UMD Women Sweep Mavericks

Click to view more game photos

 

The UMD women took care of business in the first round of the 2011 WCHA playoffs, sweeping Minnesota-State Mankato 3-0 Friday and 5-0 Saturday at Amsoil Arena. On Friday, Elin Holmlov put the Bulldogs ahead in the first period, 1-0, 6:44 into the first period. After a sloppy second period, the Bulldogs still only led 1-0. The 'Dogs dominated the third period, outshooting the Mavericks 19-6 and scoring goals by Jocelyne Larocque and Holmlov for the 3-0 win. Haley Irwin had two assists Friday while Holmlov, Pernilla Winberg, and Mariia Posa each had one assist. Kim Martin stopped all 20 Maverick shots she faced.

 
On Saturday, UMD again finished the first period with a 1-0 lead, on a goal by Audrey Cournoyer at 14:08 of the period. The 'Dogs didn't wait until the third period to put the game away on Saturday night, scoring three second period goals. Katie Wilson scored at 6:24 of the period, then Jessica Wong scored 26 seconds later. Larocque made it 4-0 at 16:44 of the second period. Vanessa Thibault finished the scoring with a goal at 9:18 of the third period. Irwin picked up 3 assists on Saturday, as did Elin HOlmlov. Jamie Kenyon, Noora Jaakkola, and Kacy Ambroz also had an assist in Saturday's game. Jenny Harss picked up the shutout Saturday, stopping 25 Maverick shots. Mavericks' goaltender Alli Altmann stopped 75 of 83 UMD shots in the two games.

Elin Holmlov scored twice Friday

UMD Women Squash St. Cloud

Click to view more game photos

 

Four goals in a row by Pernilla Winberg lead the Bulldogs to an 8-0 win over St. Cloud State, February 18, 2011 at Amsoil Arena.

Haley Irwin scored UMD's 5th goal, in her first game back from an undisclosed injury, while Tara Gray, Elin Holmlov, and Kacy Ambroz socred the other 'Dogs goals.

Holmlov added three assists, and Katie Wilson, Brienna Gillanders, Jocelyne Larocque, Irwin each had two assists. Jenny Harss stopped all 10 shots she saw in two periods, and Lana Steck stopped 5 shots she faced in relief, playing the third period.

Winberg celebrates her hat-trick

Brienna Gilanders looks for a rebound

UMD Women Beat Bemidji, Regain WCHA 4th Place

Click here to view many more game photos

 

Coming into the 2 game series with Bemidji State, the Bulldog women were 2 points behind the Beavers in the WCHA standings, in 5th place after a short winless streak of 5 games.

The 'Dogs got down 1-0 quick, on an unassisted goal by Bemidji captain Erin Cody at 3:04 of the first.Tara Gray evened the score blasting a missile through a crowd and past goaltender Alana McElhinney, who never saw the puck.

Laura Fridfinnson notched goals 3:18 apart in the second period to give the 'Dogs a 3-1 lead, but Cody scored two more (for the hat trick) faster, scoring at 11:18 from the blue line on a bouncing puck that fooled Kim Martin and again at 12:34.

Elin Holmlov didn't wait long in the third period, scoring at 4:03 from Pernilla Winberg and Jessica Wong to put UMD ahead 4-3, that was the eventual final score. Kim Martin stopped 21 of 24 shots faced, while McElhinney stopped 31 of 35 UMD shots. Former Cloquet Lumberjack defenseman Montana Vichorek assisted on the two Cody goals in the third period.

Kacy Ambroz gets in tight on McElhinney

Friddy celebrates a goal

UMD Women Beat North Dakota 4-1

Click Here to view more photos

The Bulldog women began their final series in the DECC Arena, before moving to Amsoil Arena, with a 4-1 win over the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Jessica Wong gave UMD a 1-0 lead with a goal at 17:30 of the first period, assisted by Elin Holmlov, and the first of three assists by Haley Irwin.

Pernilla Winberg gave the 'Dogs a 2-0 lead at 8:30 of the second period, assisted by Irwin, though the 2 goal lead only held for 4 minutes, when North Dakota's Candace Molle scored to cut the lead in half.

Elin Holmlov scored a shorthanded goal at 8:02 of the third, from Irwin, and Joceylyne Larocque scored UMD's 4th goal with 21 seconds left to complete the UMD victory. Kim Martin stopped 23 of 24 shots for the win, while Sioux goaltender Stephanie Ney stopped 25 of 29 in taking the loss.

Haley Irwin puts a shot on Sioux goaltender Ney

Pernilla Winberg and Haley Irwin celebrate Winberg’s goal

UMD Women Split With Bemidji State University

On Friday the Bulldogs dropped a 1-0 game, despite 30 saves by Kim Martin.  Former Grand Rapids/Greenway star Emily Erickson scored for the Beavers, on the powerplay, with 6:35 left in the third period.  The ‘Dogs put 38 shots on Zuzana Tomcikova but couldn’t put one in the net.

On Saturday, the Dogs beat the Beavers 3-1.  Audrey Cournoyer scored her 5th goal of the season, which was matched by Erickson scoring her 5th to tie the game at 1.  Brienna Gillanders scored her first career Bulldog goal, the eventual game winner, on the powerplay at 10:07 of the first period.  Elin Holmlov scored her 4th of the season with 6:29 left in the third period to give the ‘Dogs a 2 goal lead that held to the finish.   Kim Martin started again for UMD, stopping 27 of 28 shots she faced, while Tomcikova stopped 31 of 34 on her net.

UMD is off for a week while the 4 Nations Cup tournament takes place, before Ohio State comes to the DECC November 19/20th.  The game on the 19th starts at 7:30 due to the Christmas City of the North Parade.

UMD Women Finish Sweep of UConn

Click here to view more game photos!

The Bulldogs finished the weekend sweep of UConn with another shutout, winning 4-0 October 24th. UConn gave a better performance than Saturday, with 21 shots on goal, but Kim Martin gave the Bulldogs their 3rd straight shutout of an opponent. Haley Irwin opened the UMD scoring 2:59 into the first period, for the only goal of the period. Audrey Cournoyer scored at 1:36 of the second for a 2-0 UMD lead, and Irwin's second of the game gave UMD a 3-0 lead with 3 minutes left in the second period. Cournoyer finished the scoring with her own second goal, at 9:08 of the third period to finish the scoring. Dana Gallop, Jocelyne Larocque, and Jessica Wong all had 2 assists for the 'Dogs. Jamie Kenyon also picked up an assist, on Cournoyer's second goal.

Former Grand Rapids/Greenway Lightning player Dana Gallop had two assists on Sunday.

Pernilla Winberg and Elin Holmlov help celebrate a Haley Irwin goal

UMD/Whitecaps Tie 3-3

Click the blog title to view more game photos

The 2010-11 edition of the Bulldog women's hockey team debuted at the DECC, October 2nd, 2010, with an exhibition series against the Minnesota Whitecaps. Audrey Cournoyer got the Dogs off on the right foot, scoring 1:11 into the game with assists to Tara Gray and Katie Wilson. From that point on, the Whitecaps controlled the first period, getting goals from Megan McCarthy and Bulldog Alum Jenny Potter 39 seconds apart, and Allie Sanchez at 14:41 of the period. The undermanned Whitecaps, playing with 12 skaters, couldn't keep up the fast pace, and UMD tied the game on a second period goal by Haley Irwin, and a third period goal by Jessica Wong. Wong also picked up an assist on Irwin's goal, while Katie Wilson added a second assist on Wong's goal. Elin Holmlov notched two assists as well for the Bulldogs.

Bulldog Alum Jenny Potter, for the Whitecaps

Haley Irwin returns to the Bulldogs after redshirting last season for the Olympics

UMD Season (16 Days and counting down!)

UMD 2010-11 Season
Not only do they defend their 5th National Championship, but have a nice new arena to defend the second half of the season. There are only 5 seniors on the roster, to replace the 5 that graduated, plus Libby Guzzo's transfer to St. Scholastica, making 20 total roster players with the three goaltenders (Harss, Martin, and Steck.)

4 players are listed as defensemen.. giving me the idea that Jessica Wong and Elin Holmlov will see some blue line time this season. Some people were asking what the roles of Gina Dodge and Kacy Ambroz would be this season (with the Olympians returning).. but I don't think there's reason to wonder after their play last season.

UMD should be able to roll 3 lines with anyone this year, with defense being the one spot with possible questions with Rasmussen and Murray graduating. Larocque and Gray will be on the ice a lot with Posa (Soph) and Noora Jaakola (Freshman), and whoever they do decide to move from forward to defense to fill in.

Might we see a goaltender battle between Harss and Martin this winter? Martin didn't have a really excellent Olympic tournament, but they (Team Sweden) didn't play anyone for tuneup matches so she had a really bad defensive team in front of her. Sweden would have been far better off to leave it's players on their NCAA teams seeing high caliber opponents, but that's getting off topic. She (Martin) is (reported as) probably the healthiest (knees) she's been as a Bulldog so it will be fun to see both goaltenders probably rotate at least until after Christmas.

Shannon Miller can't go anywhere for at least 5 years.. if not more.. she has 5 rings for 5 fingers.. but needs 5 more for the other hand!

Bulldog Olympians February 15th

Click the blog title to view NBCOlympics.com

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.