Regional semifinal
Quinnipiac vs. Syracuse
The Bobcats earned their first NCAA tournament win in program history with a 4-0 defeat of Syracuse on Thursday. The two teams played a close battle for the first half of the game, but Quinnipiac began to pull away in the second. Taylor House opened the scoring, finding the back of the net on a second rebound to make it 1-0. Sadie Peart doubled the lead before the second intermission. In the third, Jess Schryver tipped in a shot from Zoe Boyd. Lexie Adzija scored on the empty net to complete the shutout.
Minnesota Duluth vs. Harvard
Patty Kazmaier top ten finalist Gabbie Hughes tallied a natural hat trick in the first 32 minutes of the game to lead her team in a 4-0 win over Harvard. The Bulldogs controlled the game from start to finish. Hughes scored in the opening minutes of both the first and second periods, taking away any momentum the Crimson might hope to build. McKenzie Hewett scored in the third to make it a 4-0 game. UMD has one other NCAA tournament hat trick. Maria Rooth tallied one in 2001, against Harvard.
Wisconsin vs. Clarkson
The Golden Knights looked to have the jump on the Badgers in the opening frame, but Maddi Wheeler put Wisconsin on the board just before the first intermission with an incredible individual effort. Makenna Webster hit her with a pass and she streaked into the zone. Wheeler took the puck wide, dragged a defender and snuck the puck between the goalie and the post to make it a 1-0 game. In the second, Nicole LaMantia played a gorgeous diagonal pass to Daryl Watts, who met it at the back post and one-timed it in. But the Golden Knights were not ready to let their season end without a fight. They outshot Wisconsin 15-6 in the third, including six on a late power play. The Badgers racked up 25 blocks in the game. Nicole Gosling made it a 2-1 game with two minutes to play with a shot through traffic that beat everyone, but Delaney Drake’s empty-netter secured the 3-1 win.
Quarterfinals
Wisconsin vs. Northeastern
Northeastern exorcised some demons on Saturday with a 4-2 win over Wisconsin to advance to the Frozen Four. The Badgers defeated the Huskies in overtime to win the 2021 National Championship. Northeastern ended Wisconsin’s season by going 2-for-3 on the power play and never really letting them get back into the game after a goal just before the buzzer to end the first period. Katy Knoll scored on the player advantage early in the first to make it 1-0. She cleaned up a rebound on the back post on a shot from Andrea Renner. Wisconsin responded a few minutes later when Casey O’Brien backhanded a pass from Makenna Webster past Aerin Frankel. It looked like the teams would head to the locker rooms with the score tied at 1, but Skylar Irving’s shot from a tight angle deflected past Kennedy Blair to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead with 5.2 seconds left on the clock. Northeastern doubled their lead when Maureen Murphy cleaned up her own rebound after a kick save from Blair to make it 3-1. Brette Pettet brought it back to a one goal game with her power play goal early in the third to make it 3-2. But Alina Müller, who turned 24 on Saturday, celebrated her birthday with a power play goal from one knee that made it 4-2 and put the game out of reach for Wisconsin. Northeastern will face Minnesota Duluth on Friday at 3:30 est for the chance to advance to their second straight title game. It’s a rematch of their national semifinal from last season, which the Huskies won 3-2 in overtime.
Minnesota Duluth vs. Minnesota
UMD entered this game with something to prove after the Gophers so thoroughly dominated them a week prior in the very same rink, winning 5-1 to advance to the WCHA tournament championship game. Saturday’s game was much closer, with the teams fighting each other for every inch of ice. The Gophers outshot the Bulldogs 38-27, but Emma Soderberg was once again stellar in net for UMD and Gabbie Hughes continued her dominating season to help Minnesota Duluth upset #2 Minnesota. Abigail Boreen had the Gophers on the board first with a power play goal. Catie Skaja stole the puck from a Bulldog and quickly found Boreen, who one-timed it past Soderberg. Mannon McMahon equalized in the second on a goal that will haunt Minnesota goalie Lauren Bench. She misjudged McMahon’s shot from distance, knocking the puck with the top of her glove. It went behind her and bounced in the net. One of the most dangerous combos in the NCAA right now combined for the game winner as Élizabeth Giguère intercepted a Gopher attempt to clear the zone. Her tap up to Hughes was in some traffic, but Hughes skated away with it and snapped a wrister from the right faceoff dot past Bench. From there, the Bulldogs withstood a barrage of Gopher shots to take the 2-1 win. UMD advances to play Northeastern at 3:30 est on Friday.
Yale vs. Colgate
After facing each other the week prior for the ECAC championship, the teams switched venues, with Colgate hosting the game this time in a game that turned out to look remarkably similar to the one they just played. The Bulldogs will follow up playing in their first-ever NCAA game with their first-ever trip to the Frozen Four with a 2-1 overtime win over the Raiders. Vita Poniatovskaia put the Bulldogs on the board first on a nice cross-ice pass from Elle Hartje. The Bulldogs had a rush that didn’t prove fruitful, but with traffic at the net, the puck came back out and Hartje hit Poniatovskaia as she skated into the zone. Before the end of the period, Kaitlyn O’Donohoe made it a 1-1 game. Dara Greig won a race for a puck to the back boards and quickly fed it to O’Donohoe, who was crashing toward the net. The teams could not find a winner and just like last weekend, headed to overtime. This time, it was the Bulldogs who came out victorious as Tess Dettling gathered a rebound from a kick save and put it in the net to give Yale the 2-1 win.
Quinnipiac vs. Ohio State
The Buckeyes advanced to their second-straight Frozen Four thanks to a goal in the second overtime by Clair DeGeorge to give OSU a 4-3 win. Quinnipiac goalie Corinne Schroeder obliterated her career total in saves, registering 73 in this epic battle. Bobcat rookie Ann-Frédérik Naud scored her first career goal, deflecting a shot in off an Ohio State defender to give Quinnipiac the 1-0 lead about midway through the first. It looked like they’d carry that lead into the locker room, but the top-ranked Buckeye power play struck with 56.9 seconds left in the period. Riley Brengman made it a 1-1 game. In the second, DeGeorge added a power play tally of her own. Maya Labad tied it up as she outskated her defender and beat Amanda Thiele to make it 2-2. Ohio State took the lead early in the third on a snipe of a goal from Sophie Jaques. Quinnipiac pulled their goalie and then Gabby Rosenthal took a late penalty for delay of game for using her hands to move the puck on the faceoff. The Bobcats skated 6-on-4 and Taylor House tied the game and force overtime with a goal through traffic. Ohio State outshot Quinnipiac 77-22 overall and 35-7 in the extra frames. But the game did not feel that disparate and the Bobcats and Buckeyes went back and forth with possession in overtime. Early in the second overtime, DeGeorge shot a puck from Schroeder’s right side on a close angle to win the game and send Ohio State to face Yale at 7 pm est on Friday in the national semifinal.
