Duluth News Tribune Saturday Mankato article

College hockey: UMD women breeze past Mankato
Andy Greder Duluth News Tribune
Published Saturday, November 24, 2007
The Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team remained undefeated Saturday against teams not named the Minnesota Gophers.

The Bulldogs beat Minnesota State-Mankato 10-4 Saturday night, received a hat trick from freshman forward Haley Irwin, and UMD (10-3-1 overall, 9-3 WCHA) swept the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at the DECC.

The WCHA-leading Bulldogs are 1-3 against the Gophers, but 9-0-1 against Mercyhurst and four other WCHA opponents this season. Mercyhurst of Erie, Pa., and College Hockey America is 10-2-2, while the combined record of UMD’s non-Gopher, WCHA opponents is 15-31-11 this season.

Tawni Mattila, Saara Tuominen and Sara O’Toole each scored Friday night as the fourth-ranked Bulldogs beat the unranked Mavericks 3-1.

The Bulldogs cured their case of second-game hangovers Saturday. UMD lost the second game of the Minnesota series 3-0 on Nov. 18 after beating the Gophers 5-0 on Nov. 17. UMD had experienced similar letdowns — yet still won the second game — against St. Cloud State, Bemidji State and North Dakota this season.

UMD captain Saara Tuomninen was right when she said an energized and focused team would show up for the second game against the Mavericks on Saturday.

UMD held a 39-23 shot advantage over the Mavericks (4-7-1, 4-5-1).

Irwin’s hat trick and Iya Gavrilova’s three assists improved UMD’s all-time record against Minnesota State to 29-3-3, and the Bulldogs are 6-1-1 at the DECC this season.

Irwin of Thunder Bay, Ontario found success with persistence.

Her hat trick and assist came after a game-high seven shots and one assist in Friday’s win.

Irwin, who was named the WCHA rookie of the week Nov. 6, has seven goals and nine assists in 12 games this season.

The Mavericks are in sixth place in the WCHA and received one goal in each period Saturday. Mavericks goalie Paige Thunder of Cloquet spelled starter Britni Kehler midway through the second period.

UMD will play at Wisconsin (10-4-2, 6-2-2) in a rematch of the 2007 NCAA national championship game next Friday and Saturday. The Badgers beat the Bulldogs 4-2 to win their second straight national title on March 18 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The Badgers beat Bemidji State (1-10-3, 0-8-2) on Friday 7-0 and tied 0-0 Saturday.