University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
17-5-3, 13-4-3-2
Ohio State
11-12-3, 5-12-3-1
Gophers, Buckeyes Skate to 1-1 Tie
1/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS - The Golden Gopher women's hockey team skated to a 1-1 overtime tie with Ohio State in game two of this weekend's WCHA series at Ridder Arena Saturday afternoon. The visiting Buckeyes earned an extra point in the WCHA standings with a 2-1 win in a seven-round shootout.
In her second career start, goaltender Emma May posted 25 saves to lead the Gophers against the Buckeyes. Minnesota outshot OSU, 36-26, for the game as the Buckeyes received 35 saves from Kassidy Sauve.
"Emma played really well in net," head coach Brad Frost said. "Our goaltending has been a little inconsistent. Emma is somebody who has worked her butt off over the last year and a half. She played really well here tonight in particular, facing a lot of shots. I thought the team played really well in front of her, too. She should be really proud of how she played this weekend.
"We had our chances, but Sauve shut the door there. She's an exceptional goalie, as I said yesterday. The battle and the compete level of our kids, the attitude and the effort, all those things are what we preach all the time, regardless of the results and so we're proud of our team for the way they battled this weekend."
After a scoreless first period, Sydney Baldwin's second goal of the season gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead with 10:22 left in the middle frame. The tally proved to be the only goal of the game for the Gophers. Sarah Potomak set up the play and Baldwin finished with a snipe past Ohio State's Sauve.
"We were starting to get a lot of momentum and you can just feel, you're getting so many pucks to the blue paint," Baldwin said of play leading up to her goal. "It was awesome that one of them finally went in, and we got rewarded. It was a big turning point in the game for us, and we've been working so hard to get one goal, that is was awesome to see it go in."
The Gophers held the one-goal lead until Ohio State's Katie Matheny scored 1:27 into the third period. Sauve kept the Buckeyes in it as Minnesota outshot the visitors, 14-4, in the final period. Neither team could end the game in overtime, and Minnesota and Ohio State headed to a shootout.
During the seven-round shootout, Lee Stecklein was the only Gopher to score, followed by Ohio State's Dani Sadek, as both netted goals in the first round of the shootout. Julianna Iafallo then scored for the Buckeyes in the seventh round, earning her team an extra point in the WCHA standings.
"It was a tough result here tonight. Certainly, you don't want to lose in a shootout, especially when it goes that many shooters, but overall I'm really happy with the weekend," Frost said. "We are facing a lot of challenges and adversity with Alex Woken, Dani Cameranesi, and Cara Piazza out [due to injuries] and then Schipper goes out in the first period, and that's four of our top six forwards. We have other kids who are stepping up and emerging, and that's great."
Frost cited the play of Lindsay Agnew, in particular, standing out this weekend as the freshman from Oakville, Ontario, played at center both games in the series.
"Yesterday was her first game at center," Frost said of Agnew. "I think she's a lot more comfortable there. She's a player we're going to have to rely on pretty heavily down the stretch. She's got Canadian U-22 and U-18 experience, and she's somebody who needs to play a lot for us. I think this weekend was kind-of her coming out party."
The Gophers were 0-for-4 on the power play, but the team was perfect on the penalty kill, holding off Ohio State on all five power play opportunities.
Minnesota continues its WCHA slate when the team travels to St. Cloud State to play the Huskies next weekend.
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