Balanced scoring leads Minnesota over Minnesota State

MANKATO – On Hockey Day Minnesota teams from all over the state face off against one another and help celebrate our roots as the state of hockey. While high school teams took to the ice at Holman Field in St. Paul, the Gopher men’s team at Mariucci Arena, and the Wild at the Xcel Energy Center, there was another game being played today a little further south.

The Gopher women’s team traveled to Mankato, Minn. to square off against Minnesota State in game two of a weekend series. While there were two WCHA points on the line in this contest, it was also a special afternoon as two in-state teams faced off against each other on Hockey Day Minnesota.

“Hockey Day Minnesota is always special,” said Minnesota State head coach Eric Means. “It’s the second year in a row on Hockey Day we’ve played Minnesota.”

Minnesota, the no. 2 team in the country, was looking for the series sweep and continue their winning ways as they were unbeaten in their last 14 games heading into today’s afternoon match up. MSU on the other hand, was looking to come steal some points from the Gophers this weekend and add another win to their record after picking up their first two victories of the season a week ago.

“Mankato was coming in after getting their first two wins so they were playing confidently,” said Minnesota coach Brad Frost. “We wanted to make sure that we started quickly in both games and I think we did a good job of that here.”

Start quickly is exactly what Minnesota did.

Just 1:26 into the game, Gopher leading scorer Hannah Brandt gave Minnesota a quick 1-0 lead. From there the two teams would trade chances until Minnesota seemed to break this game open just past the midpoint of the first period.

Gopher captain Rachel Bona tallied her 12th of the season shortly before Minnesota freshman Kelly Pannek netted a power play goal to give the maroon and gold a 3-0 lead to close out the first period. The Mavs had a chance to get back into this one, but had trouble finding the needed offense to get on the board.

Starting the second period on a 5-on-3 power play, the Mavericks couldn’t find the back of the net and Minnesota poured it on immediately after killing the two penalties.

Minnesota junior Maryanne Menefee scored her fourth goal of the weekend 1:32 into the second period to spot her team a 4-0 lead with the assist going to Brandt. The Gophers would get two more second period goals on Cara Piazza’s seventh of the season before Dani Cameranesi tallied on the power play, her 17th goal of the season.

With a 6-0 lead heading into the third period, MSU was looking to get on the board before this game was all said and done, and they did that before the midpoint of the final period.

Maverick freshman Hannah Davidson scored her fifth of the season to put MSU on the board on a pretty passing play where she redirected a Nicole Schammel pass into the Minnesota net to bring the game to 6-1. That’s where it would end for the Mavericks, however, as Minnesota would add one more before the final buzzer when Gopher sophomore Lee Stecklein buried her first of the year during 4-on-4 play when she walked out of the corner and around MSU goaltender Brianna Quade for the score and a 7-1 Gopher victory.

While MSU had a handful of scoring chances, they just couldn’t seem to find a way to get their shots through, and like many teams around the nation, had a hard time containing this potent Gopher offense.

“We tried to match up with them today but you look at that top line and you’re talking almost 400 career points,” said Means. “We’re asking some freshmen who are in their 20th game of their career to go out there and handle those girls and that’s a tough task for anyone, let alone freshmen.”

Minnesota would leave Mankato with a 7-1 win and the series sweep. For one of these Minnesota teams, the day ended in sweet victory, while the other suffered their third straight loss. Though both teams can appreciate playing on this special day and celebrating our hockey heritage in this great state.

“Hockey Day in Minnesota, where else does it happen in the United States?” said Minnesota coach Brad Frost. “It’s such an honor and privilege to coach at the University of Minnesota and to be able to have two Minnesota teams square off here today was pretty fun.”

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Underdog nearly pulls off outdoor upset

On paper it was a mismatch. At 13-3-3 and undefeated in the Suburban East the Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders’ girls’ hockey team looked like they should have no problem with their opponents from up north. The Duluth Northern Stars came into their Hockey Day Minnesota match up with a 7-9-3 record.

Just six seconds into the game at Holman Field it looked like mismatch was not just on paper. The Raiders’ Rosie Pitera forced a turnover at the Duluth blue line and beat the goalie on the short side to give the 11th ranked Raiders an early 1-0 lead.

The Raiders had the better of the play early and late, but Duluth made the most of their chances in between. The Northern Stars were able to get traffic in front of the net to score the next two goals. Ana Kunst tied the game at one when she banged in a rebound. Then Bri Stafne gave Duluth a short lead when she was able to tap in the puck during a scrum in front of the CDH net.

The Raiders’ speed was on display the rest of the period as a nice skating play by Anna Klein created a scoring chance on the door step for Paige Voight. The senior buried the puck to tie the game at two and Klien took matters into her own hands and just beat the buzzer when she scored with five seconds left in the period. The goal gave the Raiders a lead they would never relinquish.

The ice seemed to be tilted toward Duluth goalie Kalei Kleive for much of the second period as the CDH fore-check caused problems for the underdog Duluth squad. Kleive and her defense were able to hold off the barrage for most of the period until Klein finally beat the Northern Stars’ net minder by getting loose in front of the net to score an unassisted goal to make the score 4-2.

Just like in the first period, Duluth didn’t have many chances, but they made one of those chances pay off. Great skating and puck handling by Stafne set up teammate Ava Meyer on the doorstep and the junior forward did the rest – keeping her team within striking distance of the Raiders.

The now familiar pattern continued in the third period. The Raiders controlled much of the play. Mid-way through the period it looked like the Raiders had finally put the game away when Annie Boeckers grabbed a loose puck, had nothing but open ice in front of her and put the Raiders ahead 5-3.

Just when it looked like Raiders’ fans could relax Duluth struck again. Stafne got on the score sheet again with a great pass to Avery Ziegler. Ziegler made sure the nice passing play paid off and cut the lead to one with a minute to go.

With Kleive pulled, Duluth’s final rush up the ice nearly tied the game as a shot from the high slot just missed the net with under five seconds to play.

What looked like a mismatch was not a mismatch at all. Duluth played a great game as a big underdog, but in the end the Raiders had too much speed and talent for the Northern Stars and held on for a 5-4 win.

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Bulldogs hold off Huskies for 2-0 win in Duluth

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UMD’s Kayla Black stops 23 shots for her 7th shutout of the season

DULUTH – The St. Cloud State Huskies came into Duluth hoping on Hockey Day in Minnesota hoping to get themselves back in good standings after losing 12 of their last 13 games while the Bulldogs hoped to thwart that effort.

That being said, the Bulldogs came into the weekend as a statistical favorite, but with some concerns of their own after splitting last weekend’s series with Bemidji State, the very same team St. Cloud State defeated the week before.

“You have to be prepared to work,” said Bulldogs coach Shannon Miller. “In our first period, we just played, we didn’t compete and when you do that you get yourself into trouble.”

UMD opened the first period with a goal from left wing Katherine McGovern just under two minutes after puck drop, her first of the season. From there things stayed fairly even offensively, with each team recording only five shots in the first period despite UMD attempting 15, seven of which St. Cloud State blocked in the first frame.

“Every team in our conference is good, so you need to expect a lot of pressure,” said Bulldog center Lara Stalder. “They’re a hard working team so we knew the way they were going to be coming out. We didn’t figure it out in the first period. We need to find that killer instinct in us.”

The second period was scoreless but both teams picked up their offensive efforts, more than doubling their respective shot totals to end the period UMD-18, St. Cloud-13.

The Bulldogs’ Katerina Mrazova was awarded a penalty shot in the early third period, but waited too long to take a shot as she came in on Huskies’ Julie Friend who would make the save to keep her team within one.

However, Friend wasn’t able to stop the shot of a wide open Lara Stalder who doubled the UMD’s lead with 11:49 left to go in the match up. Stalder sent a one timer over Friend’s right shoulder from the edge of the crease after defenseman Brigette Lacquette weaved through traffic from the blue line to send the puck down.

The Huskies answered back with offensive pressure of their own as St. Cloud State coach Eric Rud pulled Friend with nearly four minutes remaining in the game. While the Huskies were able to get more pressure on the Bulldogs, they were unable to crack UMD’s Kayla Black, who made 23 saves on the outing, earning her seventh shutout this season.

“She came up big for us again,” Stalder said of her goaltender. “We need that trust in our goaltender and we have it right now so that’s great.”

The women will face off again on Sunday at 3:07 p.m. at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minnesota for the second half of their weekend series.

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