News Tribune SWEEP Article

It took 15 seconds of OT, but women sweep Wisconsin
Andy Greder Duluth News Tribune
Published Sunday, December 02, 2007
MADISON — The Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team trailed Wisconsin 2-1 Saturday with less than one minute left when freshman Iya Gavrilova took control.

The forward from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, scored the game-tying goal at 19:35 in the third period and the game-winning goal 15 seconds into overtime as the Bulldogs swept the Badgers in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with a 3-2 win at the Kohl Center.

“She has skills that normal players don’t have,” said sophomore captain Saara Tuominen, a linemate of Gavrilova’s. “I’m not a goal scorer, but she gives great passes, so with her I am [a goal scorer]. She sees the ice so well, and when she gets on the breakaway she can always score.”

Gavrilova’s game-winner was on a breakaway and her game-tying goal came as the Bulldogs used an extra attacker for the final minute.

“She has a gift,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “She has great hands, tremendous work ethic and is very unselfish.”

The 20-year-old Gavrilova, a member of Russia’s 2006 Olympic team, has seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points in 16 games this season.

“It was amazing to score two goals in one minute,” said senior captain Karine Demeule, who played with a recently torn ankle ligament and scored the game’s first goal at 1:37 in the first period. “We swept Wisconsin, which was the key. It was a payback weekend [for last season’s NCAA Division I championship game].”

Wisconsin beat the Bulldogs 4-1 to win its second straight title on March 18, but the Badgers have showed that they are far from the same team.

With the sweep, UMD (12-3-1 overall, 11-3 WCHA) solidified its position atop the WCHA standings with 22 points. Wisconsin (10-6-2, 6-4-2) has two wins in its last eight games and remains in third place with 14 points. Minnesota is in second place with 19 points after a sweep of Bemidji State. The Bulldogs have led the WCHA since the start of the season on Oct. 5.

Meghan Duggan scored Wisconsin’s second power-play goal of the afternoon at 11:31 in the third period for a 2-1 lead.

Wisconsin’s Erika Lawler knotted the game at 1 with a power-play goal at 14:28 in the second period.

The third-ranked Bulldogs beat the fourth-ranked Badgers 3-1 Friday. The freshmen trio of Gavrilova, Laura Fridfinnson and Haley Irwin each scored a goal Friday.

Wisconsin outshot UMD 34-25 Saturday and was 2-for-5 on power plays, but UMD made the big plays in the waning moments.

“We always knew we had a chance, but we had a short period of time,” Tuominen said. “We just wanted it more.”

The sweep puts UMD in the pole position for the No. 1 seed in the WCHA playoffs Feb. 29-March 9.

“This game was very important,” Gavrilova said. “We have first position. Now, every game we need to build on it for playoffs. We were ready [Friday and Saturday] and it showed.”