News Tribune Story, UMD over Mercyhurst

College women's hockey: UMD advances to Frozen Four
Andy Greder Duluth News Tribune
Published Sunday, March 16, 2008
A third period played in overdrive left Minnesota Duluth exhausted in the postgame locker room after Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal with Mercyhurst.

It was the price of a hard day’s work.

The second-seeded Bulldogs rallied to score three straight goals in the third period to top Mercyhurst 5-4 before 925 spectators at the DECC and advance to the Frozen Four.

“The good news is when I walked in they were exhausted and they were slumped back in their stalls and they weren’t saying too much,” UMD coach Shannon Miller said. “That is the way that it should look in a locker room after a really big game.

“All I did was walk in and say, ‘Ladies, we are going to the Frozen Four!’ And there was five seconds of energy and screaming, and then they went right back to just collapsing and going to get ice bags to put on their bruises. That is what a championship team looks like.”

UMD (32-4-1) will make its fifth NCAA Frozen Four appearance against No. 3 New Hampshire (33-3-1) at 8 p.m. Thursday at the DECC. New Hampshire beat St. Lawrence 3-2 in overtime Saturday.

In other Saturday quarterfinals, No. 1 Harvard (32-1) beat Dartmouth 5-1, and Wisconsin (28-8-3) beat No. 4 Minnesota (27-7-4) 3-2 in overtime. The Crimson and the Badgers will play at 5 p.m. Thursday, with the national championship game at 12:30 p.m. March 22 at the DECC.

On Saturday, Emmanuelle Blais scored two goals, including the game-winner, added an assist and earned the team’s hard-hat award for hard work.

“Everyone is pretty tired,” said Blais, a sophomore winger from Lesalle, Quebec. “We are going to have bruises, but that is how you win. … I think everyone could have had [the yellow hat].”

The Bulldogs trailed 3-2 at 3:08 in the third period until freshman center Haley Irwin dished out three assists in the comeback.

“I don’t think [UMD needs] any extra opportunities to be successful and, being young, I think we did that a few times and made it a lot tougher for us,” Mercyhurst coach Michael Sisti said.

Mercyhurst took a 2-1 lead after one period, but UMD forward Karine Demeule single-handedly tied the game at 2 through two periods. The senior from Montreal took the puck three-fourths of the way up the ice, had her first shot blocked by Mercyhurst forward Meghan Agosta, but fought for the rebound and beat goalie Laura Hosier with a wraparound goal at 15:44.

“There were probably six key turning points in the game, but that was one of them,” Sisti said. “We could have made it 3-1 and I think we missed three or four bouncing pucks at the doorstep [of the net], but we threw it away and they capitalized on the rush.”

The Lakers lost their fourth straight NCAA quarterfinal, including second straight to UMD, who topped Mercyhurst 3-2 in overtime last year.

A hectic first minute kicked off Saturday’s contest.

Agosta, a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award finalist for the best Division I women’s hockey player, scored 22 seconds into the game on her second shot at fellow Kazmaier finalist, UMD goalie Kim Martin.

The Bulldogs answered at 48 seconds when Laura Fridfinnson netted the puck.

“We knew what we needed to do [Saturday] and we started the game off well,” said Agosta, a sophomore winger. “We outworked them and they outworked us at times, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Mercyhurst (26-8-3) has scored first in each of the teams’ four matchups, but are 0-3-1 overall against UMD.

Two of UMD’s three third-period goals were on the power play, and the Bulldogs finished 2-for-5 with the player advantage, while Mercyhurst was 1-for-5.

The Bulldogs lost first-line center and team captain Saara Tuominen to a sprained medial collateral ligament midway through the game. UMD’s second-leading scorer sprained the knee and tried to keep playing as a winger, but couldn’t continue.

The loss of Tuominen put the Bulldogs without two first-line players. UMD has played 11 games without Iya Gavrilova, who remains out of the lineup while the NCAA investigates her eligibility.

“It’s tough because we are obviously playing without Iya, and then to play without your first-line center-man and captain was tough, but we did it,” Miller said. “They did it.”

UMD lost the 2007 national championship game to Wisconsin, but added six freshmen, with four in crucial roles.

“You can tell that our team is young, if you watched them play [Saturday], because they played pretty tight, but we got it done,” Miller said. “It’s a huge game and the team is young, and that is probably the most pressure a lot of these kids have ever faced in their life playing a game. So, they did well.”

UMD won three-straight national championships from 2001-03 and will host the Frozen Four for the first time since 2003.