University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers On the Road to Ohio State
1/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
MINNESOTA HITS THE ROAD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2011
The No. 5 University of Minnesota women's hockey team travels for the first time this calendar year when it faces Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. The Golden Gophers played at 7 p.m. (ET) on Friday with a 4 p.m. tilt Saturday.
FOLLOWING THE GOPHERS
Both games can be watched live in the Gold Zone at Gophersports.com. Live statistics and a live in-game blog will be available as well at Gophersports.com.
ON THE DOCKET
The Golden Gophers will be on the road for the second-straight weekend, as it travels to Madison, Wis., to face the Badgers. The Jan. 28-29 series will start 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center. The Saturday game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. Minnesota's next home series will be Feb. 4-5 when St. Cloud State comes to Ridder Arena.
GOING ON SOMETHING GOOD
After a rough month to start the season, the Golden Gophers have gone 12-2 since the start of November. During that span, Minnesota split with Wisconsin (11/5-6) and Bemidji State (12/3-4), swept Minnesota State (twice), Harvard and Ohio State. Minnesota's last loss came against Bemidji State, Dec. 3 and have since gone on a 6-0-1 streak.
MOVIN' ON UP
With a pair of victories last weekend, the Golden Gophers moved up to second overall in the WCHA standings. Since the start of the second semester, the Gophers jumped from fourth to second during two weeks of play. Wisconsin leads the league with 48 points, followed by Minnesota with 35 and UMD and North Dakota with 32. Bemidji State is fifth with 29, followed by Ohio State (22), Minnesota State (16) and St. Cloud State (2).
MAKING HER MARK
With her eight shutouts this season, Noora Räty (pronoucned RAH-too) has already tied the Gopher record for shutouts in a season. She has already tied Jody Horak's school record of shutouts in a season, set in 2004-05. Räty now has 15 shutouts in her career. Former Gopher and Minnesota hall of fame honoree Erica Killewald holds the school record of 22 from 1997-2001, while All-American Horak had 20 from 2001-05.
ON A ROLL
Sarah Erickson has been putting points on the board, especially since the Bemidji State series (12/3-4). After the Gophers were shut out by the Beavers (12/3), Erickson has tallied a point in seven-straight games. Of those seven games, four have been a goal, while three of those have been game-winners.
ADDING DEPTH
For the past two weekends, the Gophers have had scoring from all three lines. Bethany Brausen, Laura May and Terra Rasmussen connected for the game-winning goal against UMD (1/15), while Kelly Terry scored the Gophers' third goal in the win. Minnesota's most productive line of the UMD weekend came in the Jen Schoullis, Sarah Erickson and Amanda Kessel line, which netted three of the Gophers' five goals.
GOPHER SPECIAL TEAMS
On the season, Minnesota has scored 21 power-play goals in 95 chances for 22.1 percent. Minnesota has also killed off 108 of 118 penalties for a 91.5 penalty-kill percent. Minnesota ranks first in the WCHA in penalty kill, while trailing only No. 1 Wisconsin on the power play. The Gophers hold the nation's third-best penalty kill and fifth-best power play percentage.
ABOUT THE BUCKEYES
Like Minnesota, the Ohio State Buckeyes is in their third week of conference play during the 2011 calendar year. OSU fell in back-to-back games against Wisconsin (1/7-8), but rebounded for a sweep over Minnesota State last weekend. With a pair of 3-2 wins, freshman goalie Lisa Steffes was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week. The Buckeyes enter the weekend with a 12-10-2 overall mark and a 6-10-2 record in WCHA play. Although she has missed some games with the Canadian Team, Natalie Spooner is regarded as one of the league's top forwards. Playing in 17 games, Spooner has 19 goals and seven assists for 26 points. Laura McIntosh leads the OSU scoring drive with 34 points, followed by Hokey Langen with 29.
THE SERIES
The Gophers are 42-8-1 all-time against the Buckeyes, dating back to 1999. Earlier this year, the Gophers held a 6-0 win and a 2-1 overtime win against the Buckeyes to close out the first half.
THE LAST TIME
The Gophers earned a 6-0 win and a 2-1 overtime win against the Buckeyes Dec. 10 & 12. In the first game, Amanda Kessel had four assists while seven others tallied points to lead the Gophers to a 6-0 win over then-No. 10 Ohio State. Jen Schoullis had two goals, while Erickson, Terry, Becky Kortum and Anne Schleper all netted one en route to the Golden Gophers' 12th win of the season. Minnesota scored twice in the first, twice in the second and twice in the third for the 6-0 final.
For the first time in school history, the Gophers postponed a home game Saturday due to weather and pushed it to Sunday, Dec. 12. Megan Bozek scored at 3:14 in overtime to lift the Gophers to a 2-1 win. The two teams went scoreless after two periods. OSU scored a five-on-three goal at 6:58 in the third to break the scoreless game when Hokey Langan netted her 10th goal of the season. Kelly Seeler wound up and one-timed the puck at 10:19 in the third period for her fourth goal of the season. The Seeler goal forced the game into overtime. In the extra stanza, Bozek received the puck from Davis and fired a shot from the left point. It was Bozek's second game-winning goal of the season.
WCHA STRENGTH
Minnesota is one of five WCHA teams currently ranked or receiving votes in this week's polls. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota are all currently ranked, while Ohio State is receiving votes. All WCHA teams being beaten at least twice already in conference competition. Wisconsin has lost twice, UMD and Minnesota with six conference losses, while North Dakota has seven.
PAIRWISE RANKINGS
The Golden Gophers currently sit fourth in the PairWise Rankings, a tool generally used for the NCAA committee to determine the NCAA field in March. Like the polls, Wisconsin sits first, followed by Cornell and Boston University. Minnesota is ranked fourth, followed by Boston College in fifth, Mercyhurst in sixth and Minnesota Duluth in seventh. Rounding out the top eight (only eight qualify for NCAA Regional competition) is Boston College and North Dakota.
LEADING THE CHARGE
Although the Minnesota freshmen led the scoring charge early, the Gophers are getting points from everyone on the team. Amanda Kessel overtook Kelly Terry for the top spot with 25 points in 20 games played. Terry has 24 points, while Sarah Erickson cracked into the top three with 19 points. Sarah Davis (18), Jen Schoullis (17) and Anne Schleper (16) are next in line, while Kelly Seeler is having the best production of her career with 12 points.
IN THE RANKS
Although the Gophers don't lead the WCHA in the overall points and goals categories, Minnesota holds the top three spots in the rookie points category. Kelly Terry has scored 22 of her 24 points against conference opponents, while Amanda Kessel has 17 and Sarah Davis is tied for third with 15. Noora Raty leads the WCHA in both goals against (1.56) and save percentage (.945).
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Minnesota holds arguably one of the nation's best goalies in sophomore Noora Räty. A returning All-American and Finland's starting goaltender in the 2010 Winter Olympics, Räty (pronoucned RAH-too) holds a .951 save percentage and a 1.38 goals against average this year. She has also collected eight shutouts this year and 15 in her career. Along with leading the WCHA, Räty ranks second in the nation in both categories, trailing only Cornell's Amanda Mazzotta.
AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Minnesota is currently 8-5-1 against ranked opponents this season. The Gophers started the regular season with a two-game series against then-No. 7 Clarkson, sweeping the Golden Knights. The Gophers then hosted then-No. 10 North Dakota and were swept by the Sioux and No. 3 Minnesota Duluth. Minnesota split against No. 1 Wisconsin on November before sweeping No. 9 Harvard Thanksgiving weekend. Minnesota's last ranked opponent win came against No. 10 Ohio State right before the break.
WORKING THROUGH IT
Minnesota has had its fair share of injuries so far this season. Minnesota has not had a full squad since the opening series against Clarkson, dating back to Oct. 1 and 2. Senior captain Emily West only saw action in four games this season and will be out the remainder of the year because of a knee injury. Junior goalie Alyssa Grogan has missed action since the middle of October due to an injury. Noora Raty missed the North Dakota (10/15-16) series, while Amanda Kessel missed the second Wisconsin game (11/6) and the MSU series, all due to injuries.
GOPHERS SIGN FOUR MINNESOTANS
University of Minnesota women's hockey head coach Brad Frost has announced four Minnesota natives have signed National Letters of Intent. Forward Stephanie Anderson (North St. Paul), forward Rachael Bona (Coon Rapids), forward Meghan Lorence (Mounds View) and defenseman Rachel Ramsey (Chanhassen) have all signed and will join the Golden Gopher program next fall.
AROUND THE HORN
A full WCHA slate this weekend as all eight teams play conference opponents. The biggest match-up will be at Duluth, Minn., as the Bulldogs open their new arena against Wisconsin, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. North Dakota will be at St. Cloud State, while Bemidji State hosts Minnesota State.
