University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Close Out Regular Season at UND
2/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
MINNESOTA CLOSES OUT REGULAR SEASON AT UND
The No. 3 University of Minnesota women’s hockey team closes out the regular season when it travels to Grand Forks, N.D., to face North Dakota, Friday and Saturday evening. Both games are set for a 7 p.m. start at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
FOLLOWING THE GOPHERS
Fans have multiple ways of following the Gophers this weekend. Dan Hamann will provide play-by-play for the Gopher broadcast on gophersports.com. There will also be a live video feed through the Gold Zone. This weekend’s game will also be televised. Fighting Sioux Sports Network, Midco Sports Net2 (322), Fox College Sports (Central on Friday and Atlantic on Saturday) and DirecTV (617).
HOME ICE ADVANTAGE
The Gophers clinched home ice for the first round of the WCHA playoffs two weeks ago and are assured of finishing in the top three of the conference. Minnesota is currently second in the conference standings with 54 points, followed by Minnesota Duluth (51) and North Dakota in fourth (47). Wisconsin clinched the WCHA regular season championship and currently has 70 conference points and the No. 1 seed. In a best two-of-three series Feb. 25-27, game times for the Gopher first round is 6 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday (if needed).
WCHA FINAL FACEOFF TICKETS ON SALE
Tickets for the 2011 WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF championship, set for March 4-5 at Ridder Arena, are on sale now through the University of Minnesota Athletic Ticket Office.
Three-game session tickets for the women's playoff championship tournament are available at three prices: $20 for a reserved seat, $18 for general admission, and $15 for seniors and youth (age 18 and under). Tickets may be purchased by calling the Gopher Ticket Office at 612 624-8080, or 1-800-U-Gopher, or online at Gophersports.com. Single session tickets, priced at $15, $12 and $8, will be available on the days of the semifinals and championship game.
The two semifinal games will be played on Friday, March 4 at 4:07 pm CT and 7:07 pm CT. The 2011 WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF Championship game will be played on Saturday, March 5, at 7:07 pm CT.
MAKING HER MARK
Noora Räty (pronounced RAH-too) set a single-season shutout school record when she had her ninth shutout of the year last weekend. As the Gophers earned a 3-0 win, Räty had 34 saves and the shutouts. On the season, Räty has shut out the likes of Clarkson (Oct. 1), Wayne State (Oct. 9), St. Cloud State (Oct. 22, Oct. 23), Minnesota State (Nov. 19, Jan. 7), Ohio State (Dec. 10), Minnesota Duluth (Jan. 15) and Bemidji State (Feb. 12). She and Jenny Lura also combined for two additional shutouts against Harvard (Nov. 26) and SCSU (Feb. 4). Räty leads the nation in shutouts (nine), followed by Quinnipiac’s goalie Victoria Vigilanti with eight. Former Wisconsin standout, Jessie Vetter, however had 14 shutouts in the 2008-09 season for the NCAA record.
Räty now has 16 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.
EVERY POINT COUNTS
Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth will battle to finish second this weekend. In the WCHA standings, Minnesota holds a three-point lead with 54 points, while UMD is right behind them with 51 points. If the two teams finish with the same amount of points, the Bulldogs hold the tie-break advantage heading into the conference playoffs. Minnesota Duluth went 2-1-1 against Minnesota this year as the Gophers tied and won the shootout on Jan. 14. If Minnesota sweeps North Dakota this weekend, the Gophers clinch the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. While Minnesota faces No. 8 ranked UND, the Bulldogs host St. Cloud State this weekend.
ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA
North Dakota enters the Minnesota series with a 17-10-3 overall record and a 15-9-2 mark in the WCHA. Having its best year since the program started in 2002-03, North Dakota is currently ranked eighth in the nation. UND will look to get back to the win column this weekend after dropping a pair to Wisconsin last weekend. UND is led in scoring by the Lamoureux twins, Jocelyne and Monique. Jocelyne has 50 points, while sister Monique Lamoureux-Kolls, who has played both as a forward and defenseman, has 49 points. Alyssa Wiebe rounds out the top three scorers with 28. Stephanie Ney has seen a majority of action in the net with a 12-4-2 record. She holds a 2.21 goals against and a .920 save percentage.
THE LAST TIME AND THE SERIES
North Dakota earned a two-game series sweep over Minnesota back in October and handed the Gophers their first losses of the season. The series marked the first time the Gophers were swept this year and only the second time overall in the 2010-11 campaign. In the first game (Oct. 15), both teams were tied, 2-2 after one period and tied, 3-3 after two. However, UND’s Mary Loken scored just 32 seconds into the third period as they won the game, 4-3. UND completed the sweep with a 3-1 the next day. Monique Lamoureux-Kolls scored at 3:36 in the first, followed by Kelly Terry at 7:32, while Sara Dagenais scored at 10:12 to put North Dakota up, 2-1 after one. Jordan Slavin added the insurance goal at 3:55 in the third for the win. The UND series also marked the last time junior goalie Alyssa Grogan saw action. Grogan has sat out the rest of the season due to an injury. Prior to the series sweep, Minnesota held a 28-game win streak and now sit at 28-2-0 all-time.
GOING ON SOMETHING GOOD
After a rough month to start the season, the Golden Gophers have gone 17-3-2 since the start of November. Prior to the Wisconsin loss (Jan. 29), the Gophers were on an 8-0-2 stretch. Since then, the Gophers swept St. Cloud State and Bemidji State and are ranked third in the country.
LEADING THE CHARGE
Amanda Kessel leads the team with 40 points, followed by Kelly Terry with 34. Sarah Erickson cracked the top three for the first time this season and has 30 points, while Sarah Davis has 28. Jen Schoullis rounds out the top five with 24 points In all, 18 Gophers have tallied a point this year, including 10 with double-digit points.
CLOSING IN ON 100
Sarah Erickson is within seven points to establishing her 100th career point. The last Gopher to accomplish the feat was Emily West and Brittany Francis last year. If Erickson reaches the 100-point mark, she would be the the 18th player in school history to crack 100. Minnesota’s all-time leader in scorer came from Gopher assistant coach Natalie Darwitz with 246 career points in just 99 games played.
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 holds a .954 save percentage and a 1.38 goals against average this year. She has also collected nine shutouts this year and 16 in her career. She currently ranks third in the country in goals against (1.38) behind two Cornell goalies (Lauren Slebodnick and Amanda Mazzotta) and second in save percentage (.954). Against conference opponents, she ranks first in save percentage (.950) and second in goals against average (1.50).
OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN
Minnesota has had scoring from every position this year, including the defensemen. Against WCHA opponents, Minnesota has three blue liners listed in the top-10 defensive scoring. Anne Schleper is tied for the conference lead with 21 points against WCHA opponents. Megan Bozek is tied for sixth overall with 12 points, while Kelly Seeler is tied for eighth with 11. Mira Jalosuo is just out of the top 10 at 11th with nine conference points. All four have been integral parts on the Gopher power-play units as well. Even in goal, Noora Räty has three assists on the season, including two assists against Wisconsin (11/5). Her other assist on the season came against Ohio State (1/22).
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. Wisconsin sits first, followed by Cornell and Boston University. Minnesota is ranked fourth, followed by Mercyhurst, Minnesota Duluth, Boston College and North Dakota.
AROUND THE HORN
This weekend marks the last of the WCHA regular season. Ohio State travels to Bemidji State this weekend, while St. Cloud State is at Minnesota Duluth. Minnesota State hosts Wisconsin this weekend. Heading into the playoffs in the current standings, Wisconins would host SCSU in the first round, while the Gophers would host Minnesota State. UMD would host OSU, while North Dakota would host Bemidji State.
