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Feb. 22, 2009

MADISON, Wis. - Fresh off capturing the 2008-09 Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season championship and the No. 1-ranked team in the country, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are now the No. 1 seed for the first round of WCHA Playoffs, four best-of-three series which get underway Friday, February 27 and continue through Sunday, March 1, if necessary.

The Golden Gophers (28-3-3), coming off a two-game home-and-home sweep of St. Cloud State this past Friday and Saturday in the final regular season series, earned the program's fifth conference title in 10 years and first under second-year head coach Brad Frost. Minnesota will play host to Bemidji State (6-23-5), the No. 8 seed, at Ridder Arena with face-offs at 6:07 pm CT on Feb. 27, 4:07 pm CT on Feb. 28, and if necessary, at 4:07 pm CT on March 1. UM was 4-0-0 vs BSU during the regular season.

The Wisconsin Badgers (27-2-5), finishing second behind Minnesota by just a single point and the No. 2-ranked team in the country, are the No. 2 seed for the WCHA Playoffs and will entertain No. 7 seed Ohio State (8-23-3) this coming weekend. Face-offs at Eagles' Nest in Verona, Wis., are 7:07 pm CT each evening. The Badgers went 4-0 vs the Buckeyes during the regular season.

Defending WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF and national champion Minnesota Duluth (23-7-4) is the No. 3 seed and the Bulldogs will play host to No. 7 seed North Dakota (13-17-4) at the Duluth Entertainment & Convention Center Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) with face-offs at 7:07 pm CT, 7:07 pm CT and 5:07 pm CT. The Bulldogs were 3-1-0 vs the Fighting Sioux during the regular season.

And at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud next weekend, the No. 4 seeded St. Cloud State Huskies (14-16-4) will host the No. 5-seeded Minnesota State Mavericks (10-17-5) with face-offs at 7:07 pm CT each evening. St. Cloud State went 2-1-1 vs Minnesota State during their four-game regular season series.

Following the first round of WCHA Playoffs, the four winning teams will be re-seeded No. 1 thru No. 4 according to their regular season finish and then advance to the 2009 WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF, set for March 7-8 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. At the WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF, there will be two semi-final games played on Saturday (March 7) at 1:07 pm CT and 4:07 pm CT, with the playoff championship contest being played on Sunday (March 8) at 1:07 pm CT.

On the final weekend of the 2008-09 regular season, two teams - Minnesota and Wisconsin - swept their WCHA series at home while two others - Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State - won twice on the road.

The Golden Gophers won a home-and-home set against St. Cloud State, prevailing 7-0 at St. Cloud last Friday and 3-1 on Saturday in Minneapolis. In the Feb. 20 contest at the National Hockey Center, right winger Gigi Marvin had two goals and an assist for UM, left winger Emily West scored twice, including the game-winner, defenseman Melanie Gagnon added 1-1-2 and Alyssa Grogan stopped all 18 shots on goal for the shutout. On Feb. 21 at Ridder Arena, right winger Monique Lamoreux had a goal and an assist and center Sarah Erickson knocked home the game-winner for Minnesota, while for the Huskies, center Caitlin Hogan scored the game's first goal in the first period.

At the Kohl Center in Madison, host Wisconsin won twice over Bemidji State, 3-0 and 5-2. This past Friday afternoon, defenseman Brittany Haverstock scored the game-winner and Jessie Vetter pitched a 10-save shutout for the Badgers. On Saturday afternoon, UW left winger Hilary Knight had two goals and two assists and center Erika Lawler had a goal and three assists to pace the attack while for the Beavers, wingers Erin Babineau and Annie Bauerfeld scored goals. Also for BSU, goaltender Zuzana Tomcikova had a total of 84 saves in the series.

In Grand Forks on Feb. 20-21, visiting Minnesota Duluth won twice at North Dakota, 3-2 and 3-0. For UMD on Friday, defenseman Jaime Rasmussen tallied the game-winner as the Bulldogs outshot the Sioux, 34-15. For UND, winger Casie Hanson and center Melissa Jaques scored goals in the second and third period, respectively. On Saturday, UMD goaltender Johanna Ellison had a 14-save shutout while center Haley Irwin's first period goal held up as the winner. For UND, Stephanie Ney had 34 saves in nets.

And in Columbus, visiting Minnesota State came up big with a 6-5, 2-1 sweep over host Ohio State, four points that enabled the Mavericks to earn a share of fifth place and the No. 5 seed for the playoffs. On Feb. 20, MSU received two goals from center Nina Tikkinen and a third period winner from right winger Maggie Fisher. For the Buckeyes, center Laura McIntosh notched a three-goal hat trick. On Saturday, Mavericks' goaltender Paige Thunder stopped 32 of 33 shots on goal and right winger Lisa Edman scored the game-winner at 7:26 of the third. For OSU, defenseman Shannon Reilly had the lone goal.

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