UMD Stings Gophers, As Split Puts No. 1-2 Rivals In Playoff Form
March 2, 2005
DULUTH, MN. - There might be a better rivalry in women's Division I college hockey than Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth. But it's doubtful. The fact that Minnesota is ranked No. 1 and UMD No. 2 in the nation only adds fuel to the fire. And they could meet once, maybe twice, more this season.
Minnesota sailed all the way through the Women's-WCHA schedule undefeated, with only a tie against Wisconsin marring a perfect ledger, but all through the season there was that season-ending series at Duluth.
Minnesota Duluth, meanwhile, had a few miss-steps during the season, losing and tying early at Minnesota, losing twice against Wisconsin, and being upset at St. Cloud State. So the Bulldogs were mathematically eliminated from the title by the time of that final regular-season weekend, but they also hadn't lost at home in the DECC all season.
In Saturday's first game, UMD goaltender Riitta Schaublin was positively brilliant, making 40 saves and anchoring a rock-solid performance by the Bulldogs, who beat Minnesota 4-2. The Golden Gophers plan of an undefeated WCHA regular season went up in smoke, but it was only the second loss the other coming against Dartmouth in the entire season. It certainly wouldn't be enough to dislodge Minnesota from the No. 1 rank in the nation, but it also would be exactly what was needed to cement UMD in the No. 2 slot.
Sunday afternoon, same teams, and Minnesota goaltender Jody Horak was brilliant, stopping all 32 UMD shots for a 1-0 Gopher victory. So much for UMD's home-ice undefeated mark. Both teams played superb hockey, every shift had playoff intensity, and the benefit of the rivalry meant the split raised both to playoff level.
The fact that the Gophers had the title locked up took nothing away from the series. ³Any time you play a rival, it could be a summer league game and it would be intense,² said Natalie Darwitz, the Gopher junior whose shorthanded goal opened the first game's scoring, and was the 34th goal of the season for the nation's scoring leader. ³Every time we come up here, we have to work hard for every inch. We get bad vibes in this arena.²
The vibes changed benches for the second game, however, as Krissy Wendell, Darwitz's linemate and the nation's second-leading scorer, beat goaltender Patricia Elssmore with a magnificent shot early in the second period, and that goal stood up for the split.
During the long season, both Minnesota and UMD have many games that are quite easily won, and sometimes those games don't contribute to any readiness for games at the intensity level of their head-to-head meetings. With their series coming to conclude the regular season, both teams served notice that they have their ³A Game² ready.
Just in time, too. The second-seeded Bulldogs take on North Dakota and the top-seeded Gophers face Bemidji State in Thursday's WCHA playoff quarterfinals at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, while Friday's quarterfinals find St. Cloud meeting Wisconsin and Minnesota State taking on Ohio State. Semifinals are Saturday, and there is a good chance Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth could collide again Sunday afternoon for the league playoff championship.
Of course, anything can happen at playoff time, and Wisconsin, the third-place finisher in the league and the No. 3 ranked team nationally, easily could throw a wrench into plans for another Gopher-Bulldog meeting.
After that, Minnesota, UMD and Wisconsin all are likely to be at home for the first round of NCAA tournament play, and, of course, if Minnesota and UMD both advance to the Frozen Four, they could meet yet again in the NCAA final in Durham, N.H.
But that's a long way off. And for a couple of days, at least, it's eminently satisfying to reflect on how great the hockey was between the Gophers and Bulldogs in Duluth.
In the series opener, before 3,001 fans a record crowd for a regular-season UMD home game UMD seemed a bit uptight in the first period, but both goaltenders came up with crucial saves. Schaublin made a stop on Lynday Wall's center-point power-play shot, then made a brilliant follow-up save to rob Wendell's one-timer with the rebound at the right edge. Horak responded against UMD's power play by stifling Jessica Koizumi's point-blank shot and rebound off Caroline Ouellette's set-up.
With Minnesota short to open the second period, Darwitz dashed in on the left and put a quick shot through Schaublin's legs for the shorthanded goal at 3:39. ³I should have had that one,² Schaublin said. ³But she's smart. As she cut in, I thought she might pass, so I started to move to my left. She saw me start to take that step, and she shot.²
UMD came right back before that power play had ended with Allison Lehrke knocking in a rebound at 4:05.
UMD held firm, with Schaublin coming up with her biggest save when Wendell raced in at top speed on a two-skater power play, deked and cut to her right, only to have a leg pad blocking her backhand try at the post. How many times in her life, when she had that kind of a head of steam up, has any goalie ever stopped Wendell? ³Not many,² Wendell said.
Then it was UMD's turn on a two-skater advantage, and Juliane Jubinville chipped a rebound up and in on the left edge at 16:10 for a 2-1 Duluth lead. Jubinville was in the penalty box early in the third period, when Ouellette rushed in 2-on-2. She made a good move and a drop pass to Noemie Marin, and when Horak blocked Marin's shot, Ouellette knocked in the rebound at 4:36.
That boosted UMD to a 3-1 lead, which stood until Andrea Nichols caught UMD in a line change. She skated up the left side, right past the Bulldog bench and fed Bobbi Ross, who got her shot past Schaublin, but it hit the left pipe and bounced out right into the path of Nichols, who jammed in the rebound at 13:41.
Back to nail-biting time at 3-2, and Minnesota turned up the pressure on a power play with 3:29 to go. But Schaublin remained at her acrobatic best, and when Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson pulled Horak for a sixth attacker in the last minute, Marin chipped the puck out of the UMD end, and Koizumi zipped a 75-footer into the empty net with 48 seconds remaining, sending the Bulldogs and the big crowd into full-scale celebration.
³If you're going to be a real good team, you have to have real good goaltending,² said UMD coach Shannon Miller. ³That's what Riitta gave us tonight. This was an extremely important game for us, because it gives us confidence to know where we're at. The key was at 3-1, how mentally tough are you? Do you play not to lose? We didn't. I was impressed because we made the right plays.²
The matchup of top lines provided a fascinating subplot. In the first game, Minnesota's line of Wendell centering Darwitz and Kelly Stephens had an amazing 26 shots on goal, with Darwitz firing 13, Wendell 7 and Stephens 6, with 10 of those 26 shots coming on the power play. UMD's top line had only nine shots, three apiece by Koizumi and her wingers, Marin and Ouellette, and only two on the power play. However, Ouellette and Koizumi had UMD goals, while Darwitz got the only Gopher tally.
Miller surprised some by giving Schaublin the day off and playing Elsmore, who has national championship experience for the Bulldogs when she was Patricia Sautter. Now married, her long-standing petition to overturn an unfair eligibility ruling when she came to UMD from Switzerland came through, and she gained eligibility as a senior at midseason. Miller figured she needed to get her game-sharp for the playoffs, so she got the nod.
UMD responded with another strong effort. After getting outshot 42-22 Saturday, the Bulldogs outshot Minnesota 32-29 in Sunday's rematch. But Horak was perfect, and the Gopher defense tightened up considerably, preventing open attacks and loose rebounds.
Wendell, meanwhile, was stopped on yet another breakaway by Elsmore. But early in the second period, she had another chance, with UMD defenseman Krista McArthur all she had to beat. Wendell, at full speed, deked, deked again, and tried her full and considerable arsenal of moves, but McArthur didn't bite on any of them. By then she had closed to 30 feet, and Wendell deked one more time, then pulled the puck back to her left and, using McArthur for a screen, she snapped a deadly wrist shot that beat Elsmore and got just inside the right post at 2:25.
Late in the second period, UMD was two skaters short for the second time in the game, this time for the last 41 seconds of the second period and for the first 1:10 of the third period. But impressively, UMD's nationally top-ranked penalty-kill continued to stifle Minnesota's No. 1 ranked power play. After stopping the Gophers 0-9 in the first game, they were 0-6 in the second. Counting Ouellette's short-handed goal in the first game, UMD actually outscored the Gophers 1-0 on 15 Minnesota power plays.
The Bulldogs, who were 2-7 on first-game power plays, went 0-8 in the second. Horak was responsible for almost all of that, but she got a break on one play, where she had gone down to block a try by Marin from the right side. Flat on her back, Horak was helpless as, instead of being under her, the rebound had glanced to the left. Koizumi shot quickly but missed the open net as her shot sailed behind the goal. ³I hurried my shot,² Koizumi said. ³All I had was all day, and I rushed it.²
Wendell's goal meant the two big lines wound up scoring two goals apiece for the series far below either of their usual output. Another indication of how close the teams are is that in league scoring only, Darwitz won the scoring title (27-45-72), followed by Wendell (27-40-67) , Ouellette (28-38-66), Marin (27-22-49) and Stephens (23-24-47), while Koizumi had 20-15-35. But in league-only goals, it was even closer, with Ouellette at 28, and Darwitz, Wendell and Marin all at 27.
Anything can happen at playoff time. But if Minnesota and UMD run into
each other anywhere along the line, find a way to see the game.
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