophers vs. the Bulldogs). One series starts with a Friday matinee as Bemidji State hosts Wisconsin. Elsewhere, St. Thomas will face Minnesota State in a home-and-home series beginning in Mankato, and St. Cloud State will travel to Ohio State.

Playoff preview – Much is still to be decided going into the upcoming weekend as only three playoff seedings have already been locked in. After playing each other this weekend in Bemidji, league champion Wisconsin will host 8th-seeded Bemidji State in Madison when the conference quarterfinals being on February 28; meanwhile, St. Cloud State will be the 5th seed and going on the road. However, other positions are still in flux and will be determined this weekend; we'll have an update early next week with the playoff pairings.

Standings (* clinched home ice for WCHA playoff quarterfinals):
1. Wisconsin* – 71 points (.910 pts%), 23-1-2-1, 1-0 in OT (29-1-2 overall)
2. Ohio State* – 53 points (.679 pts%), 17-6-3-2, 3-0 in OT (23-6-3 overall)
3. Minnesota* – 51 points (.654 pts%), 17-8-1-0, 1-0 in OT (23-9-1 overall)
4. Minn. Duluth* – 48 points (.615 pts%), 14-10-2-2, 0-2 in OT (19-11-2 overall)
5. St. Cloud State – 36 points (.462 pts%), 10-11-5-1, 1-1 in OT (15-11-6 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 22 points (.282 pts%), 5-17-2-1, 0-4 in OT (11-17-2 overall)
7. St. Thomas – 20 points (.256 pts%), 6-19-1-1, 2-2 in OT (9-21-2 overall)
8. Bemidji State – 11 points (.141 pts%), 4-22-0-0, 1-0 in OT (6-26-1 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.