Duluth News Tribune Gophers sweep ’Dogs

Gophers sweep ’Dogs
Andy Greder Duluth News Tribune
Published Sunday, October 28, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota forwards Erica McKenzie and Bobbi Ross gave Minnesota Duluthplenty of headaches this weekend.

The tandem propelled Minnesota to a 5-1 win Saturday over UMD to sweep the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at Ridder Arena. On Friday, the 10th-ranked Gophers beat the top-ranked and then-unbeaten Bulldogs3-1 behind two goals from Ross and two assists from McKenzie.

On Saturday, McKenzie scored two first-period goals off assists from Ross as the Gophers jumped out to a3-0 lead over the Bulldogs. In the second period, theseniors on the first line traded roles with McKenzie assisting on Ross’ goal.

On the first goal Saturday, Ross found McKenzie behind the UMD defense for a short-handed breakaway goal.

“They both stay on in penalty kill,” Minnesota coach Brad Frost said. “Bobbi reads the puck very well, and when Erica gets the puck on her stick it usually ends up in the other net. They were dialed in this weekend.”

McKenzie is tied for the WCHA scoring lead with nine goals and five assists, while Ross is fifth in the league with five goals and six assists.

“We were put together at the beginning of the year and we’ve been finding each other, and it showed on the scoreboard,” McKenzie said. “To have the No. 1 team here and we sweep them and beat them by a couple of goals each game is huge.”

It was the first time UMD (5-2-1 overall, 4-2 WCHA) was swept since Dec. 2, 2006, against Harvard.

“[Minnesota] wanted it so bad,” UMD coach Shannon Miller said. “We were horrible, especially on defense, and defense is all commitment and work ethic.”

Minnesota, which is the only team the Bulldogs have a losing record against, owns a 21-15-4 series lead over UMD.

“They worked harder than us,” Karine Demeule, UMD’s senior captain, said. “I think we were overexcited after the Mercyhurst [win and tie on Oct. 20-21] and the [U.S. College Hockey Online] ranking. That is a reason why we were swept, but there were many of them.”

Miller thought Minnesota’s offensive style of play was better than UMD’s. Minnesota (5-2-1, 3-2-1) outshot the Bulldogs 35-26. Kelli Blankenship and Brittany Francis scored the other Minnesota goals.

“We had some good [shots], but we are too fancy, too pretty.” Miller said. “Sometimes you have to just shoot and crash the net, and that is what Minnesota did.”

Freshman center Haley Irwin led the Bulldogs with nine shots, and Miller put her, Saara Tuominen and Iya Gavrilova together on the same line to generate offense with UMD trailing 4-0 in the second period.

The Bulldogs entered the game as the most penalized team in the WCHA with an average of 18 minutes a game. They killed six minutes of penalties on Saturday.

“[Penalty kill] was the only positive,” Miller said. “It was nice to generate something there.”

Freshman defender Joss Lerocque scored her first career goal and the only one for the Bulldogs on Saturday.