University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Close Out First Semester at Minnesota State
12/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
GOPHERS HIT THE ROAD FOR FINAL CONTEST OF 2007
The University of Minnesota women’s hockey team closes out the 2007 calendar year when it travels to Minnesota State University, Mankato, Friday and Saturday night. The Gophers and Mavericks play at 7 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at All Seasons Arena in Mankato, Minn.
FOLLOWING THE GOPHERS
Minnesota has selected road games broadcast live on the Gopher website, gophersports.com. The series at Minnesota State (12/7-8) and St Cloud State (2/15) will be broadcast on the web. Minnesota has all home games video broadcast live on gophersports.com throughout the course of the 2007-08 season. Fans who wish to listen to the games can do so by signing up for the Gold Zone on the Minnesota website. Curt Carstensen will provide the play-by-play for the Gopher games.
ON THE DOCKET
The Gophers will have nearly a month off from competition when they return to action, Jan. 5-6, against Wayne State, Jan. 5-6 in Detroit, Mich. Minnesota's next home action is Jan. 12-13 when Boston College comes to town. USCHO.com will broadcast the Jan. 12 game against the Eagles on its website.
GOPHERS DURING THE BREAK
USA Hockey will hold its annual Holiday Camp, Dec. 26-Jan. 1 in Lake Placid, N.Y. Of the 56 players invited to the camp, 11 have Gopher ties. Current Gophers Rachael Drazan, Anya Miller, Gigi Marvin, Erica McKenzie and Emily West along with former Gopher Natalie Darwitz will all compete at the camp. Minnesota signed recruits Sarah Erickson, Alyssa Grogan, Jocelyne Lamoureux, Monique Lamoureux and Anne Schleper will also participate at the camp and will be vying for a spot on the U.S. Under-18 team.
For Hockey Canada, Melanie Gagnon will compete with the Canadian Under-22 Team in only its second competition of the season at the Air Canada Cup in Germany. The 2008 event marks the fifth-straight season she has participated at the event. Gagnon will train with Team Canada and miss the Gophers’ series against Wayne State, Jan. 5-6.
MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State enters the series with a 5-8-1 overall record and a 5-61 mark in conference play. MSU returns home for the first time since Nov. 9-10 when it swept Ohio State, 8-3 and 3-2. The Mavericks have only played three home games this season, posting a perfect 3-0-0 record. Along with their sweep over OSU, MSU also defeated St. Cloud State, 3-2 in overtime. MSU is led in scoring by junior forward Maggie Fisher who has seven goals and five assists for 12 points. Senior forward Kristina Bunker is their leading goal scorer with eight goals and two assists for 10 points. The Gophers will face yet another strong goaltender in the Mavericks’ Britni Kehler. In 14 games played, Kehler has a 91.0 save percentage and has stopped the puck 384 times out of 411 attempts.
