Minnesota Duluth sophomore defenseman Jocelyne Larocque was one the most important pieces of the Bulldog offense, scoring a goal and dishing out four assists in UMD's win and tie with then No.1-ranked Minnesota last weekend.
The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba assisted on all four of the Bulldogs' second period goals in last Friday's (Jan. 23) 4-2 win over the Gophers, including UMD's scoring burst of three goals in just over three minutes late in the second period. Larocque then scored a power-play goal from the point in the second period of last Saturday's (Jan. 24) game to get Minnesota Duluth on the board for the first time.
The NCAA and WCHA's leading point-getter from the blueline with an average of 1.08 ppg (4-22-26 in 24 games), Larocque was part of a Bulldog penalty-kill unit that forced the Gophers to go 1-of-11 on the power-play during the series. Larocque is on a four-game scoring streak since Jan. 16, having scored two goals and six assists during that string. Over her two-year collegiate career, she has eight goals, 44 assists and 52 points in 63 games.
For those familiar with the Duluth area, Montana Vichorek, who played high school hockey for Cloquet/Esko/Carlton is the Rookie Of the Week.
Montana Vichorek, a freshman defenseman at Bemidji State University from Moose Lake, Minn., recorded her second-career two-assist game during last Saturday's 3-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory over visiting Ohio State and played a huge role in BSU taking the weekend series (Jan. 23-24) from the Buckeyes.
Vichorek led the team with 10 blocks over the weekend, and posted a career-high nine blocks in last Friday's 3-3 overtime tie. Vichorek now has four points in her last five games (four assists), and is tied for the team lead in assists this season with nine (1g,9a=10p). She is the first Beaver defender to eclipse the 10-point mark since the 2005-06 season
Down 3-1 in the third period, UMD got goals from Laura Fridfinnson and Sara O'Toole to force overtime, which ended with the score tied 3-3.
Jocelyne Larocque scored UMD's first goal, and O'Toole also picked up two assists to go with her game tying goal.
Johanna Ellison starred again in net for UMD, stopping 37 of 40 shots she faced.
Monique Lamoureux had a goal and assist for the Gophers.
Click the blog title to go check out the game box score!
Haley Irwin scored twice, Jocelyne Larocque assisted on ALL FOUR UMD Goals, and Elin Holvlov had three assists; while Johanna Ellison stopped 34 of 36 shots for the victory at Ridder Arena.
Laura Fridfinnson scored a shorthanded goal and Pernilla Winberg scored on the powerplay to round out the UMD scoring.
UMD defeated Mankato 5-0 Friday, in a game that Kim Martin left after 11+ minutes with a leg injury which is now reported to be three-four weeks depending on the outcome of x-rays Monday. Johanna Ellison played the rest of the game securing the shutout and her third win of the season.
Scoring in Friday's game for UMD were Haley Irwin (2 goals), Saara Tuominen, Pernilla Winberg, and Jocelyn Larocque. Winberg has 2 assists and Larocque also added an assist, and Sara O'Toole had 3 assists. Kacy Ambroz picked up her third assist of the season also Friday.
On Saturday UMD won 6-3, with Lana Steck in net, stopping 17 of 20 shots. Haley Irwin scored two more goals, Elin Holmlov scored (after sitting out Friday's game for her ailing back), Jamie Rasmussen and Pernilla Winberg (and 2 assists) also scored, and Sara O'Toole scored on a penalty shot to give UMD 6 goals (not in that exact order.)
UMD lost a 3-1 lead over Wisconsin in the third period, and nobody scored in overtime, leading to a 3-3 tie. UMD ran out of gas in the third period, having only one practice leading up to the weekend's series, and Wisconsin took advantage of UMD's special teams to score a powerplay and shorthanded goal in the third period for the tie.
Elin Holmlov scored twice and assisted on a Heidi Pelttari goal, and Saara Tuominen scored her 100th career point on an assist to Holmlov's first goal and Kim Martin stopped 34 of 37 shots.
Kelly Nash, Jasmine Giles, and Hilary Knight scored for the badgers, and Jessie Vetter stopped 35 of 38 UMD shots.
In the shootout, Sara O'Toole and Laura Fridfinnson scored for UMD and Kim Martin shut down Hilary Knight and Kelly Nash on their attempts.
UMD needs a huge weekend at Mankato leading to the Gopher series in two weeks (with Team USA in-between the Mankato and Minnesota series.)
Laura Fridfinnson's two goals, sandwiched between a Haley Irwin goal and Jamie Rasmussen goal, carried UMD to a 4-0 shutout win. Kim Martin was solid, and her defense protected her well when she covered the puck..allowing her to stop all 31 shots she faced, making it her 53rd career win and 11th career shutout.
From UMDBulldogs.com
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The traditional University of Minnesota Duluth holiday break won't last long for four Bulldog women hockey players.
Canada's National Women's U-22 Team has tapped junior forward Emmanuelle Blais, sophomore forwards Haley Irwin and Laura Fridfinnson, and sophonore defenseman Jocelyne Larocque to suit up for the MLP Nations Cup in Ravensburg, Germany. The tournament -- which will be held from Jan. 2-Jan. 6 -- was formally called the European Air Canada Cup, somewhat fitting since Canada is the six-time defending champion at the MLP Cup, having won every year since the tournament’s inception in 2003 and having lost just once in those 20 games.
Blais, Larocque, Irwin and Fridfinnson are part of a Canada roster that includes 21 of the 22 players who dressed for Canada in a three-game series against the United States’ Women’s Under-22 Select Team in Pierrefonds, QC in August. All four Bulldogs' were also part of 11 current U-22 players who won gold at the 2008 Air Canada Cup. Larocque is also won of six players that won a silver medal with Canada's National Team at the 2008 Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, NY in early November.
Just a note for those who are not season ticket holders, or those who are coming up to Duluth for the UMD women's series with Wisconsin... The series originally scheduled to be a Friday/Saturday night series, is now a Saturday night/Sunday afternoon series (7 pm/3 pm) as stated in a letter to season ticket holder that UMD sent out this past week.
I'm not sure what happened to UMD today.. to come out and score in 14 seconds.. then give up right back on a terrible defensive play in front of Martin.. it was sloppier than the NoDak loss.. and is telling.. UMD can be out played physically and will be beaten. Princeton was much more physical, and UMD forgot how to make passes.
The first line was the only one that really did anything good, whether on the powerplay or even-strength, and the [B]entire[/B] defense was just bad today. I wouldn't be surprised to see the 2nd and 3rd lines split up to try and change something come January and the Wisconsin series at the DECC. Just my opinion but, it's time to put Fridfinnson on the third line and move Blais back up to the second line where she belongs...
UMD didnt' really look like they wanted the game until the last couple minutes, which was all first line again. They've gotta find a way to turn it around Sunday and go on Christmas break on a better note.
Tonight's game had a much better flow.. UMD started Johanna Ellison tonight..stopping 20 of 21 shots .. the shot that beat her was a 1 on 0 breakaway(shorthanded for BSU even). Something I mentioned last season.. it seems that almost every time she plays, she end up facing at least one breakaway. Tonight she probably could have challenged the puck b4 the BSU's Erin Cody could get to it, but either way, that was BSU's only goal tonight.
Libby Guzzo scored her first career goal tonight, the game winning goal, after a nice forecheck by freshman Kacy Ambroz caused a BSU turnover with the puck ending up in front of a wide open net for Guzzo to bury.
Tori Shelafoe even dressed and skated a few shifts tonight in only her second game of the season. She's a speedy little player from Forest Lake High School, who will probably play a bigger role next season with the speed she brings.
I don't think Kim Martin is quite right from her concussion following the NoDak Friday night game yet, even though she swept Dartmouth last weekend. You could almost tell for the time she played last night that she wasn't completely there. I wouldn't be surprised if she sat next weekend just to be cautious, with the series against Princeton the final one until January. This said, it's just my observation rather than any fact given by UMD or anyone connected to the team.
OK, no offense to Bemidji State.. but what a BORING game. If UMD had kept up the pressure the whole game it may have resembled the 15 goals UMD put up against SCSU back in the Jenny Potter era. Probably half of UMD's shots would amount to actual scoring chances, while a decent number were from farther than the faceoff dots.
Zuzana Tomcikova is almost an exact copy of Riitta Schaublin's freshman season.. rarely going down to the butterfly.. but able to cover a lot of area with her great size. There doesn't seem to be any drop-off from Brookshaw graduating.. just another goaltender stopping a ton of shots every game while the team searches for offense.
One negative for UMD, at the end of the game Emmanuelle Blais blocked a slot that may have missed her pad and hit her skate .. she hobbled to the bench and the ground and was still there after the handshake and was surrounded by staff as everyone headed out. Just judging from how it looked, I think it'd doubtful she'll be on the ice tomorrow but we'll see.
Add: Unfortunatley.. Johanna Ellison gave up a goal with about 4 minutes left.. her defense didn't kill the puck.. BUT because Kim Martin gave up a goal in the first period, Ellison picked up her first win of the season because it was 2-1 when Martin finished the first period.
This was posted later than normal on WCHA.COM...
WCHA Defensive Player of the Week
Jocelyne Larocque • So., D, University of Minnesota Duluth
Jocelyne Larocque, a sophomore defenseman from Winnipeg, Manitoba, scored two goals in the University of Minnesota Duluth's 4-1 victory over No. 3-ranked Dartmouth last Saturday (Nov. 29) at the DECC in Duluth, Minn. The Bulldogs also won 2-1 over Dartmouth in the series opener last Friday (Nov. 28).
Larocque scored Minnesota Duluth's second goal of the game in the 4-1 decision - and what turned out to be the game-winning goal - just :15 seconds into the second period on a blast from the left point. Larocque then launched an empty-net goal with one second remaining for her second goal of the contest and of the season. In addition to her two goals, Larocque helped UMD kill 10 of Dartmouth's 11 power-play attempts, earned a +2 plus/minus rating and put eight shots on goal in the two games.
Larocque, who is the sixth ranked defensive scorer in the NCAA and the third in the WCHA, has 12 points (2g,10a) in 14 games.
Also nominated were: Alyssa Grogan, G, UM; Kathleen Rosso, D, MSU; and Alycia Matthews, D, UW.
UMD dominated easily today... breaking the 40 shot mark in the second period. Kim Martin looked like herself the whole game.... I really like UMD's new forecheck and hope it wasn't JUST for this weekend.. they sent 4 into the zone most of the weekend.. and a forward was in position EVERY time to cover the pressing defenseman. While that can cost you occasional breakaways it worked well for them.
Jenni Asserholt has improved vastly from just the first weekend against Minnesota, she doesn't look out of place on the ice anymore after not playing in the North Dakota series, whether it was for injury or to to watch and learn from watching a series maybe... either way she looked comfortable on the ice this weekend.
Hailey Irwin had 11 shots on net and two more goals, and Jocelyne Larocque scored her first two goals (the 2nd was just a clear down ice into an open net with less than 1 second left on the clock) of the season.
Elin Holmlov and Pernilla Winberg each got 3 assists, on the important goals.
Next up, Bemidji State December 4th and 5th, 7:07 starts both nights at the DECC.
UMD 2 Dartmouth 1.... For the most part the puck was in Dartmouth's end the majority of the game.. but UMD still had trouble finding the net, missing *4* different opportunities from 10 feet or less shooting well wide....Kim Martin looked a little shaky but now that I know she had a concussion from last Friday's game where a Sioux were ran her... it makes sense why her game was off last Saturday. After the first period, she looked like the Kim Martin we're used to seeing.
You have to give kudos to BOTH teams tonight.. the 'Lick Brothers' were the referees and this game could have gotten out of hand physically very fast.
After last week's Sioux series, it's also nice to play against a team that DOESN'T slash the goaltender every time the puck is at the net.. Dartmouth did a good job of pulling up after the save.
Stephanie Ney stopped all 45 shots UMD put on her, and North Dakota scored 3 goals on Kim Martin in the first 30 minutes.. and went on to shut out UMD 4-0 at the DECC.
UMD had plenty of chances but North Dakota's defense was great in front of their goaltender, not allowing 2nd and 3rd opportunities to get through to the net. North Dakota made UMD's defense look slow today, breaking out the puck at will, a big difference from Saturday's first game.
Dartmouth is up next, Friday night/Saturday afternoon(3:37) series, because the UMD Men play St. Cloud State Saturday night.
'Hat Trick' Holmlov scores 4 as UMD dominated North Dakota at times.. winning 6-2. A "Natural" hat-trick, plus 1 for 4 goals in a row even! Kirkham played decent but got little help, the Sioux defense never attacked the puck.. rather they turned and skated backwards, and seemed to be afraid of UMD's overall speed.
Lana Steck saw her first NCAA action, playing the last 10:31 of the game.. giving up a goal from the blueline. She's going to be a work in progress.. needing to learn the side to side movement with her pads rather than her skates, which makes her slow going from one side of the net to the other. One good thing is on the three shots she did save (of 4) she controlled the rebounds.
Click the blog title to view the game box score!
First, Click the blog title to view the UMDBULLDOGS.COM Series Preview for this weekend's North Dakota series.. and...
Pernilla Winberg is the WCHA player of the week coming off of the Ohio State Series! Somehow I missed this during the week.
UMD put 50 shots on goal, scored 3 times on the powerplay, and defeated Ohio State 8-3, to earn the sweep in Columbus, Ohio. 6 UMD goals were scored in the second period after a scoreless first period.
Haley Irwin had a HAT TRICK, to give her four goals on the weeekend! Elin Holmlov scored two more goals, giving her eight on the season.
Jamie Rasmussen and Laura Frifinnson also got goals, while Holmlov (2), Pernilla Winberg(3), Sara O'Toole(2), and Saara Tuominen(2) all had multiple assists.
Kim Martin stopped all 26 shots she faced, and UMD got goals from Jaime Rasmussen (powerplay), Haley Irwin (FINALLY her first of the season!) and Laura Fridfinnson to win 3-0 in Columbus.
UMD was 1 of 5 on the powerplay and held OSU scoreless on 7 attempts of their own.
UMD and Wisconsin end in a 2-2 tie, but Wisconsin got the extra WCHA poitn by winning the shootout 1-0. UMD had a 2-0 lead but everyone knows a 2-0 lead is dangerous cause the opponent's first goal can give them the confidence to either tie or even win. UMD didn't look all that good in the shootout, but I'm not sure a shootout really makes sense to do. If only is used in conference standings and not by the NCAA and seems to be pointless really.
UMD's next opponent is Ohio State, in Columbus Ohio the weekend after the upcoming 4 Nations Cup Tournament.
