Friday game story

a little late but:

It wasn’t the typical one-sided game one usually sees from the University of Minnesota Duluth when the Bulldogs face St. Cloud State University but it still counted as a win as UMD managed to hold on for a 4-3 victory in the first game of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association quarterfinal playoff series at Mars Lakeview Arena in Duluth, Minn.

Freshman forward Emmanuelle Blais put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard first with her 12th goal of the season at 4:36 in the first period on a power play. Senior defenseman Jill Sales fed Blais the puck to earn the assist.

St. Cloud State responded with it’s own goal midway through the period when Holly Roberts rocketed the puck past Bulldog senior netminder Riitta Schaublin for a power play goal. Laura Fast and Hailey Clarkson contributed on the play.

With the two teams tied 1-1 heading into the second and the Bulldogs down a skater due to penalty, things clearly didn’t seem in the Bulldogs favor but junior forward Karine Demeule managed to score a short-handed goal at 5:04 with the assistance of Blais and freshman forward Saara Tuominen.

The Bulldogs would make it a 3-1 contest at 8:41 in the second when Tuominen capitalized on the power play for her 10th goal of the season. Blais and senior captain Noemie Marin assisted her on the play.

Senior forward Jessica Koizumi would make it a 4-1 lead for Minnesota Duluth at 8:25 in the third period with the assist coming from the sophomore forward Michaela Lanzl.

Up by three goals, it was clear Bulldog fans were already mentally celebrating a UMD win but St. Cloud State wasn’t about to let the home fans celebrate just yet.

The Huskies pulled goaltender Lauri St. Jacques to gain an extra attacker and the move paid off for SCSU as Fast struck at the 15:10 mark of the period to chip away at the Bulldogs’ lead. Denelle Maguet and Caitlin Hogan assisted Fast on the goal.

With the final half minute of play ticking away, Hogan would make it a one goal gap as she flicked the puck past Schaublin to bring the score to 4-3.

With the clock winding down, the Huskies desperately tried to get the puck on goal once more but the Bulldogs managed to keep St. Cloud State at bay and hold on for a 4-3 playoff win.

Minnesota Duluth out-shot the Huskies 37-29 and both teams were saddled with 12 penalties apiece in the contest.

Schaublin made 26 saves to earn the win for the Bulldogs, moving her season record to 11-4-2. St. Jacques came up with 33 saves in the Husky loss, falling to 6-9-1 on the season.

UMD (21-8-4) will attempt to wrap-up the best-of-three WCHA first-round playoff series against SCSU (11-1-7) at 7:07 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 24) at Mars Lakeview Arena.