University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
9-2-1 (7-2-1-1WCHA)
Minnesota State
3-4-3 (1-4-3-1WCHA)
Schleper, Raty Lead Gophers to Shootout Win
11/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Anne Schleper and Noora Räty led the No. 3 University of Minnesota women's hockey team to a 1-1 come-from-behind tie and a shootout win over Minnesota State University, Mankato, today in Mankato, Minn. With the shootout win, the Gophers earn two points in the conference standings and now have 15 points in Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Minnesota is now 9-2-1 overall and 7-2-1 in the WCHA.
MSU took its first lead of the series when Nina Tikkinen scored on a breakaway at 5:09 in the first. Emily West and an MSU player were batting at the puck, which flew in the air and down in the Minnesota zone, where Tikkinen was there to pick it up and scored on a wrist shot.
Minnesota spent 10 of the 20 minutes in the box when it had four penalties in the first period. However, the Gophers were able to hold off MSU's power-play opportunities and were only down 1-0 after one. Both teams went scoreless in the second period. Minnesota had 12 shots to MSU's seven.
Schleper scored a power-play goal at 11:31 for her sixth goal of the season. West started the play as she passed the puck to Schleper in the neutral zone. She took the puck in the zone and carried the puck all the way to the top the circles and fired a wrist shot to score the game-tying goal.
Schleper's goal forced the overtime period. MSU had one shot in overtime, while Minnesota did not have a shot to lead to the tie. Minnesota chose Sarah Erickson, Emily West and Brittany Francis in the shootout, while MSU chose Emmi Leinonen, Ashley Young and Christina Lee. Alli Altmann and Räty stopped each shooter, forcing a fourth round. Schleper sniped her second goal of the game to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead. MSU's Holly Synder attempted the Maverick shot, but Räty stacked the pads to stop Synder and earned the shootout win.
The last time the Gophers competed in a shootout dates back to Feb. 8 when Minnesota tied Wisconsin. The Gophers lost the shootout, but with the tie, the Gophers clinched the WCHA regular season championship. Minnesota's last win in the shootout came on Jan. 24 when the Gophers won over Minnesota Duluth.
Minnesota finished the game with 34 shots on goal and went 1-for-9 on the power play and had 17 shots. MSU went 0-for-7 with nine power play shots. They had a total of 27 shots, Räty making 26 saves. Altmann had 33 saves.
The Gophers return home for the first time since Oct. 24 as they host Bemidji State next Friday (Nov. 20) at 6:07 p.m.
