My NCAA Tournament Outlook

My own thoughts on the NCAA tourney brackets has Minnesota and Wisconsin advancing to Duluth past North Dakota (Min) and Mercyhurst (Wis), while Cornell/BU (Boston U) and BC (Boston College)/St. Lawrence will be the interesting games of the quarterfinals..

I'm not sure about Cornell, and St. Lawrence has a real chance to beat BC so right now I expect Minnesota/Wisconsin/BU/St. Lawrence to be the final four teams. Wisconsin would face St. Lawrence and Minnesota faces BU if that scenario unfolds..

I'm not cheering for Minnesota and Wisconsin (or any team really) just that the WCHA retains it's stronghold on the National Championship it's had since UMD won the first one way back.

New Facebook Fan Page

I created a new Facebook Fan Page for UMD Womens’ Hockey Fans.. at http://www.facebook.com/UmdWomensHockeyFans  .. it will eventually replace the Facebook group I’ve had for a few years, it’s much easier to just let people click ‘Like’ than have to request to join a Group on Facebook, and much easier to share photos as well.

UMD Women Beat Wisconsin 3-1, WCHA Final Faceoff Semifinal

The ‘Dogs scored a goal in each period, and Jenny Harss stopped 32 of 33 shots she faced, in giving UMD a 3-1 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers in the WCHA Final Faceoff semi-final at Amsoil Arena, March 2. 

Audrey Cournoyer’s 22nd goal of the season, a backhand shot on her own rebound, past Badgers’ goaltender Alex Rigsby, at 8:10 of the first period gave UMD a 1-0 lead.

The UMD lead held until 5:45 of the second period when Wisconsin’s Brianna Decker’s powerplay goal evened the game at 1.  Jenna McParland gave UMD back it’s lead at 15:35 of the second period, driving to the net and burying the puck in front of Rigsby.  UMD led 2-0 until 19:42 of the third period, when Brigette Lacquette dumped the puck out of the UMD zone, to help kill a Wisconsin powerplay, and the puck crept along the ice barely making it into the net to seal the Bulldog 3-1 victory.

UMD plays Minnesota at 7 pm Saturday in the Final Faceoff championship game, with not only the WCHA playoff championship at stake, but an NCAA tourney berth as well.

 

UMD Women Sweep OHIO State, Face Wisconsin

The UMD Women’s hockey team swept Ohio State in the best of 3 first round WCHA playoff series at Amsoil Arena this weekend.  They face Wisconsin at 4:30 pm Friday at Amsoil Arena, and likely need to beat Wisconsin, then Minnesota or North Dakota  who play each other at 7:30 in the second game of the WCHA Final Face-Off doubleheader, to make the NCAA tournament.  Go DOGS!

Photos from the UMD series with Ohio State will go up early in the week, as I have 9 hockey games worth of photos from the last 5 days to get through.

UMD Women Split with Ohio State

With the two teams tied in the 4th spot in the WCHA standings, the Bulldogs won Friday night, and Buckeyes won Saturday night, leaving the WCHA first round still cloudy.  UMD finishes the season with Bemidji and Mankato, while Ohio State finishes the season with Minnesota, then Wisconsin.  That remaining schedule favors UMD, and would likely mean UMD and Ohio State battle in a best of 3 series at Amsoil Arena February 24/25 and 26th if necessary. 

UMD Womens’ Hockey Beats Ohio State

 

The Bulldogs came out flying on Friday, February 2nd vs Ohio State, scoring 4 first period goals. Audrey Cournoyer (assists to Haley Irwin and Jessica Wong) scored first for the 'Dogs, just 39 seconds into the game, finding herself alone in front of the OSU net with the puck on a rebound for the easy tap-in. Jenna McParland (from Irwin and Cournoyer) gave UMD a 2-0 lead at 5:30, batting a puck down into the net. Katie Wilson (from Ambroz and Zoe Hickel) made it 3-0 90 seconds later. A Haley Irwin goal at 11:31 of the period gave UMD it's 4-0 lead.

The 4-0 lead stood until 14:24 of the second period, when OSU's Ally Tarr scored. The Buckeyes cut the lead to 4-2 with just 43 seconds left in the game, with the empty net and powerplay on a goal by Kelly Wild following a scrum in front of Jenny Harss' net. Harss stopped 23 of 25 shots she faced for the win, while OSU starter Lisa Steffes stopped 4 of 7 shots, in just 7 minutes of action. Steffes was replaced by Chelsea Knapp after the third goal, and Knapp stopped 25 of 26 shots she faced.

UMD Bulldog Women Beat Gophers

Playing their first game in nearly a month, the UMD women battled the Minnesota Gophers to start the 2012 portion of their 11-12 schedule, winning 4-2 in the first game of the 2 game series. 

The Gophers’ Kelly Terry gave them a 1-0 lead just 1 minute into the game, but freshman Jenna McParland (14th goal of the season) answered Terry’s goal 33 seconds later, with a wrist shot from near the faceoff dot to the right of Minnesota goaltender Noora Räty.  The game remained tied until 10:18 of the first period, when Haley Irwin made a move past a fallen Gopher defender and stuffed the puck past Räty for a 2-1 lead.  Audrey Cournoyer’s 14th goal of the season at 13:24 made it 3-1 ‘Dogs. 

Minnesota outshot UMD 16-9 in the second period, but could only beat Jenny Harss once.  The Gophers’ Sarah Davis cut UMD’s lead to 3-2 with a second period goal at 12:54.  Jenna McParland’s second goal of the game, this time a powerplay goal, gave UMD back it’s 2 goal lead.

UMD’s defense stood strong in the third period, limiting the Gophers to just 5 shots on goal, as the Bulldogs held on to their 4-2 lead and victory over USCHO.COM’s #1 ranked Gopher hockey team. 

Haley Irwin added 3 assists to figure in on every Bulldog goal on the day, while Noora Jaakkola picked up two assists.