MN Hockey News

Minneapolis --  For the second straight year the University of Minnesota women's hockey team is in the Frozen Four competing for their third NCAA National Championship, and fourth Championship overall.  The difference this season is that Minnesota is doing it at home while sleeping in their own beds without having to fly out east in a chartered plane and try to get acclimated to a unfamiliar rink.  In fact, the last game the Gophers played outside of the state of Minnesota was in December at North Dakota before the winter break on the 12th and 13th.  That came after a trip to Harvard in which Minnesota didn't score a goal on the weekend, but only allowed one to the Crimson.

The University of Minnesota campus is no stranger to the Women's Frozen Four.  Coming off back-to-back National Championship's in 2004 & 2005 the Gophers were looking to make it a three-peat at Mariucci Arena, just next door to their home rink, Ridder Arena.  Behind Bobbi Ross's four goals, including the game-winner in overtime, Minnesota beat Number One seed New Hampshire 5-4, but lost the National Championship to Wisconsin 3-0.  Up until last season, that was the most recent Frozen Four appearance for the Gophers, who lost to the National Runner-up Mercyhurst 5-4 at Agganis Arena in Boston.

With five meetings already on the season, Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth know each other quite well.  It was just two weeks ago that the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season Co-Champs faced each other in the WCHA tournament championship game, with the Bulldogs winning 3-2.  Of the five games played between the two schools this season, the winning team has scored three goals.  Each team shut the other one out once 3-0, won 3-1 once, and of course UMD's 3-2 win two weeks ago which tilted the season series in their favor three games to two.  It doesn't get much more balanced than that, as you could argue that when these two meet it has the feel of a National Championship game no madder if the calendar says its October, January, or March.

Minnesota got into the NCAA Tournament by earning an at-large bid with a overall 26-8-5 record coming into Friday's game, while being ranked the Number Two team in country for most of the season.  The Gophers earned a Number Three seed in the Tourney after beating Minnesota State in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, which included a triple-overtime win in game two, along with a double-overtime win over Ohio State in the WCHA Final Face-Off.  Minnesota then defeated Clarkson in overtime 3-2 last weekend to advance to their seventh Frozen Four in school history.

Very few University of Minnesota Duluth hockey fans would have believed that the Bulldogs would have finished the regular season as WCHA Co-Champs, let alone advanced to the Frozen Four.  With 10 freshman and seven players on Olympic rosters, not much was expected from UMD who had a 29-8-2 overall record coming into Friday's game, not to mention a 17-1-1 record in their last 19 games.  The Bulldogs earned an automatic bid in the NCAA Tourney with their win over Minnesota in the WCHA Championship game, and with a Number Two seed hosted New Hampshire in the first round defeating the Wildcats 2-1 at the DECC to advance to their seventh Frozen Four.

In the previous two meetings UMD has scored first, and the same held true Friday as junior winger Laura Fridfinnson netted her 23rd of the season at 5:55 of the opening period to put the Bulldogs up 1-0.  Almost five-minutes later at 10:20 Minnesota Duluth was called for their second "Too Many Players On the Ice" penalty for the only two infractions of the first period.  Even though the Gophers were able to get five shots on goal during those power plays, none found their way past UMD freshman netminder Jennifer Harss who made 13 of her 26 saves in the first frame.

During the Frozen Four Press Conferences on Thursday Minnesota head coach Brad Frost eluded to how at this point in the season the games come down to how the puck bounces and who gets the breaks, and it looked as those the Gophers got one in the closing seconds of the first period.  Minnesota Duluth's Saara Tuominen fired on shot on freshman goaltender and Patty Kazmaier finalist Noora Raty, who was able to deflect the shot off her pad but it also grazed the post in going past the net as the Bulldogs went into the first intermission leading just 1-0.

Minnesota spent the first twelve minutes of the second period killing off three penalties, the first of which was called on junior Emily West just :38-seconds in, and while UMD wasn't able to convert on those power play chances they did take a 2-0 lead just after that third extra skater advantage.  All-WCHA First Team selection Emmanuelle Blais let off a slapper from the right face-off circle for her 30th goal of the season at 12:55.

Needing something to happen to get back in the game, Gophers centre Sarah Erickson scored her 18th goal of the season on a breakaway at 17:30 of the second period to cut the deficit in half at 2-1.  The sophomore scored both of Minnesota's goals last time out against the Bulldogs.  The momentum was short lived though as with :45-seconds left in the period UMD's Emmanuelle Blais scored her second of the game to up the lead 3-1 heading into the second intermission.

It took almost 49 minutes but a Bulldog, and not the bench, finally committed a penalty with freshman winger Audrey Cournoyer whistled for slashing at 8:27 of the third period.  The Gophers weren't really able to get the offense set up or a shot on goal as they went to 0-for-3 on the power play.

Down 3-1 with the game, and their season, winding down Minnesota pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker and with less than a minute left to play got a 6-on-5 goal from junior Emily West at 19:05 to pull within one goal.  Leaving nothing on the table, and running the tank empty, the Gophers again pulled the goalie and nearly tied the game off the stick of Anne Schepler but her shot was just off the mark, and UMD was able to push back a final Minnesota charge and hold on for a 3-2 win.

With the victory Minnesota Duluth advances to their sixth National Championship Game having won four titles in 2001, '02, '03, and '08; and a WCHA team has won every NCAA Championship to date.

It's never easy to write the final recap of the season as I'm having a little bit of writers block in finishing this final paragraph ... but I'd just like to say that Gophers were only losers on the scoreboard tonight.  While the season may not have ended the way they wanted it to, I'd like to thank everyone at the University of Minnesota for the honor and privilege of allowing me to cover the Gopher Women's Hockey Team this season.  I also want to thank you the reader for logging on not only from across the U.S. but also across the Globe (as the traffic numbers have shown) and showing your support for MnHockeyNews.com 

THREE STARS:

1--UMD--Winger--Emmanuelle Blais

2--UMD--Winger--Laura Fridfinnson

3--Minnesota--Winger--Emily West

SCORING:

MIN  0-1-1

UMD  1-2-0

1--555--UMD--EV--Laura Fridfinnson/23 (Emmanuelle Blais/33)

2--1255--UMD--EV--Emmanuelle Blais/30 (L.Fridfinnson/30, J.Laroque/10)

2--1730--MIN--EV--Sarah Erickson/18 (Emily West/22)

2--1915--UMD--EV--Emmanuelle Blais/31 (Laura Fridfinnson/31)

3--1905--MIN--EX--Emily West/23 (Brittany Francis/25, Anne Schleper/20)

GOALIE STATS:

MIN--Noora Raty (Loss, 19-3-4)  58:57-MIN,  3-GA,  21-SV (6-9-6)

UMD--Jennifer Harss (WIN, 28-8-2)  58:58-MIN,  2-GA,  27-SV (13-6-8)

PENALTIES:

1--205--UMD--Team--2min--Too Many Players On Ice

1--1018--UMD--Team--2min--Too Many Players On Ice

2--038--MIN--Emily West--2min--Tripping

2--420--MIN--Kelly Seeler--2min--Slashing

2--1002--MIN--Kelly Seeler--2min--High Sticking

2--1336--MIN--Mira Jalosuo--2min--Hooking

3--415--MIN--Terra Rasmussen--2min--Hooking

3--649--MIN--Anne Schleper--2min--Interference

3--827--UMD--Audrey Cournoyer--2min--Slashing

3--1102--UMD--Kacy Ambroz--2min--Checking

Minnesota  6--12  Minutes

Minnesota-Duluth  4--8 Minutes

MISC STATS:

Shots on Goal:  MIN  29 (13-7-9),  UMD  24 (7-11-6)

Power Play Goals - Attempts (Shots):  MIN  0-4 (7),  UMD  0-6 (120)

Face Off Pct. (Won-Lost):  MIN  56% (32-25),  UMD  44% (25-32)