University of Minnesota Athletics
GOPHERS HOST MINNESOTA STATE, MANKATO IN MIDWEST SHOWDOWN
3/8/1999 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
MINNESOTA RECENTLY-The Gophers got two goals and an assist from junior right wing Shannon Kennedy (Woburn, Mass./Buckingham, Browne & Nichols) and sophomore centers Winny Brodt (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) and Megan Milbert (South St. Paul, Minn./South St. Paul) in defeating St. Cloud State, 10-0, Sunday in the semifinals of the Midwest Showdown.
Kennedy scored the game's first two goals, both on power plays, and Milbert tallied the game's final two goals. Courtney Kennedy (Woburn, Mass./Buckingham, Browne & Nichols) and Kris Scholz (Hugo, Minn./ Stillwater Area) both chipped in with three assists.
Minnesota, which was 4-for-4 on the power play, had a 36-2 advantage in shots on goal and did not allow a shot through the first two periods. Crystal Nicholas (Tulsa, Okla./Union) needed to make just two saves for her seventh shutout and 10th victory of the season.
MSU, MANKATO RECENTLY-The Mavericks advanced to the championship game of the Midwest Showdown by defeating Minnesota-Duluth, 4-1, Saturday at the Midwest Wireless Center in Mankato.
MSU, Mankato jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, getting a pair of goals from Ryann Geldner. The Bulldogs came back with a power-play goal before the end of the opening period but could get no closer and the score remained 3-1 until Michelle Sikich's empty- net goal with 22 seconds to play in the game.
Currently on a four-game winning streak, the Mavericks are 14-14-0 and have reached the .500 mark for the first time.
Head coach Todd Carroll is in his first season as a head coach after spending nine years as a men's assistant. A 1986 graduate of St. Olaf, he spent two years as a graduate assistant at St. Cloud State before returning to his alma mater, where he spent seven seasons, before accepting his current position last year. Carroll currently sports a 14-14-0 record.
ABOUT THE MIDWEST SHOWDOWN-The Midwest Showdown features the five Minnesota schools that will be members of the new Division I women's conference next season.
The tournament got underway Wednesday as fourth- seeded St. Cloud State defeated fifth-seeded Bemidji State, 4-0, at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. In the semifinals, second-seeded MSU, Mankato downed third-seeded Minnesota-Duluth, 4-1, at the Midwest Wireless Center. The top-seeded Gophers then defeated St. Cloud State, 10-0, at Mariucci Arena to set up Thursday's championship game, beginning at 7:05 p.m. at Minnesota.
GETTING OFFENSIVE-Last season, Emily Buchholz (Waupun, Wis./Waupun) led the Gophers' defense with 12 assists. This season, three of the team's blueliners have surpassed that total.
Brittny Ralph (Brooklyn Center, Minn./Brooklyn Center) leads the Minnesota defense with 17 assists while Courtney Kennedy has 15 and Buchholz has 14.
In all, the Gophers' regular group of six has scored 27 goals, led by Kennedy with 14, and 90 points.
ABOUT TO IMPLODE-Depth has been the biggest strength of the Minnesota team this year, especially when it comes to scoring.
Last season, six Gopher players topped the 10-goal mark and seven reached 20 points. This year, 10 players have reached double figures in goals and 14 have scored more than 10 points, including 11 who have topped 20 points.
Minnesota's top nine forwards have all reached the 10-goal and 20-point marks, including six who have recorded at least 20 assists.
TAKING A BREAK-Minnesota will be without the services of Jenny Schmidgall (Edina, Minn./Edina) Thursday as she competes at the World Championships in Finland with the U.S. Women's National Team.
She will return for the Gophers's game, March 22, against the Community Olympic Development Program and will be available if the team receives an invitation to the American Women's College Hockey Alliance championship, March 26-27.
This will be Schmidgall's second tour of duty with the national squad. Last year, she was a member of the team that claimed the gold medal at the Winter Olympics. She scored two goals and five points at the Olympic games and tallied nine goals and 21 points in 30 games for the season.
THE SCHOLZ SHOW-Minnesota sophomore co-captain Kris Scholz has scored 49 points for the second consecutive season following Saturday's three-point effort.
She has scored 14 points in her last nine games and is now just two points shy of reaching the 100-point mark for her career.
Last season, Scholz scored 15 goals and 49 points in 30 games and now has 31 goals, 67 assists and 98 points in 62 career games.
A LOOK IN TRAINING ROOM-Minnesota has lost the services of sophomore forward Sarma Pone (Minneapolis, Minn./ Minneapolis Southwest) for the remainder of the season. Pone suffered a broken clavicle during pregame warmups prior to Sunday's game with St. Cloud State.
NATURAL BORN KILLERS-The Gophers were 3-for-3 killing penalties over the weekend. The second-ranked penalty killing team in nation, Minnesota has allowed just two power-play goals in its last 16 games. During that stretch, Minnesota had a 10-game streak of not allowing a power-play goal and has killed 57 of its opponents' last 59 power plays.
THE SERIES-The Gophers are 4-0-0 against Minnesota State, Mankato this season. Minnesota has won twice at home (8-1, Nov. 20, and 4-0, Feb. 7) and twice in Mankato (11-1, Oct. 30, and 10-1, Feb. 14).
Minnesota has outscored the Mavericks 33-3 in four outings this season and 19 of the Gophers' 21 skaters have recorded points, led by Kris Scholz and Ambria Thomas (Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley) with 10 points each.
WHEN LAST WE MET-Minnesota outshot MSU, Mankato 49-14 and used a five-goal first period as a catalyst for a 10-1 win at the Midwest Wireless Center, Feb. 14.
Kris Scholz scored the game's first two goals in the opening seven minutes and Shannon Kennedy also chipped in with two goals while Ambria Thomas had career-highs with four assists and five points.
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, 66; 9. Kris Scholz, 46; t10. Nadine Muzerall, 42. Points per game- 4. Schmidgall, 2.28; 10. Muzerall, 1.50; 11. Scholz, 1.48. Total goals-t2. Schmidgall, 32; t7. Muzerall, 24. Goals per game-3. Schmidgall, 1.10; t7. Muzerall, 0.86. Total assists-4. Schmidgall, 34; 7. Scholz, 30; t11. Brodt, 24. Assists per game-5. Schmidgall, 1.17; 8. Scholz, 0.97; 14. Brodt, 0.83. Power-play goals-t2. Schmidgall, 9; 7. Muzerall, 8. Short-handed goals-t3. Muzerall, Schmidgall, 2. Game-winning goals-t2. Muzerall, 6; t14. Schmidgall, Shannon Kennedy, 3.
Goals against average-1. Erica Killewald, 1.20. Save percentage-1. Killewald, .947. Winning percentage- 3. Killewald, .795. Shutouts-t2. Killewald, Crystal Nicholas, 6.
Scoring offense-3rd, 5.68. Scoring defense-1st, 1.16. Scoring differential-2nd, +4.52. Power play-3rd, 28.4%. Penalty kill-2nd, 91.7%.
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 a 106-85-15 overall record and a 46-10-6 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 will serve as an assistant for the U.S. National team that competes 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.
GONE POLLING-Minnesota fell to third in the U.S. College Hockey Online coaches poll and remained fourth in the American Hockey Magazine/USA Today poll last week. Harvard maintained its top ranking in both polls.
U.S. College Hockey Online Poll (March 1, 1999) Team Record Pts LW 1.Harvard 26-1-0 100 1 2.Brown 18-4-4 83 4 3.Minnesota 15-2-3 82 2 4.New Hampshire 18-4-5 75 3 5.Northeastern 19-6-3 58 5 6.Dartmouth 14-7-5 49 6 7.Providence 16-9-3 43 7 8.Princeton 14-11-1 15 t8 Also receiving votes: Cornell 13, Niagara 2. American Hockey Magazine/USA Today Poll (March 2, 1999) Team Record Pts LW 1.Harvard 26-1-0 25 1 2.Brown 18-4-4 17 2 3.New Hampshire 18-5-5 16 3 4.Minnesota 25-3-3 11 4 5.Northeastern 22-6-3 6 5 Also receiving votes: None. UP NEXT-Minnesota's final scheduled game will be Monday, March 22, when the Gophers hosts the Community Olympic Development Program. Game time at Mariucci Arena is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The American Women's College Hockey Alliance championship will be played at Mariucci Arena, March 26-27. Minnesota, which is in contention for an at- large berth, will receive word of its fate Sunday, March 21, after 7 p.m.
THE POWER PLAY-As a team, Minnesota is 37-for-120 (30.8%) on the power play after going 4-for-4 against St. Cloud State. The Gophers' 120 power plays have resulted in 182:22 of power-play time and they average a goal every 4:56 while on the power play. Here are the individual power-play numbers.
Player GP G A Pts SOG Pct. Jenny Schmidgall 29 9 11 20 40 .225 Kris Scholz 32 3 15 18 14 .214 Nadine Muzerall 29 8 4 12 34 .235 Courtney Kennedy 30 5 4 9 26 .192 Winny Brodt 30 2 7 9 14 .143 Emily Buchholz 31 3 5 8 12 .250 Brittny Ralph 31 2 5 7 32 .063 Shannon Kennedy 30 2 4 6 7 .287 Ambria Thomas 29 1 3 4 10 .100 Laura Slominski 31 1 2 3 6 .167 Tai Thorsheim 32 0 3 3 0 .000 Amber Hegland 32 1 1 2 5 .200 Matty Brekken 9 0 2 2 2 .000 Megan Milbert 18 0 1 1 1 .000 Tracy Engstrom 29 0 0 0 11 .000 Angela Borek 31 0 0 0 2 .000 Kelly Olson 27 0 0 0 1 .000 Minnesota 32 37 67 104 217 .171 Opponents 32 9 15 24 122 .074 THE PENALTY-KILL-As a team, Minnesota is 102-for-111 (91.9%) killing penalties after going 3-for-3 over the weekend. Its opponents have spent 178:02 on the power play, averaging a goal every 19:47. Here are the individual penalty-kill numbers.
Player GP G A Pts SOG Pct. Nadine Muzerall 29 2 0 2 5 .400 Jenny Schmidgall 29 2 0 2 7 .273 Courtney Kennedy 30 0 2 2 3 .000 Brittny Ralph 31 1 0 1 3 .333 Kris Scholz 32 1 0 0 2 .500 Winny Brodt 30 0 1 0 2 .000 Tai Thorsheim 31 0 1 0 1 .000 Tracy Engstrom 29 0 1 1 0 .000 Shannon Kennedy 30 0 0 0 4 .000 Laura Slominski 31 0 0 0 3 .000 Ambria Thomas 29 0 0 0 3 .000 Emily Buchholz 31 0 0 0 1 .000 Matty Brekken 9 0 0 0 1 .000 Kelly Olson 27 0 0 0 1 .000 Megan Milbert 18 0 0 0 1 .000 Minnesota 32 6 5 11 37 .162 Opponents 32 1 1 2 11 .091
