15 October 2023
The Gophers women’s hockey team shut out St. Thomas for the second straight game on Saturday — and that’s all the two games had in common.
After cruising to an 8-0 victory on Friday at Xcel Energy Center, the No. 2 Gophers found themselves in a battle at St. Thomas Arena that was scoreless after two periods. An unexpected — if not controversial — call helped to decide things as the Gophers remained unbeaten with a 4-0 victory.
The Tommies went to the locker room after two periods with a minute and 36 seconds remaining on a power play after a late Gophers penalty. They left the locker room knowing they would have to kill off the remaining time on a five-minute penalty when a referee’s review determined that St. Thomas’ Cara Sajevic was guilty of an illegal hit to the head at the end of the period.
Gophers freshman center Emma Kriesz scored on the ensuing power play, beating St. Thomas goaltender Olivia King on a wrist shot from high in the slot. Nelli Laitinen added an insurance goal midway through the third period before late goals by Josefin Bouveng and Abbey Murphy.
St. Thomas coach Joel Johnson said he was “shocked” when told of the major penalty. Gophers coach Brad Frost said it was the right call. Agreeing to disagree was what the entire game was about.
The Tommies’ aggressiveness was apparent from the opening faceoff. They had the first four shots on goal, with the Gophers not getting their first shot on goal until the game was over six minutes old.
“That’s the most aggressive we’ve been,” Johnson said, “and I’d like to pretend that it was something that we said specifically as coaches. But I think it was just our players feeling more freedom to not worry about (Friday) and to just go out and play.”
Tommies captain Brieja Parent said the team definitely played with a chip on its shoulder.
“I think we played a great game overall,” she said. “We were winning 50-50 battles, we played with so much passion and so much heart. Our first two periods I was like, ‘Wow, we’re a good team.’ And sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”
Gophers center Ella Huber said it was no surprise the Tommies came out aggressive. “It was a good, competitive game,” she said. “We just had to dig deeper to come out with the win.”
With the game scoreless after two, the Gophers were one bounce away from potentially being on the wrong end of a monumental upset.
“That’s college hockey,” Frost said. “One team wins and gets a little comfortable the next day. And the team that loses has a little more edge and fire to them. They did a great job, in particular, through two periods.
“It was a tough game, as we know they are all going to be. But I’m proud that they found a way to win it. It’s good for our inexperienced team to go through that.
“This is the first time in four games that we didn’t have the lead after one. Or have the lead after two. To go into the third like that — obviously you’d like to be up a few goals — and buckle down, that was big.”
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