MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Golden Gophers advanced to the WCHA Tournament championship by exacting a little revenge on their border rivals Wisconsin in a 3-2 win Friday evening.
The Badgers had taken five of six points from Minnesota in the second-to-last series of the regular season at Ridder Arena, but the Gophers weren’t about to let that happen again on their home ice. They took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission thanks to a goal by Madison Kaiser that was the result of Peyton Hemp stealing the puck off Britta Curl’s stick and feeding it to the goal front, where Kaiser knocked it in.
The two teams that know each other so well seemed to have an answer for everything their opponent did.
But Wisconsin responded early in the second as Casey O’Brien put pressure on as Minnesota tried to build out from behind their net. Gopher Lizi Norton seemed to not know O’Brien was tailing her and she dropped the puck back to leave it for a teammate. O’Brien took it directly to the net and scored to tie the game 1-1.
The tie would only last a few minutes as Madeline Wethington crashed the net to put back a second-chance opportunity to make it 2-1.
“We definitely had to play on our toes. You have to be able to weather the storm in playoff hockey. You have to expect the best from each opponent, and I think today was a great learning lesson for us as we head into tomorrow and the tournament,” Wethington said.
The Badgers, who have struggled to score with the extra attacker, lit the lamp on the power play after Abbey Murphy was called for slashing. Nicole LaMantia’s shot from just beyond the circles through traffic evened the score at 2-2.
Murphy returned the favor early in the third when Curl went to the box for tripping. Grace Zumwinkle took a slap shot from the blue line that came out to Catie Skaja. Her put back went off the far post, but Murphy was right there to push it back into the net to give Minnesota the lead.
Skaja added an empty-netter almost as soon as the Badgers pulled their goalie to complete the 4-2 win.
Gopher coach Brad Frost was happy to see his team digging deep and not getting frustrated any time Wisconsin had an answer for them.
“I really liked our team’s resolve in the third period. A few weeks ago when we played Wisconsin, we had to come back in both third periods. We let both of those slip away, so it was really nice to be able to bear down and stick with it there,” he said.
The Badgers will await the NCAA Selection Show to learn their fate.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed. We felt we were in a good place as a team. We’ve been playing well the last several weekends. As you all know, it’s playoff time, and obviously little plays are going to make the difference. I thought coming into the third period, we were in a pretty good position. We came out in the second and got ourselves back in the game and had some opportunities but just came up a little bit short tonight,” said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson.
Minnesota advances to play Ohio State. The Gophers were the most successful WCHA team against the Buckeyes this season with a 2-1-1 record. But Frost knows that even if his team does everything right, a win is not assured against an opponent like OSU.
“They’re tenacious. They’re relentless on the puck. They have great goaltending, and obviously Sophie Jaques is a difference-maker on the blue line as a fourth forward, and they’re fast and skilled. It’s been great. We’ve had some great matchups with them this year. With what’s on the line tomorrow, it should be another great one,” he said.
“We have to play our game—it’s a coin flip. I think they would say the same thing. Any time all four of our teams play each other, you could flip a coin over who’s going to get a break or a bounce.”
