MN Hockey News

Minneapolis -- The first round of the Women's Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff's got underway Friday night with the number two seeded University of Minnesota Golden Gophers hosting the seventh seeded Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks at Ridder Arena.

Ranked Number Three in the country with an overall record of 22-7-5, Minnesota is coming off a split last weekend against Wisconsin in which they came from behind in Saturday's game to defeat the Badgers 3-2 and clinch a tie of the regular season WCHA title with UMD which ended a five-game winless streak.  The regular season tie was the first in the 11 year history of the WCHA, the second straight conference championship for the Gophers and sixth in school history.

Minnesota State is also coming off a split last weekend defeating North Dakota on Friday 3-1 and losing Saturday 1-0 to finish 7-20-5 overall and seventh in the WCHA with a 5-18-5-2 record.

Fresh off Finland's 3-2 overtime win in the Bronze Medal Game Thursday night at the Olympics in Vancouver, Minnesota freshman goaltender Noora Raty got the start in net Friday night for the Gophers and made two saves in the first :34-seconds of the game, and 10 in the first period alone, while Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead scorings a pair of goals just over a minute apart.  Freshman defenceman Mira Jalosuo got her first of the season at 5:46 and fellow freshman winger Sam Downey followed with her forth of the year at 6:57.

South St. Paul native Ashley Young cut the deficit in half for the Mavericks 2-1 at 8:29 of the first period, putting in a rebounded block shot, but Gophers junior Laura May made it 3-1 at 14:52 and Minnesota carried a two goal lead into the first intermission.

In a wild second period, Minnesota State scored four goals to the Gophers two, and following a goalie change by the Mavericks in Paige Thunder coming in relief of Alli Altmann at the 4:40 mark, MSU was able to tie it up and it was a 5-5 game after two periods.

For the second game in a row, and third time overall, Minnesota senior Chelsey Jones got the game winning goal 3:32 into the third period to break the 5-5 tie, and for good measure freshman Becky Kortum scored her forth of the season at the 3:32 mark, and Senior defenceman Alexandra Zebro got her first of the season at 10:35 and the Gophers shutdown the Mavericks in the third period winning game one 8-5 in front of just under an announced crowd of 1,000.

Game two of this best of three game series is Saturday afternoon at 4pm at Ridder Arena.

THREE STARS:

1--Minnesota--Centre--Becky Kortum

2--Minnesota--Winger--Laura May

3--Minnesota State--Centre--Ashley Young

SCORING:

MSU  1-4-0

MIN  3-2-3

1--546--MIN--EV--Mira Jalosuo/1  (Becky Kortum/8)

1--657--MIN--EV--Sam Downey/4  (Terra Rasmussen/7, Kelli Blankenship/10)

1--829--MSU--EV--Ashley Young/9  (Kathleen Rosso/2, Lauren Smith/13)

1--1452--MIN--EV--Laura May/11  (Chelsey Jones/8, Becky Kortum/9)

2--054--MSU--EV--Christina Lee/5  (Ashley Young/14, Holly Snyder/9)

2--341--MIN--EV--Emily West/19  (Brittany Francis/21)

2--403--MSU--EV--Lauren Smith/7  (Ashley Young/15, Jenna Hewitt/1)

2--440--MIN--EV--Sarah Erickson/15  (Anne Schleper/14, Laura May/11)

2--1317--MSU--EV--Emmi Leinonen/10  (Christina Lee/14, Jackie Otto/3)

2--1855--MSU--EV--Lauren Zrust/4  (Nina Tikkinen/6)

3--332--MIN--EV--Chelsey Jones/11  (Michelle Maunu/3, Laura May/12)

3--743--MIN--EV--Becky Kortum/4  (Unassisted)

3--1035--MIN--EV--Alexandra Zebro/1  (Anne Schleper/15)

GOALIE STATS:

MSU--Alli Altmann (ND)  24:40-MIN,  5-GA,  12-SV (9-3-0)

MSU--Paige Thunder (Loss, 0-5-1) 34-MIN, 3-GA, 12-SV (0-2-10)

MIN--Noora Raty (WIN, 15-2-4)  60-MIN,  5-GA,  28-SV (10-9-9)

PENALTIES:

1--1026--MSU--Holly Snyder--2min--Checking

1--1922--MSU--Lauren Smith--2min--Tripping

1--1930--MIN--Kelly Seeler--2min--Interference

2--1649--MIN--Michelle Maunu--2min--Hooking

3--628--MIN--Alexandra Zebro--2min--Interference

3--721--MSU--Holly Snyder--2min--Tripping

3--944--MIN--Laura May--2min--Roughing

3--944--MSU--Moira O'Connor--2min--Roughing

3--1722--MIN--Megan Bozek--2min--Checking

Minnesota State  4--8 minutes

Minnesota  5--10 minutes

MISC STATS:

Shots on Goal:  MSU  33 (11-13-9),  MIN  32 (12-7-13)

Power Play Goals -Attempts (Shots):  MSU 0-4 (0),  MIN 0-3 (1)

Face Off Pct. (Won-Lost):  MSU 43% (30-40),  MIN 57% (40-30)