News Tribune's Friday Mankato Story

Success often follows hard work.

Minnesota Duluth learned that lesson Friday night against Minnesota State-Mankato in aWestern Collegiate Hockey Association game.

The Bulldogs were outworked through two periods as the Mavericks held a 26-17 shot advantage and a 1-0 lead.

In the third period, UMD rallied behind Karine Demeule’s game-winning goal at 19:54 for a 2-1 win at All Seasons Arena in Mankato, Minn.

“It should have been 3-0 after two periods because our team must have left their work ethic at home after the Christmas break,” UMD coach Shannon Miller said.

Second-ranked UMD (17-3-1,14-3 WCHA) fought back in the third period with a 16-7 shot advantage, including Iya Gavrilova’s game-tying goal at 17:43.

“In the third, after we made some line changes and I [benched] a player [Emmanuelle Blais], we had success and won because we worked,” Miller said.

Maggie Fisher scored at 18:27 in the second period for a1-0 lead, but the unranked Mavericks fell to 6-14-1, 5-11-1.

“We weren’t working,” Miller said. “We are second in the country and everyone is excited to be back, which is good, but we acted like we were at a party. This is business, and we have work to do.”

Sophomore defender Heidi Pelttari set up senior forward Demeule for the game-winner.

After a 26-day layoff, Miller didn’t expect UMD’s first game back to be attractive.

“I didn’t expect it to be pretty, but I expected to work,” Miller said. “You get good things in life if you work.”