March 24, 2006

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. - New Hampshire roared into the NCAA Women's Frozen Four with the No. 1 national rank, the top-rated power play, and the best record in the country, but Minnesota had Bobbi Ross, and the sophomore from Saskatchewan fired four goals into the UNH nets Friday night, including a penalty shot and the game-winner, to give the two-time defending champion Golden Gophers a stunning 5-4 victory and a berth in Sunday afternoon's title game.

The Gophers (29-10-1) will seek their third straight championship against Wisconsin (35-4-1), a 1-0 victor over St. Lawrence in the first semifinal at Mariucci Arena. The two victories assure that a WCHA team will win the sixth straight NCAA women's hockey tournaments - out of six that have been held.

Minnesota will be an underdog against the WCHA season and playoff champion Badgers, who beat the Gophers 4-1 in the league playoff final, but the Gophers also were underdogs against the Wildcats, who brought a 33-2-1 record into the Friday night game, including a 28-0-1 unbeaten streak. That streak is now over, and the Wildcats will take a 33-3-1 record back home to Durham, N.C., after a predominately Gopher boosting crowd of 2,876 fans saw what was the most entertaining, if not the best, performance by the rebuilding Gophers all season.

"I'm still smiling from that game," said Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson afterward. "It was a tremendous women's college hockey game. We had the lead, lost it, led again, lost it again, got behind, found a way to come back, and win it."

Asked where this victory ranked on her list of most enjoyable career coaching victories, Halldorson said: "It's right up there. This was a huge win for us."

It was a total team effort, but it was Ross who took charge, firing shots with a forceful confidence that even included a second-period shot off the crossbar. Her prize was the game-winner, with 1:51 remaining, and leaving the Wildcats suddenly out of time to stir up one more counter-rally, as freshman goaltender Brittony Chartier stood firm to the finish.

Ross scored in the game's first minute, picking up a loose puck and scoring at 0:46, then giving the Gophers a 2-0 head start when Andrea Nichols pounced on a poorly aimed UNH back-pass and fed the slot off the end boards. UNH came stalking back with three straight goals - by Jennifer Hitchcock on a power play and Kacey Bellamy two minutes later in the first period, and by Nicole Goguen on a screened shot from center point to start the second and give UNH a 3-2 lead.

Ross, however, tied it on a penalty shot - the first in Minnesota's history - and when the teams traded goals in the third period, the game seemed destined for overtime. But at 18:09, Whitney Graft carried the puck into the New Hampshire zone on a 2-on-2 rush, and cut to her left, toward Ross. At the top of the left circle, Graft left a neat little drop pass for Ross. Maybe that's why they call them STUDENT-athletes, because Graft recognized the hot handed Ross and decided to give her the puck. Ross cut in and fired a shot through goaltender Melissa Bourdon, breaking the tie.

"I saw it was a 2-on-2, so we had to isolate on one defenseman to make anything happen," said Ross. "Graft left me the puck, and I was able to cut to the middle. I thought I'd shoot for the far side...but I didn't really know."

The penalty shot was called because a UNH player, killing a 5-on-3 Minnesota power play, covered up the puck in the crease. Ross, who now has 21 goals for the season, was the shooter of choice for Halldorson.

"At that point in the game, with what was at stake, and we get a penalty shot," said Halldorson. "The coaches said, `Who do you want to take it?' I thought, Bobbi is calm, cool and collected, and she's hot. She made a great shot."

When Ross went out to center ice for the penalty shot, the referee took time to explain the options to UNH goaltender Bourdon.

"I was glad they took extra time," said Ross, "because I was trying to get my legs to stop shaking. Actually, the last practice we had some extra time, and one of the goalies stayed out for some extra shots. I came in and did that same move three times in a row - I'm not really that creative - so I knew what I was going to do."

Ross skated in fast, cut to her left and shot into the left edge of the net as Bourdon went down. The goal came at 10:39 of the second period, and the 3-3 tie gave the Gophers a lift.

In the third period, Becky Wacker got in on the fun, skating up the middle to sweep in the rebound of a long slapshot by Nichols at 2:27.

The Gophers then had to kill three straight penalties, and they got through two, and faced enormous pressure from the full might of the UNH power play on the third, with Chartier battling for survival. The Wildcats finally scored an artistic goal, as Leah Craig passed to the blue line, and Amy McLaughlin shot purposely wide to the right of the net, where Nicole Hekle deflected it in at 12:11.

The teams then traded rush after rush to the finish, until Ross took matters into her own hands one more time.

"Hats off to Minnesota, they played great," said UNH coach Brian McCloskey. "It was an interesting game of ebb and flow. We gave up those two quick goals, but then we came out in the second period carrying a lot of momentum. We knew their speed was going to be an issue - we don't see many teams that can do what Minnesota did. We're used to making teams turn the puck over at the blue line, and Minnesota didn't do that".

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