DNT's Sunday Game Story

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Dogs show Mercy
Andy Greder Duluth News Tribune
Published Monday, October 22, 2007

Minnesota Duluth forwards Emmanuelle Blais and Haley Irwin went from injured observers to major contributors Sunday against Mercyhurst.

Blais, who missed the first four games of the season with a high ankle sprain, scored the game-winning goal in the second period as the fifth-ranked Bulldogs beat the second-ranked Lakers 3-1 in a nonconference game before427 fans at the DECC.

“It’s good to be back,” said Blais, a sophomore from LaSalle, Quebec, who scored35 points in 39 games last season. “It’s fun to be in there, especially against a good team. … It was hard to be out.”

Irwin, who sat out the Bemidji State series Oct. 13-14 with a concussion, assisted on Blais’ goal and scored her own in the third period.

“It’s really important to have your best players when you’re playing the No. 2 team [in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll],” UMD coach Shannon Miller said. “They stepped up and played great.”

Miller believed Irwin, a freshman from Thunder Bay, Ontario, also played exceptionally well in 1-1 tie with Mercyhurst on Saturday.

“[Irwin] couldn’t even ride a [stationary] bike earlier this week without dizziness,” Miller said. “I thought she dominated [Saturday and Sunday].”

UMD (5-0-1) scored in each period Sunday and received three points from sophomore winger Elin Holmlov.

“I thought we played three spectacular periods as a team,” Miller said. “It was different [Saturday]. We were individual and not disciplined. [Sunday] we were disciplined and together.”

The Bulldogs allowed 35 shots, while attempting zero in the second period of Saturday’s game, but on Sunday, limited Mercyhurst (5-1-1) to 28 shots on goal and held a 10-6 shot edge in the second and a 14-10 lead in the third.

“Our defense has played effectively,” Miller said. “We have had four shutouts and held Mercyhurst to two goals. ... This series was extremely important for the NCAA [tournament]. [The Mercyhurst series], the Wisconsin and St. Lawrence [games] are the three most important [matchups] this season.”

Mercyhurst of Erie, Pa., and College Hockey America took a 1-0 lead off a Meghan Agosta breakaway goal at 9:28 in the first period, but Holmlov countered with a breakaway goal with six seconds left in the period.

UMD will play a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at Minnesota (3-2-1) at 6:07 p.m. Friday and 2:07 p.m. Saturday.

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I'm checking the article's listing of game times for the Goofer series.. It's been listed as 7:07 and 3:07 everywhere until this newspaper article was posted...