University of Minnesota Athletics
GOLDEN GOPHERS TO HOST ST. CLOUD STATE THIS SATURDAY
1/4/1999 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
MINNESOTA RECENTLY-The fourth-ranked Gophers started slowly but cruised to a 3-0 record and the championship of Manitoba's Bison Invitational at the Max Bell Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Dec. 18-20.
Minnesota opened tournament play Friday, Dec. 18, with a 3-1 win over the tournament hosts. Despite a 54- 19 advantage in shots on goal, the Gophers were held scoreless through the game's first 35 minutes before Kris Scholz (Hugo, Minn./Stillwater Area) scored on the power play to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Bison goalie Pam Staples continued to keep her team within striking distance, finishing the game with 51 saves, but Minnesota put the game away midway through the final period as Shannon Kennedy (Woburn, Mass./ Buckingham Browne & Nichols) and Amber Hegland (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) scored goals 1:24 apart. Manitoba spoiled the shutout bid of Erica Killewald (Troy, Mich./Troy), who tallied 19 saves, when Karen Mamchuk scored with 46 seconds to play.
Just 13 hours later, the Gophers took on Alberta and, behind four-point efforts by Winny Brodt (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) and Jenny Schmidgall (Edina, Minn./Edina), earned a 9-2 win. Minnesota got four of its nine goals from special teams, including three power-play goals.
Schmidgall scored two of the Gophers' three power- play goals and Brodt the other while Brittny Ralph (Brooklyn Center, Minn./Brooklyn Center) scored a short-handed goal. Minnesota had a 41-18 advantage in shots on goal and Crystal Nicholas (Tulsa, Okla./Tulsa Union) won her fifth consecutive start with a 16-save effort.
With a 7-0 win over Manitoba, Alberta earned a spot in the championship game but the Gophers again prevailed, taking an 8-2 win from the Pandas as Schmidgall and Ambria Thomas (Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley) each scored a pair of goals.
Minnesota got off to a fast start as Schmidgall scored at 1:03 of the opening period, made it 2-0 at 11:58 with a power-play goal and carried a 4-0 lead into the first intermission before tacking on two more goals in each of the final two periods. Killewald stopped 19 shots as Minnesota outshot the Pandas 33-21.
ST. CLOUD STATE RECENTLY-The Huskies got a 64-save effort from goalie Sondra Diaz-Arntzen but gave up four goals in the game's final 14 minutes in a 4-1 loss at Minnesota State, Mankato, Saturday.
Despite being outshot 68-9, St. Cloud State grabbed a 1-0 lead when Rebecca Olson scored on the power play at 12:45 of the opening period. Diaz-Arntzen made that lead hold up for almost two periods before the Mavericks finally solved the puzzle in the Husky goal. The loss was the third in a row for St. Cloud State, which will bring a 3-6-0 record into Saturday's contest.
Husky head coach Kerry Brodt returned to her alma mater this season to take the reigns of the first-year program. A 1995 graduate of SCSU, she won four letters in golf and earned All-America honors in 1992. She was the head coach at North St. Paul High School for the last two seasons before accepting her current position.
SCORING SPREE-After being held scoreless by Harvard in her first collegiate game, Jenny Schmidgall has put together 10-game point- and goal-scoring streaks, tallying 17 goals and 33 points during that time.
In her last four games, the 1998 Olympian has scored seven goals and 17 points. During her 10-game streak, she has five multiple-goal, five multiple- assist and eight multiple-point games.
NOT TO BE OUTDONE-She's done so quietly, but co-captain Kris Scholz has also amassed a 10-game point-scoring streak and, in 13 games this season, has been held scoreless just once, in a 1-1 tie with New Hampshire, Nov. 7. During her 10-game streak, Scholz has scored seven goals, including her first career hat trick Nov. 29 versus Queen's, and 16 points. Scholz's career-best streak is 13 games, set Nov. 15-Jan. 15 last season, a streak that saw her score six goals and 28 points.
SISTER ACT-In Minnesota's last five games, sisters Courtney and Shannon Kennedy have combined for eight goals, including two game-winners, and 17 points.
Shannon has scored goals in each of her last four games and recorded the game-winning goal in Friday's 3- 1 win over Manitoba, while Courtney, who has four goals in her last four games, has scored a pair of power-play goals and has a plus/minus rating of +11 during her last four games. After scoring just one point in her first four games, she has now scored five goals and nine points in her last seven games.
LIKE A ROCK-The goaltending of Erica Killewald and Crystal Nicholas continues to be the Gophers' most consistent area of play.
As the team's number-one goalie, Killewald has not allowed more than two goals in eight starts this season, boasting a 1.36 goals against average and a .939 save percentage, including marks of 1.48 and .953 versus ranked opponents this season.
The duo has combined to allow just 15 goals in 13 games and only Harvard, which scored an empty-net goal, has scored more than two goals in a game against Minnesota this season.
STREAKING-The Gophers have put together a school-record 10-game winning streak and tied a school-record with an 11-game unbeaten streak. Since a 3-1 loss to Harvard, Nov. 5, the Gophers have scored 74 goals in 11 games, including three 10-goal games. At the same time, they have allowed just 11 goals while outshooting opponents 469-187, an average of 42.6-17.0.
REPRESENTING THEIR COUNTRY-First-year center Jenny Schmidgall and sophomore blueliner Winny Brodt played for the U.S. Women's Select Team at the Three Nations Cup in Finland, Dec. 10-15.
Canada grabbed a 2-1 win over the United States, Dec. 10, in the tourney opener, but the U.S. rebounded the next day with a 3-2 win over Finland as Schmidgall assisted on the game-tying goal and then scored the game-winner 56 seconds into the third period. After a two-day respite, the U.S. again fell to Canada, Dec. 14, 4-3 in a shootout before closing out play with a 4- 3 win over Finland.
Schmidgall, who played in the 1998 Olympics, and Brodt, a member of the 1996 U.S. Women's Select Team, were chosen from the USA Hockey Women's Festival for the national team and were joined by Gopher head coach Laura Halldorson, who served as the team's assistant coach.
SIBLING RIVALRY-Saturday's contest offers a rare battle between siblings as Winny Brodt leads Minnesota against St. Cloud State, a team coached by her sister Kerry.
Winny, the third-oldest of five Brodt children. Her two older siblings, Kerry and Vic, both attended St. Cloud State. Vic, the oldest, played hockey from 1986- 90 and still ranks 13th in scoring for the Huskies, while Kerry was a four-year letterwinner in golf.
THE SERIES-Minnesota holds a 1-0-0 lead in its all-time series with St. Cloud State but the two teams are meeting for the first time as varsity opponents. The Huskies were a club team when the Gophers handed them a 10-0 loss in Minneapolis last season.
WHEN LAST WE MET-Minnesota used a six-goal second period to pound St. Cloud 10-0, at Mariucci Arena in front of 3,208 fans, Nov. 15, 1997. Marissa Pettiford scored two goals and tallied four points for the Gophers and Laura Tryba also picked up four points. Minnesota held a 47-9 advantage in shots on goal
THE COACH-Now in her second season behind the Minnesota bench and ninth season as a college head coach, Laura Halldorson has established herself as one of the nation's premier coaches in women's hockey, sporting an 91-83-13 overall record and a 32-8-4 mark at Minnesota.
She began her head coaching career at Colby College, where she led the White Mules, one of only two non-Division I schools at the time in the 12-team Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, to a 12-9-1 overall record in 1995-96, earning ECAC Co-Coach of the Year honors as well as being named the New England Hockey Writers' Coach of the Year. While at Colby, she also recruited and coached ECAC Player of the Year Meaghan Sittler.
At the national level, she was the assistant coach for the gold medal-winning team at the 1998 U.S. Olympic Festival and also served as an assistant for the U.S. Women's Select team that competed in the Three Nations Cup in Finland.
A native of Plymouth, Minn., and a 1981 graduate of Wayzata High School, Halldorson played four years at Princeton, where she was a co-captain and all- conference performer while leading the Tigers to three Ivy League titles. She graduated from Princeton in 1985 with a degree in psychology.
A member of the 1987 U.S. National Women's Team and three national club championship teams with the Minnesota Checkers, Halldorson returned to her alma mater in 1987 to begin her collegiate coaching career as an assistant.
IT'S HOME-The home of Gopher Women's Hockey is Mariucci Arena (9,700). One of the finest college hockey facilities in the country, Mariucci Arena will be Minnesota's home until the new women's hockey facility, scheduled to open in the fall of 2000, is completed. Known as one of the toughest arenas in the nation on visiting teams, the Gophers are 14-3-4 in the five- year-old building.
ON THE AIR-A pair of Gopher games will be aired live by Midwest Sports Channel this season. The first telecast was Minnesota's clash with Harvard, Nov. 5, in the opening game of the All-American East-West Challenge. The second will be part of a doubleheader with the Minnesota men's team on Feb. 20. The women's game gets underway at 2:30 p.m. as the Gophers take on Providence, to be followed by the men's clash with St. Cloud State at 7:05 p.m. Veteran broadcaster Frank Mazzocco will handle play-by-play duties while former Minnesota North Star Tom Reid does the color commentary.
ON THE AIR, PART II-Eight Gopher games will be carried by KKMS-980 AM radio this season, beginning Nov. 27 with the Princeton Thanksgiving Invitational. Additionally, KKMS will carry four home games: Feb. 5 versus Cornell; Feb. 7 versus Minnesota State, Mankato; Feb. 21 versus Providence; and Feb. 26 versus Brown. Tom Witschen will call all of the play-by-play action with former Gopher volleyball standout Sarah Pearman handling the color commentary.
GONE POLLING-Minnesota maintained its position in both the American Hockey Magazine/USA Today and U.S. College Hockey Online polls. Harvard remained in the top spot in both polls.
USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll (Dec. 15, 1998) Team (1st Place Votes) Record Pts LW 1. Harvard (5) 10-1-0 25 1 2. New Hampshire 7-1-3 20 2 3. Brown 5-1-3 15 3 4. Minnesota 8-1-1 8 4 5. Providence 6-2-2 6 5 Others receiving votes: Northeastern 1.
U.S. College Hockey Online Poll (Dec. 14, 1998) Team (1st Place Votes) Record Pts LW 1. Harvard (10) 10-1-0 100 3 2. New Hampshire 7-1-3 89 1 3. Minnesota 6-1-1 79 4 4. Brown 5-1-3 71 2 5. Providence 5-2-2 59 6 6. Northeastern 4-3-2 52 5 7. Princeton 7-4-0 35 8 8. Dartmouth 4-2-2 28 7 Others receiving votes: Cornell 7. UP NEXT-The Gophers continue with the busiest portion of their schedule, consisting of nine games the final 23 days of January, next weekend as they take part in the Lake Placid Invitational, hosted by St. Lawrence University at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Minnesota takes on St. Lawrence in the tourney opener at 5 p.m. EST Friday before facing defending Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union champion Concordia at 8 p.m. Saturday. The Gophers will then face 1998 CIAU runner-up Toronto at 5 p.m. Sunday.
THE POWER PLAY-As a team, Minnesota is 20-for-56 (35.7%) on the power play after going 5-for-10 at the Bison Invitational. The Gophers' 46 power plays have resulted in 79:52 of power-play time and they average a goal every 4:00 while on the power play.
THE PENALTY KILL-As a team, Minnesota is 42-for-47 (89.4%) killing penalties with their opponents having spent 80:49 on the power play, averaging a goal every 16:10.
