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 Women Swept by Gophers

The UMD Bulldog women were swept at Ridder Arena, Friday night and Saturday afternoon by the Minnesota Gophers. 

On Friday, the Dogs dropped a 4-1 decision, giving up 3 goals in the third period, after taking a 1-1 tie to the second intermission.  Kacy Ambroz’s second goal of the season gave UMD a 1-0 lead 7:34 into the second period, and Gopher Jen Schoullis tied the game at 13:27.  UMD was outshot 18-4 in the period, largely in part to being shorthanded five times. 

Sarah Erickson (9:11), Schoullis (15:04), and Megan Bozek (empty net at 19:14,) accounted for the 3 third period goals for the Gophers, who were 2/8 on the powerplay.  Jenny Harss stopped 33 of 37 Gopher shots in the loss.

 

Saturday afternoon, UMD got down early, when Schoullis scored 52 seconds into the game.  An Amanda Kessel goal at 18:08 gave the Gophers a 2-0 lead at the first intermission break.

A Brigette Lacquette powerplay goal at 2:04 of the second period cut the deficit to 2-1, but Sarah Erickson gave the Gophers back their two goal lead at 5:28.

A Brienna Gillanders powerplay goal at 5:43 of the third period again cut the Gopher lead to a single goal, 3-2, which ended up being the final score for the game. 

Jenny Harss stopped 30 of 33 Gopher shots in Saturday’s game.

UMD is now just 1-4-1 in WCHA play, with the win and tie vs North Dakota being their only points, with 2 losses each to Wisconsin and Minnesota.    Harss has a .91% saves percentage and is allowing 2.97 goals per WCHA game, but the 1-4-1 record in league games. 

UMD Women Sweep Mavericks

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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

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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

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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

National Championship Game Photos!

Click the blog title to view all my game pictures from UMD's 5th National Championship Win!

After nearly 3 full overtimes, equaling 119 minutes and 26 seconds of hockey (4 hours and 24 minutes real time), the UMD Bulldog women's hockey team became National Champions, for the 5th time! Neither team scored in a first period that had 19 shots between the two teams, and one penalty each. In the second period, Cornell's Melanie Jue scored the only goal, a powerplay goal, at 13:44, and gave Cornell a 1-0 lead at the second intermission. Cornell took a penalty at 19:11 of the second period, and Emmanuelle Blais scored a powerplay goal 18 seconds into the third period to tie the game at 1. Jamie Rasmussen capitalized on another Cornell penalty, at 14:42, skating in deep and burying a centering pass to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. Less than two minutes later though, Jue tied the game for Cornell, batting in a puck that popped up in the air and bouncing off UMD goaltender Jenny Harss. Cornell took a penatly at 16:42 of the third period, but UMD couldn't capitalize, and the game went to overtime.

The first overtime had great scoring chances for both teams. The best came when Audrey Cournoyer got the puck in front of Cornell goaltender Amanda Mazzotta, and before she could make a move around her, Mazzotta pokechecked the puck and caused it to hop Cournoyer's stick. UMD had 12 shots and Cornell 11 in the first overtime. The majority of the second and third overtime's were spent in Cornell's zone, as UMD started to skate more of the third line and rotate Kacy Ambroz and Vanessa Thibault more into the first two lines to give players a break. Ambroz forechecked hard the 2nd and 3rd overtime and helped the Bulldogs create momentum, but they couldn't get anything by Mazzotta, until the last minute of the third overtime. Laura Fridfinnson was tripped as she gained the zone and a great scoring chance, creating a UMD powerplay. The powerplay expired, but UMD still had the zone when a Tara Gray blast from the blue line was tipped into the net by Jessica Wong, 6 seconds after the powerplay ended, to win the game in overtime. Mazzotta finished the game with 61 saves on 64 shots, while Harss stopped 47 of 49 shots she faced.

UMD captain Saara Tuominen assisted on UMD's first two goals, while Jamie Rasmussen assisted on the first, Cournoyer on the second, and Mariia Posa added to Gray's assist on Wong's game winning goal. Laura Fortino assisted on both Cornell goals, while Lauriane Rougeau and Karlee Overguard each had an assist for the Big Red.

Tara Gray slapshot that Wong tipped for game winner

ALL the game shots

UMD Shouts Out St. Cloud 5-0

On Saturday, UMD reversed their fortunes and did St. Cloud one better, shutting them out 5-0 after the 5-1 loss the Huskies handed them. Over the years, the Bulldog teams have overcome a bad game and situations when everything seems to be against them to perservere and this was another instance of that. Laura Fridfinnonson, out for the third period Friday with her shoulder injury, scored the first Bulldog goal on Saturday, to give UMD a 1-0 lead during the first intermission. Vanessa Thibault scored her second career goal and second in as many games to give UMD a 2-0 lead and Katie Wilson made that 3-0 on her first of two goals with 5 minutes left in the 2nd period. The third line, of Kacy Ambroz, Justine Fisher, and Libby Guzzo worked hard the entire game and that paid off with Ambroz scoring the 4th UMD goal, her second career goal, 26 seconds before Katie Wilson finished the scoring with her second of the game. Jenny Harss stopped all 24 St. Cloud shots for her second shutout of the year and her career.

Audrey Cournoyer picked up 3 assists Saturday against St. Cloud

Katie Wilson, Cournoyer after Wilson's first goal of the night.

Kacy Ambroz as her shot scores her second career goal.

UMD Women Beat North Dakota 3-1, Sweep Series

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North Dakota again scored first (goal by Janet Babchishin,) in game 2 on Saturday, but UMD answered with first period goals by Emmanuelle Blais and Jaime Rasmussen (on the powerplay) to take a lead that they never gave up. Saara Tuominen (also on the powerplay) scored the only other goal of the game, in the second period to give UMD the final 3-1 score. Blais, Tuominen, and Rasmussen each had an assist as well, as did Laura Fridfinnson and Sarah Murray. Goaltender Jenny Harss played well again, stopping 22 of 23 shots she faced.

Emmanuelle Blais now has 91 points as a Bulldog, and Laura Fridfinnson has 88 points, as they both chase the 100 point mark.


Kacy Ambroz had one of her strongest games as a Bulldog.

Saara Tuominen scored her second goal of the season, hopefully that gets her back on track as the team leader.