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.

UMD Women Tie Minnesota 2-2

The Bulldogs finally took to the ice after 5 weeks off, heading to Ridder Arena for a conference with the rival Gophers. 

The Gophers scored first, with Sarah Erickson scoring at 7:55 of the first period.  That goal was answered 5 minutes later by Brienna Gillanders, on the powerplay, and the teams went to the intermission tied at 1.

The Gophers’ Jen Schoullis retook the lead at 12:50 of the second period and that lead held until 9:33 of the third period, when Katie Wilson scored UMD’s second powerplay goal of the game to even the score at 2.  Neither team could light the lamp again, and the game ended in a 2-2 overtime tie.  The Gophers took the extra WCHA point by winning a shootout 2-1 in 3 rounds, but the game counts as a tie for NCAA playoff purposes.

Jenny Harss stopped 40 of 42 shots for the ‘Dogs, while Noora Raty stopped 29 of 31 UMD shots on the Gopher net.

UMD Women Win WCHA Playoff Championship!

The WCHA regular season co-champions knocked off the Minnesota Gophers 3-2 at Ridder Arena, to win the WCHA Final Faceoff playoff championship, to head into the NCAA tournament on a huge roll.

Jessica Wong got UMD on the board first, at 5:59 of the first period, when she pounced on a rebound and 2 handed it into the net past Gopher goaltender Noora Raty. Emmanuelle Blais made it 2-0 at 14:22 on a powerplay, and Gopher star Sarah Erickson scored at 17:06 to go into the locker rooms with UMD up 2-1.

Audrey Cournoyer scored the eventual game winner, UMD's third goal, 11:21 into the second period, while Erickson scored her second of the game at 16:28 of the period. Neither team scored in the third despite powerplays for both teams in the period.

The Dogs were 1 of 7 on the powerplay while Minnesota was 0 for 3. Jenny Harss won her 26th game of the season, stopping 18 of 20 shots, while Raty lost only her third game, stopping 25 of 28 UMD shots.

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