University of Minnesota Athletics
Season Recap: A Look Back at 2014-15
7/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
July 22, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS - Exactly four months ago, the Golden Gopher women's hockey team brought home the program's sixth national championship, defeating Harvard by a score of 4-1 in the 2015 NCAA Women's Frozen Four national championship game at Ridder Arena on March 22, 2015. Join GopherSports.com in looking back at Minnesota's national title season.
GOPHERS WIN SIXTH NATIONAL TITLE
Top-seeded Minnesota (34-3-4) defeated No. 3 seed Harvard (27-6-3) by a score of 4-1 in the 2015 NCAA Women's Frozen Four national championship game at Ridder Arena. The Gophers advanced to their fourth-straight NCAA title game and entered the Frozen Four as the No. 1 seed for the third-straight season.
In 2014-15, the Gophers advanced to their fourth-straight national championship game and have now won three of the last four national titles in addition to finishing as runners-up in 2013-14. Minnesota has a college women's hockey record six national titles (2000, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2015). The Maroon & Gold hosted the Frozen Four at Ridder Arena (3,400) for the third time in the last six seasons (2010, 2013 and 2015) as well.
GOPHERS IN THE NCAA POSTSEASON
Minnesota made its fourth-straight and 11th overall NCAA Frozen Four appearance in 2014-15. This year's appearance marked the program's 13th appearance in the NCAA postseason since 2001, and the Gophers qualified for the tournament for the eighth consecutive year. The Gophers entered the 2015 NCAA Frozen Four with a 9-1-0 record in NCAA games since 2012 and an 18-9-1 record in the NCAA tournament since 2001.
FROZEN FOUR SEMIFINAL REWIND: MINNESOTA 3, WISCONSIN 1
Minnesota advanced to its fourth-straight NCAA title game with a 3-1 win over fourth-seeded Wisconsin in front of a sold-out crowd at Ridder Arena. Amanda Leveille made 34 saves, and Hannah Brandt and Maryanne Menefee recorded three points each to lead Minnesota. Wisconsin took a 1-0 lead, but the Gophers responded with three unanswered goals to secure the win.
FROZEN FOUR CHAMPIONSHIP REWIND: MINNESOTA 4, HARVARD 1
Minnesota defeated third-seeded Harvard, 4-1, to win the program's sixth national title in front of a sold-out crowd at Ridder Arena. Junior goaltender Amanda Leveille made 19 saves for the Maroon & Gold while Minnesota (34-3-4) received goals from sophomore Megan Wolfe, junior Hannah Brandt and seniors Meghan Lorence and Rachael Bona.
Playing in its fourth-straight NCAA championship game, Minnesota used three third period goals, including two in the final 4:06 of the game, to power past Harvard (27-6-3). The Gophers took a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first period and extended their lead to 2-0 midway through the third. However, Harvard's Edney scored with under five minutes to play, but the Gophers countered with a pair of goals from Lorence and Bona to secure the win and the program's sixth national title.
With the win, Minnesota improved to 13-5-1 all-time against Harvard. The 2015 NCAA championship game marked a rematch of the 2004 and 2005 national title games. The Gophers defeated the Crimson in all three games, winning their second and third national crowns before this year's 4-1 win. Minnesota is now 3-1 all-time against Harvard in postseason play.
GOPHER SENIORS LEAVE LEGACY
The four Gopher seniors, Rachael Bona, Meghan Lorence, Rachel Ramsey and Shyler Sletta end their careers with a 147-10-7 overall record for a program-record .918 winning percentage. Their 147 wins as a class is the most in program history. Bona and Ramsey never missed a game in four years as Gophers.
The most decorated class of Gophers to come through the program, they made four-straight NCAA championship game appearances and came away with three national titles along accumulating three WCHA Final Face-off titles and three WCHA regular-season crowns.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSE
The Gophers defensive corps ended the season as the nation's top-scoring blue liners, averaging 3.51 points per game led by Rachel Ramsey's 0.80 points per game (9g-24a). Defensively, Minnesota ranked second in the nation with a 1.17 goals against average, trailing only Wisconsin (1.12).
SCORING LEADERS
Four Gophers surpassed the 40-point mark in 2014-15, led by Hannah Brandt (34g-40a) and Dani Cameranesi (23g-42a) with over 60 points each, and followed by Maryanne Menefee (23g-24a) and Kelly Pannek (14g-30a). The Gophers' top seven scorers all had over 30 points, and all 18 skaters registered at least one point on the year.
Brandt ended the season ranked second in the nation with 74 points and third with 1.85 points per game, while Cameranesi ranked fourth with 65 points and seventh with 1.62 points per game. Pannek led the nation's rookies in scoring with 44 points (14g-30a) as well.
With 184 goals in 41 games, the Gophers' offense ranked second in the nation, averaging 4.49 goals per game behind Frozen Four semifinalist Boston College (5.00).
LEVEILLE RANKED AMONG NATION'S TOP GOALTENDERS
Amanda Leveille finished her junior season ranked second in the nation with a .946 save percentage and a .868 winning percentage (28-3-3). She was also third in the NCAA with a 1.18 goals against average.
POWER PLAY LEADERS
The Gophers led the nation on the power play, converting on 42 of 137 opportunities for a .307 percentage. Milica McMillen and Dani Cameranesi were tied for seventh in the nation with seven power-play goals each.
HOME, SWEET HOME
The Gophers ended the season on a 17-game home unbeaten streak (15-0-2). The Gophers are 63-2-4 in their last 69 home games, dating back to Feb. 18, 2012. In 2014-15, Minnesota was 19-1-3 at home and led the nation in attendance, averaging 1,634 fans per game and 2,037 fans per home game.
Minnesota is 130-6-5 in the team's last 141 games, a stretch that includes an NCAA-record 62-game winning streak (Feb. 28, 2012 through Nov. 17, 2013).
AWARDS SHOW
The Gophers were recognized for their athletic and academic achievements. Gophers Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Rachel Ramsey and Lee Stecklein were named 2015 CCM Hockey Division I Women's Ice Hockey All-Americans. Brandt and Ramsey received First Team All-American honors for the second-straight season, while Cameranesi and Stecklein were named Second Team All-Americans. Including the four 2015 honorees, Gopher women's hockey has now received 34 All-American honors in program history.
Six Gophers were also named 2015 All-USCHO honorees: Brandt (first team), Stecklein (first team), Ramsey (second team), Amanda Leveille (third team), Cameranesi (third team), and Kelly Pannek (rookie team).
Brandt and Ramsey took home top individual awards when the WCHA handed out its 2014-15 honors as well. Brandt, a 2015 Patty Kazmaier Award finalist, was named the 2015 WCHA Player of the Year and WCHA Scoring Champion for the second-straight year. Fellow Patty Kaz top-10 finalist Ramsey joined Brandt as a repeat award winner by earning the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year award for the second time.
In total, eight Gophers were honored by the WCHA. The Gophers took four of six positions on the All-WCHA First Team as Stecklein and Cameranesi joined Ramsey and Brandt. Milica McMillen was named to the All-WCHA Second Team, and Rachael Bona was a third-team honoree. In addition, Kelly Pannek and Sydney Baldwin were named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team.
Minnesota's academic awards included Brandt being named to both the 2014-15 Capital One Academic All-America At-Large Second Team and the All-District At-Large Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Fourteen Gophers were named to the 2015 WCHA All-Academic team as well as repeat honorees Bona, Brandt, Cameranesi, McMillen, Ramsey and Stecklein were joined by first-time honorees Sidney Peters, Kelsey Cline, Kate Flug, Paige Haley, Kate Schipper, Maryanne Menefee, Meghan Lorence and Shyler Sletta. In addition, six Gophers were named WCHA Scholar-Athletes in Bona, Brandt, Cline, Schipper, Stecklein and Peters for having a GPA of at least 3.50 on a 4.0 scale for the previous two semesters or three quarters, or for having an overall GPA of at least 3.50 for all terms.
FROST SURPASSES 250 CAREER WINS
Head coach Brad Frost earned his 250th career win at the helm of the program with a 7-1 win over Minnesota Duluth (Feb. 13). Frost wrapped up his eighth season leading the Gophers with a career coaching record of 258-41-21.
ROAD UNBEATEN STREAK ENDS AT 56 GAMES
Minnesota's 3-0 loss to North Dakota (Feb. 6, 2015) was the team's first road loss since a 4-2 loss at Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 13, 2012. The Gophers were unbeaten (55-0-1) in 56-straight true road games (not including neutral-site games). Including all games away from Ridder Arena, the Gophers are 65-3-1 since Jan. 14, 2012.
BRANDT, GOPHERS REACH SCORING MILESTONES
Hannah Brandt became the seventh Gopher to surpass the 200-career point mark, registering her 200th point on an assist in the Gophers' 4-0 win over St. Cloud State (Jan. 23, 2015). Meanwhile, Meghan Lorence registered her 100th career point with a power-play goal against Bemidji State (Feb. 21, 2015), and Dani Cameranesi (42g-58a) picked up her 100th point in Maroon & Gold with an assist against Wisconsin (March 20, 2015).
ROOKIE IMPACT
Kelly Pannek finished her freshman season as the national scoring leader among rookies with 44 points (14g-30a). All Gopher freshman made their way onto the score sheet as Cara Piazza (11g-6a), Sydney Baldwin (5g-6a) and Nina Rodgers (4g-2a) joined Pannek to make up the nation's fourth-highest scoring rookie class. Minnesota's freshmen quartet averaged 1.90 points per game in 41 games.
PROGRAM RECORDS FALL IN 2014-15
In the Gophers' 12-0 win over St. Cloud State (Dec. 5, 2014), Dani Cameranesi and Hannah Brandt both tallied six assists, setting a new Minnesota program record for individual assists in a single game. Brandt added a goal to her six helpers, tying the Gopher program record with seven points in a single game. Minnesota's 12 goals and 32 points also ranked as program single-game scoring records.
The Gophers also tied a single-game program record with zero penalties in a 3-2 win on the road at Bemidji State (Feb. 20, 2015). Neither the Gophers nor Beavers took a penalty in the game, marking the fifth time in program history Minnesota hasn't taken a penalty in a game and just the second time Minnesota's opponent has not had a penalty.
Cameranesi tied the Minnesota program record for plus/minus in a single game when she was plus-seven against Minnesota State on Feb. 27, 2015. She is just the fourth Gopher all-time to tally a plus-seven rating, joining Ronda Curtin (March 2, 2002), Emily Buchholz (Feb. 7, 1998) and Marisa Pettiford (Nov. 15, 1997) to hold the record.
Hannah Brandt's 74 points (34g-40a) moved her into fifth all-time in Gopher women's hockey history for career scoring. She finished her junior season with 221 career points on 90 goals and 131 assists.
The Gophers also set single-season program records for most shots on goal (1,681), shots on goal per game (41.0), fewest penalties (125), fewest penalties per game (3.0), fewest penalty minutes per game (6.9) and total home attendance (46,862) in 2014-15.
GOPHERS ADD NINE FOR 2015-16
The Gophers announced the addition of nine student-athletes to join the defending national champions for the 2015-16 season. Anna Barlow (South St. Paul, Minn.), Tianna Gunderson (Roseau, Minn.), Emma May (Eagan, Minn.), Caitlin Reilly (Chanhassen, Minn.), Nicole Schammel (Red Wing, Minn.), and Sierra Smith (Stillwater, Minn.) join Minnesota's early signees of Sarah Potomak (Aldergrove, B.C.), Sophie Skarzynski (Lake Forest, Ill.), and Taylor Williamson (Edina, Minn.) to make up next season's incoming class as the Gophers look to defend their national title.
###
