University of Minnesota Athletics
No. 2 Gophers Visit No. 9 Harvard This Weekend
11/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Nov. 23, 2011
The Golden Gopher women's hockey team plays a nonconference series at Harvard this weekend. On Saturday, the Gophers and Crimson face off at 3 p.m. central, and the teams will meet again Sunday at noon central. The games will be Minnesota's final nonconference games of the regular season.
Minnesota is listed at No. 2 in the USCHO.com national poll again this week, and gained a first-place vote. Harvard is ranked No. 9 in the latest USCHO.com poll, and is the third top-10 team the Gophers have faced so far this season. In the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national poll, the Gophers moved up to No. 2 this week after being listed at  No. 3 last week. Harvard is tied with Northeastern for No. 9 in the poll.
The Gophers are third in the nation in scoring margin, winning by an average of 3.93 goals. Minnesota has outscored its opponents 68-13 in 14 games this season, including a 41-11 margin against WCHA opponents. Harvard is No. 8 in scoring margin, winning by an average of 2.17 goals.
The Gophers scored 17 goals against New Hampshire, with 11 goals in Friday's shutout win, and six goals in Saturday's 6-1 victory. Minnesota has scored 17 or more goals against an opponent in a weekend series five other times, with the last time coming in a weekend at Ohio State in January 2009, when the Gophers out-scored the Buckeyes 21-3 in two games. Before that, the most recent 17-plus goal weekend was in 2002 against St. Cloud State when Minnesota out-scored the Huskies 18-1.
Minnesota has been strong on defense this season, and currently has the fewest number of goals allowed in WCHA play, with just 11 goals allowed in 10 WCHA games and 13 goals allowed overall. The next closest team is Wisconsin, with 22 goals allowed, 16 of those coming in WCHA games. Minnesota ranks first in the nation and first in the WCHA in scoring defense, allowing an average of 0.93 goals per game. Harvard has allowed nine goals in six games for an average of 1.5 goals per game.
Sophomore Amanda Kessel recorded two hat tricks against New Hampshire last weekend, marking the first time since 2004 that a Gopher player had two hat tricks in a weekend. On Nov. 26-27, 2004, Krissy Wendell had hat tricks against Northeastern and Harvard in a Thanksgiving tournament. In addition to Kessel'shat tricks against the Wildcats last weekend, there's only one other time a Gopher player has scored two hat tricks in a weekend against the same opponent each night. Nadine Muzerall had eight goals in two games against Beimidji State at Mariucci Arena on Jan. 21-22, 2000.
With five assists in last Saturday's win over UNH, senior Jen Schoullis tied the school record for assists in a game. Five other players have tallied five assists in a game: Natalie Darwitz, who accomplished the feat three times, Ambria Thomas, Courtney Kennedy, Ronda Curtin and Winny Brodt. Before Schoullis' five assists last weekend, the most recent time a Gopher player reached the mark was Oct. 15, 2004 (Natalie Darwitz).
In addition to Schoullis' five assists last Saturday, she scored the first goal of the game to total six points in the contest. With six points, she tied for second in the Minnesota records book, just one point shy of Nadine Muzerall's record of seven points in a single game.
While Kessel and Schoullis account for 33.6 percent of the team's points this season, last weekend the wealth was spread throughout the team as many other Gopher players contributed points in the wins against New Hampshire last weekend. Nineteen of 20 players who dressed for games last weekend tallied at least one point. In Friday's 11-0 win, 18 Gophers had a point. Amanda Kessel had five points in the game, but no other Minnesota player had more than two points.
Junior defenseman Megan Bozek is tied for first nationally and in the WCHA in scoring by defensemen with 1.29 points per game (8-10-18). Bozek has eight goals on the season, including three gamewinners. In 14 games this season, she has surpassed her season totals for goals from her freshman and sophomore seasons, as she scored six goals in each of her first two seasons with the Gophers. Bozek has 65 career points to rank eighth on the Minnesota all-time scoring list for defensemen. She ranks sixth Gopher history in goals by a defenseman with 20 career goals.
Sophomore defenseman Baylee Gillanders notched her first career goal last Friday, scoring the team's eighth goal of the game. On Saturday, she added an assist and now has nine career points.
Junior goalie Noora Räty has started 13 of 14 games for the Gophers this season. She has 229 saves on the season, with 13 goals allowed in the first 14 games. Räty leads the WCHA and ranks third nationally in goals against average at 1.06. She's also first in the WCHA (fifth nationally) in save percentage at .946. She has three shutouts so far this season.
Harvard is 5-1 on the season, and will play Dartmouth on Wednesday evening before playing the Gophers on Saturday and Sunday. Last weekend, Harvard defeated Clarkson 2-1 on Friday, and won 6-2 over St. Lawrence on Saturday.
Sophomore defenseman Marissa Gedman is leading the Crimson in scoring this season with three goals and four assists for seven points. Jillian Dempsey, Lyndsey Fry, Josephine Pucci and Gina McDonald each have six points. Laura Bellamy is the only Harvard goalie to see action this season, and has a goals against average of 1.50 with a 94.3 save percentage.
Katey Stone is the Harvard head coach, in her 18th season with the Crimson. She has a career record of 356-155-31.
Minnesota holds a 8-2-1 record all-time against Harvard. Last season, Harvard traveled to Minneapolis over Thanksgiving weekend, with the Gophers winning both games. Minnesota earned a 3-0 shutout in the first game, and won 4-2 in the second game. In the 2009-10 season, Minnesota traveled to Harvard and did not score a goal, losing 0-1 the first night, and tying 0-0 the second night.
