University of Minnesota Athletics
GOPHERS FINISH ANOTHER OUTSTANDING SEASON
3/30/1999 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
MINNESOTA RECENTLY-The Gophers won two of three games last weekend, including a 1-1 record and a third-place finish at the American Women's College Hockey Alliance Division I National Championship.
Minnesota began the week by taking on the Community Olympic Development Program, a team consisting of some of the state's top high school players, and posting a 10-1 victory.
After getting off to a slow start, the Gophers scored five times in the second period and tacked on four more in the third period. Amber Hegland (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) and Brittny Ralph (Brooklyn Center, Minn./Brooklyn Center) each had two goals and an assist in the game, while Emily Buchholz (Waupun, Wis./Waupun) tallied four assists.
Minnesota then faced New Hampshire in the semifinals of the AWCHA Championship and, after jumping out to a 2-0 lead, dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime on a short-handed goal by Melisa Heitzman at 12:37.
Nadine Muzerall (Mississauga, Ontario/Kimball Union Academy) scored twice in opening period to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead. The Wildcats fought back with goals in the second and third periods to tie the game and send it into overtime. Erica Killewald (Troy, Mich./Troy) stopped 40 shots for Minnesota.
In the third-place game, the Gophers again scored first as Ambria Thomas (Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley) notched her 15th goal of the season at 7:14 of the second period. Brown scored seven minutes later and the score remained 1-1 until the game's final six minutes.
With just 5:20 to play in the third period, Tracy Engstrom (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) knocked in a loose puck for what appeared to be the game-winning goal and Muzerall added an empty-net goal with 1:27 to play in the game.
Up 3-1, Minnesota appeared to have the game well in hand until Cara Garnder scored on the power play for the Bears with 13 seconds to play. The Gophers closed out their 29th victory of the season as Killewald finished with 41 saves.
Erica Killewald earned all-tournament honors at the AWCHA Championship after turning in back-to-back 40-save performances.
In Friday's loss to New Hampshire, she turned back 40 Wildcat shots, including 19 of 20 in the third period. Killewald then followed that with a 41-save effort against Brown, including a 20-save second period.
Some of her best performances have come at the AWCHA Championships. In four career games, she has stopped 145 of 158 shots, for a .918 save percentage.
ABOUT TO IMPLODE-Depth was one of the biggest strengths of the Minnesota team this year, especially when it came to scoring.
Last season, six Gopher players topped the 10-goal mark and seven reached 20 points. This year, 10 players reached double figures in goals and 14 scored more than 10 points, including 12 who topped 20 points.
Minnesota's top nine forwards all reached the 10- goal and 20-point marks, including six who recorded at least 20 assists and eight who scored at least 30 points.
SHE'S A KILLER-After posting a 2-1-0 record last week with a 1.87 goals against average and a .943 save percentage, Erica Killewald finished the season as the nation's leader in both goals against average (1.24) and save percentage (.947).
She also finished second in shutouts (seven) and combined with Crystal Nicholas (Tulsa, Okla./Union) to give Minnesota a nation-best 14 shutouts on the season.
NATURAL BORN KILLERS-The Gophers were 11-for-12 killing penalties last week. The second-ranked penalty killing team in nation, Minnesota had not given up a power-play goal in 20 consecutive periods until Brown scored with 13 seconds left in Saturday's game.
During that stretch, Minnesota had a 10-game streak of not allowing a power-play goal and killed 71 of its opponents' last 74 power plays.
NATIONAL STATISTICS-Minnesota was ranked highly in a number of team statistical categories last week, as were several Gopher players.
Total points-4. Jenny Schmidgall, 69; t7. Kris Scholz, 52; 11. Nadine Muzerall, 45; t16. Winny Brodt, 43. Points per game-4. Schmidgall, 2.30; 8. Scholz, 1.53; 11. Muzerall, 1.45; t16. Brodt, 1.34. Total goals- t3. Schmidgall, 33; t8. Muzerall, 27. Goals per game-4. Schmidgall, 1.10; 8. Muzerall, 0.87. Total assists-t5. Schmidgall, 36; 7. Scholz, 35; 9. Brodt, 29; t19. Ambria Thomas, 23. Assists per game-5. Schmidgall, 1.20; 8. Scholz, 1.03; 9. Brodt, 0.91; t18. Thomas, 0.74. Power- play goals-t5. Schmidgall, 9; t7. Muzerall, 8. Short- handed goals-t5. Muzerall, Schmidgall, 2. Game-winning goals-t3. Muzerall, 6; t11. , Thomas, Shannon Kennedy, 4.
Goals against average-1. Erica Killewald, 1.14. Save percentage-1. Killewald, .948. Winning percentage- 3. Killewald, .813. Shutouts-t2. Killewald, Crystal Nicholas, 7.
Scoring offense-3rd, 5.94. Scoring defense-1st, 1.09. Scoring differential-1st, +4.85. Power play-3rd, 32.0%. Penalty kill-2nd, 92.4%.
THE COACH-Completing 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 a 109-86-15 overall record and a 50-11-6 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. In December, she served as an assistant for the U.S. National 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 25-5-5 in the five- year old building.
BREAK IT DOWN-Here is a breakdown of Minnesota's record this season.
When Scoring first 28-1-1 When Opponent scores first 1-3-1 When Leading after 1st period 23-1-0 When Trailing after 1st period 0-2-0 When Tied after 1st period 6-1-3 When Leading after 2nd period 28-0-0 When Trailing after 2nd period 0-2-1 When Tied after 2nd period 1-2-2 In Overtime 0-1-3 When Outshooting opponent 28-0-0 When Outshot by opponent 1-4-3 When Shots are even 0-0-0 When Having 0-19 shots 0-1-0 When Having 20-29 shots 2-3-3 When Having 30-39 shots 10-0-0 When Having 40-49 shots 11-0-0 When Having 50+ shots 6-0-0 When Opponent has 0-19 shots 20-0-0 When Opponent has 20-29 shots 5-0-0 When Opponent has 30-39 shots 3-2-3 When Opponent has 40-49 shots 1-2-0 At Mariucci Arena 14-3-2 On the road 7-0-1 At neutral site 8-1-0 THE LEADERS-Here are the Gophers' statistical leaders for the 1998-99 season.
Points-Jenny Schmidgall, 71 (33 goals, 38 assists) Goals-Jenny Schmidgall, 33 Assists-Jenny Schmidgall, 38 Shots-Nadine Muzerall, 177 Shot percentage (min. 36 SOG)-Amber Hegland, .200 (17- 85) Plus/Minus Rating-Jenny Schmidgall, Winny Brodt, +52 Penalty Minutes-Courtney Kennedy, 44 Power-Play Goals-Jenny Schmidgall, 9 Short-Handed Goals-Jenny Schmidgall, Nadine Muzerall, 2 First Goals-Nadine Muzerall, 10 Game-Winning Goals-Nadine Muzerall, 7 Game-Tying Goals-Jenny Schmidgall, 1 Hat Tricks-Nadine Muzerall, 3 THE POWER PLAY-As a team, Minnesota went 40-for-130 (30.8%) on the power play after going 2-for-7 in three games last week. The Gophers' 130 power plays resulted in 199:19 of power-play time and they averaged a goal every 4:59 while on the power play. Here are the individual power-play numbers.
Player GP G A Pts SOG Pct. Jenny Schmidgall 32 9 11 20 40 .225 Kris Scholz 36 3 15 18 16 .188 Nadine Muzerall 33 8 4 12 36 .222 Winny Brodt 34 3 9 12 18 .167 Emily Buchholz 35 3 7 10 12 .250 Courtney Kennedy 34 5 4 9 30 .167 Brittny Ralph 35 4 5 9 34 .118 Shannon Kennedy 34 2 4 6 8 .250 Ambria Thomas 33 1 5 6 11 .091 Laura Slominski 34 1 2 3 6 .167 Tai Thorsheim 35 0 3 3 2 .000 Amber Hegland 36 1 1 2 5 .200 Matty Brekken 9 0 2 2 2 .000 Megan Milbert 19 0 1 1 1 .000 Tracy Engstrom 33 0 0 0 14 .000 Angela Borek 35 0 0 0 2 .000 Kelly Olson 31 0 0 0 1 .000 Minnesota 36 40 73 113 238 .168 Opponents 36 10 17 27 150 .067 THE PENALTY-KILL-As a team, Minnesota was 116-for-126 (92.1%) killing penalties after going 11-for-12 last week. Its opponents spent 205:01 on the power play, averaging a goal every 20:30. Here are the individual penalty-kill numbers.
Player GP G A Pts SOG Pct. Jenny Schmidgall 32 2 0 2 7 .273 Nadine Muzerall 33 2 0 2 5 .400 Courtney Kennedy 34 0 2 2 3 .000 Brittny Ralph 35 1 0 1 3 .333 Kris Scholz 36 1 0 1 2 .500 Winny Brodt 34 0 1 1 2 .000 Tai Thorsheim 35 0 1 1 1 .000 Tracy Engstrom 33 0 1 1 0 .000 Laura Slominski 34 0 0 0 4 .000 Shannon Kennedy 34 0 0 0 4 .000 Ambria Thomas 33 0 0 0 4 .000 Emily Buchholz 35 0 0 0 1 .000 Matty Brekken 9 0 0 0 1 .000 Kelly Olson 31 0 0 0 1 .000 Megan Milbert 19 0 0 0 1 .000 Minnesota 36 6 5 11 39 .154 Opponents 36 2 2 4 13 .154
