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On Saturday, with help from players not looked at to score many goals, the Bulldogs defeated the Sioux 4-1 to gain their regular trip to the WCHA Final Face Off tournament. Their opponent is yet to be decided as Bemidji State and St. Cloud State will play a third game as the two teams split their first two games.
UMD got out to a 3-0 lead, with Jocelyne Larocque scoring her second goal in as many games at 18:20 of the first period, Gina Dodge scored her 4th career goal (and of the season) 5:43 into the second period, and Sarah Murray picked up her second goal of the season 1 minute 40 seconds later to give UMD that 3-0 lead. North Dakota cut the game to a 3-1 UMD lead when Megan Gilbert scored for the Sioux at 12:11 of the second, but that was the only Sioux goal in the game.
Laura Fridfinnson scored her 20th of the season, an empty net goal with 28 seconds left to give UMD the 4-1 victory. Jenny Harss stopped 18 of the 19 shots she faced AND picked up an assist on Larocque's goal, while the Bulldogs chased Sioux starter Stephanie Ney after Murray's goal, and Dagfinrud, who played Friday finished the game for the Sioux. In total UND goaltenders stopepd 30 of 34 Bulldog shots Saturday.
Jocelyne Larocque
Gina Dodge
Sarah Murray
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Last week's WCHA offensive player of the week Emmanuelle Blais scored 4 goals on 11 shots on goal, Saara Tuominen scored a goal and assist fresh off returning from the Olympics, and Jocelyne Larocque scored her first goal of the season as the Bulldogs skated to a 6-2 victory in game one of the best of three playoffs.
Jaime Rasmussen had three assists, Sarah Murray and Jessica Wong each had two assists, while Laura Fridfinnson and Katie Wilson each picked up an assist in the victory. Jenny Harss stopped 30 of 32 shots while UMD scored their 6 goals on 48 total shots on Sioux goaltender Jorid Dagfinrud.
Emmanuelle Blais
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By way of a 3-0 Jenny Harss shutout of the Bemidji State Beavers, the UMD Bulldog women claimed a share of the WCHA regular season title! They will be the co-champion as the Minnesota Gophers beat the Wisconsin Badgers to secure the split of first place. The Bulldogs, by having more conference victories than the Gophers, get the first seed in the WCHA playoffs and face North Dakota at Heritage Center next weekend.
Emmanuelle Blais scored twice (63 career goals, 66 assists), giving her 22 regular season goals, and Jamie Rasmussen completed another great offensive regular season as a defenseman with her 6th goal of the season and another assist (her 14th) in the win. Jessica Wong picked up two assists, while Laura Fridfinnson and Katie Wilson each picked up one assist.
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The UMD Women beat the Bemidji State Beavers, while the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Minnesota Gophers in overtime, to give UMD a TIE for first place in the WCHA with one game remaining in the regular season!
Emmanuelle Blais got UMD off on the right foot, opening the scoring at 3:30 of the first period, but Bemidji tied the game at 5:37 when Annie Bauerfield scored, and the teams took a 1-1 tie to the first intermission.
Erin Cody gave Bemidji a 2-1 lead 2:49 into the second period, but from the 5:49 point of the second, when Laura Fridfinnson tied the game at 2, the game was all UMD. Jessica Wong put UMD up for good 17 seconds after Fridfinnson's goal, then added some insurance at 9:48 of the third for a 4-2 lead. A Blais powerplay goal finished the scoring at 14:54 of the third period.
Jenny Harss stopped 38 of 40 Bemidji State shots, while Alana McElhinney stopped 25 of 30 UMD shots.
Blais added two assists to give her a four point game and Katie Wilson picked up three assists. Jamie Rasmussen picked up one assist, and Kirsti Hakala picked up her second point of the season adding an assist on Blais game opening goal.
Jessica Wong
Emmanuelle Blais (aka "Manue")
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Jenny Potter scored another hat trick, and added an assist in Team USA's 13-0 victory over Russia. Julie Chu picked up one assist in the thrashing.
In Finland's 2-1 win over a surprising China team, Heidi Pelttari picked up one assist.
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Caroline Ouellette picked up two assists in a 10-1 Canada win over Switzerland on Monday...
Pernilla Winberg picked up *4* goals, Erica Holst had two assists, Elin Holmlov had a goal AND 2 assists and Jenni Asserholt scored goal as the present and former UMD Bulldog women led Sweden to a 6-2 win over Slovakia. Kim Martin got the game off for Sweden.
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So far in 4 Olympic women's hockey games:
February 13
Kim Martin has shut out Switzerland 3-0, making 16 saves for Sweden against the Swiss.
UMD Grad Caroline Oullette scored a goal and added four assists, and red-shirted Bulldog Haley Irwin picked up two goals in Canada's 18-0 drubbing of Slovakia.
February 14
Jenny Potter had a hat-trick and two assists vs China, while former assistant coach and Harvard alum Julie Chu scored a goal and had two assists.
Saara Tuominen and Heidi Pelttari each had an assist in Finland's 5-1 win over the Russian women's hockey team.
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Ohio State beat UMD 6-3 (including an open net goal) on Saturday. Paige Semenza got the Buckeyes on the board for the only goal of the first period. Emmanuelle Blais tied the game 5:11 into the second period, but Laura McIntosh scored less than a minute left to give OSU the lead again. Natalie Spooner but Ohio State up by two goals at 15:46, Audrey Cournoyer got UMD within one at 17:24, and Raelyn LaRocque put them back up by two at 18:29 to give a frantic end to the second period. Jessica Wong made the game 4-3 with a goal 3:27 into the third period, but UMD was held scoreless the rest of the game, while OSU got another goal from Spooner, and the empty net goal by Hokey Langan to close out the scoring. After the game the 5 seniors were celebrated for their final regular season home game. Kirsti Hakala, Emmanuelle Blais, Jamie Rasmussen, and Sarah Murray took the ice with their parents, while Saara Tuominen, in Vancouver for the Olympics also received great applause.
The Seniors
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Laura Fridfinnson missed a large part of the third period and overtime, after taking a knee to knee hit from an Ohio State player, but gutted out 2 overtime shifts and scored the game winning goal, burying a rebound of an Emmanuelle Blais shot at 3:53 of overtime. Gina Dodge's 3rd goal of the season was sandwiched between Ohio State goals by Sandy Nelson and Hokey Langan to give OSU a 2-1 first period lead. Fridfinnson scored her first goal of the game only 1:12 into the second period and Vanessa Thibault's 7th goal of the season, scored 3 minutes later gave UMD a 3-2 lead. The Buckeyes' Raelyn LaRocque tied the game at 3 at 17:32 of the second period. UMD's Jessica Wong scored her 9th goal of the season at 7:49 of the third and OSU's Natalie Spooner tied the game at 15:13 of the third. Fridfinnson's overtime winner was her 18th goal of the season. Jessica Wong had two assists to go with her goal, while Blais picked up two assists, Jocelyne Larocque, Audrey Cournoyer, Kacy Ambroz all earned an assist. OSU's Laura McIntosh assisted on each of the Buckeyes' four goals. Jenny Harss stopped 41 of 45 shots for UMD, while OSU's Chelsea Knapp stopped 19 of 24 UMD shots.
Vanessa Thibault
Jessica Wong
Jenny Harss
Click the blog title.. to check out Saara Tuominen's UMDBulldogs.com Olympic blog from Vancovuer! It's updated with stories from her and includes pictures at times also.
http://umdbulldogs.com/teams-womens-hockey.php?page=121
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On Saturday, the Bulldogs finished the job they started on Friday, winning 3-0 to complete the sweep of the Gophers at the DECC. UMD's three goals were all on the powerplay, one per period. Emmanuelle Blais scored in the first period, Laura Fridfinnson scored in the second, and Tara Gray scored in the third. Katie Wilson picked up two assists, while Blais, Gray, Jamie Rasmussen, and Vanessa Thibault each added an assist also. Jenny Harss stopped all 31 shots she faced, earning her third shutout of the season. Jenny Lura, in net for the Gophers, stopped 23 of 26 shots, equaling Grogan's total from Friday night.
The almost obvious offensive and defensive players of the week this week?
One of Friddy's many shots on goal
Jenny Harss
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WCHA.COM:
Tara Gray – Jr., D, Minnesota Duluth
University of Minnesota Duluth junior defenseman Tara Gray recorded more points over the Jan. 30-31 weekend in Grand Forks than she did all last season, helping the visiting Bulldogs to a WCHA sweep over North Dakota.
A product of Toronto, Ont., Gray scored two goals and added two assists for four points in the series against the Sioux, including the first three-point performance of her collegiate career last Sunday.
Gray dished an assist on a goal that tied the game at 2-2 in the second period in last Saturday’s 4-3 overtime comeback win for the Bulldogs. She was also a +1.
Then on Sunday, Gray had a hand in three of Minnesota Duluth’s last four goals in a 5-0 shutout victory over UND. She netted her first goal at 15:34 of the second period to push UMD to a 2-0 lead, before assisting on a power-play goal at 19:43 of the second period, a blast from Gray that was redirected in front of the net by teammate Laura Fridfinnson. Gray then scored a PPG of her own with less than 4:00 remaining in the third, giving her the first two-goal game of her career and highest point count in a single game during her three-seasons at UMD. Besides her points, Gray was +3 and helped UMD grab it’s fourth shutout of the season.
Overall, Gray, who had four shots Sunday, was +4 on the weekend. She now has eight points this season (4g, 4a), just two shy of her career season-high of 10 (1g, 9a) set during her freshman season. Her four goals this season already is a career single-season best.
Also nominated for the award this week were: Alana McElhinney, G, BSU; Alyssa Grogan, G, UM; and Kelly Wild, D, OSU.
