News Tribune's Friday game story

Badgers, ’Dogs tie
Jon Nowacki Duluth News Tribune
Published Saturday, February 03, 2007
At first glance, Minnesota Duluth had no business being in its women’s hockey game against Wisconsin on Friday night.

The Bulldogs were playing without four of their top nine forwards and often looked winded. The Badgers, meanwhile, were putting shot after shot on net.

But anyone who thought the Bulldogs were out of it doesn’t know this year’s Bulldogs. The walking wounded can still skate, and they proved it again Friday, rallying for a 1-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association tie against second-ranked Wisconsin before a season-high 975 fans at the DECC as Bulldogs senior Noemie Marin tied the game with 47 seconds left in regulation.

Wisconsin outshot UMD 33-14, but Bulldogs freshman goalie Kim Martin stopped 32 shots. With the tie, Wisconsin increased its unbeaten streak to 14 games while UMD increased its streak to 10.

“For the last month, we’ve been talking about surviving because of all our injuries. It’s amazing,’’ said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “So until we get all our injured players back, we’ll just keep trying to find ways to win games. We got outplayed, but Kim played fantastic tonight, and the team pulled together and got so excited when we scored. I love it. We’re elated.’’

Seventh-ranked UMD (16-7-4) got off to a good start and had some good scoring opportunities in the first period. Instead, it was Wisconsin (24-1-4) jumping to the early lead at 17:57 in the first period when freshman Emily Kranz took a pass from behind the net by Kyla Sanders and lifted a shot just over Martin’s left shoulder and into the net. Martin was flawless the rest of the way, playing technically sound and steady.

“The goalie is the X-factor,’’ said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson. “You can look at teams on paper and look at this or look at that, but when the goaltender is playing well and she’s seeing things like that, it can be difficult to score.’’

It would stay 1-0 despite Wisconsin dominating the second period and much of the third period, with the Bulldogs getting only one shot on net in roughly a 30-minute stretch.

The Badgers outshot UMD 9-1 in the second period and 13-5 in the third, and it could have been even worse if UMD didn’t have a 6-to-4 advantage in power plays. Power plays were about the only time the Bulldogs could get shots on net, but they never took advantage of them, including a squandered 5-on-2 advantage for 40 seconds midway through the third period.

“I was so happy when we finally scored because our team worked so hard,’’ said Martin, whose .959 save percentage is the best in the league despite missing a good part of the season with knee injuries. “I didn’t mind that we weren’t getting a lot of shots. You don’t need a lot of shots to score. It’s hard for goalies when you’re not getting many shots. I like to see a lot of them.’’

Instead, UMD would rely on Marin’s late-game heroics. Ironically, perhaps Martin’s biggest save came when she wasn’t even on the ice. UMD pulled her with 57.1 seconds remaining after an icing, and Bulldogs forward Saara Tuominen controlled the faceoff. She quickly passed the puck over to Elin Holmlov at the point, and the freshman launched a shot on net.

Badgers goalie Jessie Vetter couldn’t handle the shot and the puck dropped in front of the net with Vetter out of position. Marin reached across her body and grabbed control of it and flipped in a backhander for the game-tying goal.

“I thought at times we were trying to be too fancy and should have shot more, but we didn’t do too bad at controlling the puck,’’ Marin said. “We’re getting things done because of our character and heart, and Kim played awesome. She was the difference. She was a wall tonight.’’

Wisconsin, which suffered its only loss this season to UMD, outshot the Bulldogs 3-1 in overtime but neither team truly was a three in the extra session.

At the very least for Wisconsin, which came into the game needing three points to clinch its second straight WCHA title, the Badgers can feel OK about getting a point.

“We created a few chances, but if we get to two [goals], you don’t have happen at the end what happened,’’ Johnson said. “We iced the puck when we didn’t need to and created a faceoff at the other end, and they pulled their goalie. That’s the nature of our game: Teams look for bounces and teams look for breaks. They got one tonight.’’

* UMD first-line winger Jessica Koizumi missed Friday’s game with an MCL tear. The senior from Simi Valley, Calif., has shown rapid improvement but is still considered day-to-day.