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

UMD/Whitecaps Tie 3-3

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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

National Championship Game Photos!

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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

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Tara Gray, WCHA Defensive Player of the Week

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WCHA.COM:

Tara Gray – Jr., D, Minnesota Duluth

University of Minnesota Duluth junior defenseman Tara Gray recorded more points over the Jan. 30-31 weekend in Grand Forks than she did all last season, helping the visiting Bulldogs to a WCHA sweep over North Dakota.

A product of Toronto, Ont., Gray scored two goals and added two assists for four points in the series against the Sioux, including the first three-point performance of her collegiate career last Sunday.

Gray dished an assist on a goal that tied the game at 2-2 in the second period in last Saturday’s 4-3 overtime comeback win for the Bulldogs. She was also a +1.

Then on Sunday, Gray had a hand in three of Minnesota Duluth’s last four goals in a 5-0 shutout victory over UND. She netted her first goal at 15:34 of the second period to push UMD to a 2-0 lead, before assisting on a power-play goal at 19:43 of the second period, a blast from Gray that was redirected in front of the net by teammate Laura Fridfinnson. Gray then scored a PPG of her own with less than 4:00 remaining in the third, giving her the first two-goal game of her career and highest point count in a single game during her three-seasons at UMD. Besides her points, Gray was +3 and helped UMD grab it’s fourth shutout of the season.

Overall, Gray, who had four shots Sunday, was +4 on the weekend. She now has eight points this season (4g, 4a), just two shy of her career season-high of 10 (1g, 9a) set during her freshman season. Her four goals this season already is a career single-season best.

Also nominated for the award this week were: Alana McElhinney, G, BSU; Alyssa Grogan, G, UM; and Kelly Wild, D, OSU.

UMD Women Beats Bemidji 4-1

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The Bulldog women beat a much improved (over previous seasons) Beavers team 4-1 at the DECC, December 12, 2009. Tara Gray got UMD off on the right foot with a shot from the point midway through the first period, but was answered by Bemidji's leading scorer, Erin Cody, 7 minutes later. UMD had a multitude of scoring opportunities in front of the BSU goaltender Zuzana Tomcikova in the second period but couldn't get a bounce, while UMD's Jenny Harss also kept the puck out of her net. UMD put the game away in the third period, on goals by Emmanuelle Blais, Katie Wilson, and Kacy Ambroz. Laura Fridfinnson picked up two assists for UMD, while Ambroz, Blais, and Vanessa Thibault all got an assist in the game. Former Cloquet/Esko/Carlton center Sadie Lundquist and Grand Rapids/Greenway forward Emily Erickson each picked up an assist on the Beaver goal.

Tara Gray blasts a slapshot for the first goal of the game

Katie Wilson sneaks the puck under the Bemidji State goaltender

"Champ" during an intermission game