University of Minnesota Athletics
Postseason Begins with Huskies
2/20/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
| WCHA First Round: Minnesota vs. St. Cloud State | |
| Game 1 | Friday, Feb. 23 | 7 p.m. |
| Game 2 | Saturday, Feb. 24 | 4 p.m. |
| Game 3 | Sunday, Feb. 25 | 4 p.m. |
| Location | Ridder Arena | Minneapolis, Minn. |
| Tickets | MyGopherSports.com |
| Travel | Local Weather | Parking | Preferred Hotels |
| Game 1 | Game Day Live | BTN2Go Video | Free Audio | |
| Game 2 | Game Day Live | BTN2Go Video | Free Audio | |
| Game 3 | Game Day Live | BTN2Go Video | Free Audio | |
| Official Sites | Minnesota | St. Cloud State |
| Social Media | @GopherWHockey | Facebook | Instagram | #GWH | #Gophers |
Feb. 20, 2018
MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 7 Golden Gopher women's hockey team opens the 2018 postseason by hosting St. Cloud State in a WCHA First Round best-of-three series at Ridder Arena. Game times are set for 7:07 p.m. CT Friday, 4:07 p.m. CT Saturday, and 4:07 p.m. CT Sunday (if necessary) with a trip to the 2018 WCHA Final Faceoff on the line.
About the Series: Minnesota vs. St. Cloud State
Minnesota is 80-3-3 in 86 all-time games against St. Cloud State. The Gophers are on a 39-game unbeaten streak over the Huskies dating back to Oct. 2010. Friday's game marks the sixth meeting between the Gophers and Huskies this season; Minnesota is 4-0-1 against St. Cloud State this year.
Scouting the Huskies
St. Cloud State (8-18-5, 6-14-4-2 WCHA) begins the postseason after earning a road series sweep at Bemidji State in its regular-season finale, defeating the Beavers 4-0 and 4-1. After starting the season 2-12-0 in their first 14 games, the Huskies are 6-6-5 since Nov. 22 with all six losses coming against Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Freshman forward Laura Kluge leads the Huskies with 23 points (7g-16a), including a team-high 16 assists. Junior forward Julia Tylke (10g-6a) has a team-best 10 goals on the year, and sophomore forward Kayla Friesen (4g-8a) is third on the team with 12 points.
Sophomore Janine Alder (2-10-1) and freshman Emma Polusny (6-8-4) have split time in net for SCSU. Alder is currently representing Switzerland's women's hockey team at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Both goaltenders' save percentages rank among the best in the nation this season; Polusny's .938 save percentage lands fourth in the country while Alder ranks seventh at .935.
Last Time Out: Gophers Fall in Regular-Season Finale
Minnesota (20-10-3, 13-8-3-0 WCHA) most recently wrapped up the regular season by dropping a pair of one-goal games on the road at top-ranked Wisconsin. The Gophers fell 4-3 in game one despite leading 2-0 and 3-1 before falling 1-0 in a defensive battle in game two. Sydney Baldwin (2g) and Grace Zumwinkle (1g-1a) led Minnesota in the Border Battle, and Sidney Peters combined for 55 saves on 60 shots faced in the two games.
WCHA First Round Match-Ups
No. 7 Minnesota is the No. 3 seed in the WCHA postseason and hosts sixth-seeded St. Cloud State. Wisconsin has clinched the WCHA regular season title and has a bye straight to the WCHA Final Faceoff. The other WCHA First Round match-ups have No. 6 Ohio State, which secured the league's No. 2 seed for the postseason, hosting Minnesota State while No. 4 seed Minnesota Duluth hosts No. 5 seed Bemidji State.
Twenty Years of Gopher Women's Hockey
Minnesota begins the 2018 postseason with an all-time program record of 617-130-52. The 2017-18 season marks the 21st season in Gopher women's hockey history, and Minnesota secured the program's 599th and 600th all-time wins on the road at Bemidji State earlier this season.
Senior Salute
From 2014-15 to 2017-18, the four Gopher seniors, Sydney Baldwin, Cara Piazza, Sidney Peters, and Caitlin Reilly, have led Minnesota to a 115-25-13 overall record. In WCHA games, the seniors are 78-17-13. The class has made three NCAA Frozen Four appearances and won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2015 and 2016. There Gophers were WCHA regular-season champions in 2015 and WCHA Final Face-off runners-up in 2016 as well.
Eight Gophers Compete at Olympic Games
Eight players with Gopher ties are representing their respective countries at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Senior Kelly Pannek and alumnae Hannah Brandt ('16), Dani Cameranesi ('17), Amanda Kessel ('16), Gigi Marvin ('09), and Lee Stecklein ('17) are playing for the U.S. Women's Olympic Team, and alumnae Noora Räty ('13) and Mira Jalosuo ('13) are representing Finland. All eight Gophers are in medal contention with Team USA facing Canada in the gold-medal game and Finland facing Russia in the bronze-medal game.
Raty is making her fourth Olympics appearance after representing Finland in 2006, 2010, and 2014. Meanwhile, Jalosuo is making her second appearance after joining Raty on Finland's 2014 team. Marvin leads the USA Gophers in making her third Olympic Games appearance after earning silver at both the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C., and the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Kessel and Stecklein also return to the line-up for the Red, White, and Blue after earning silver in 2014. Brandt, Cameranesi, and Pannek are making their Olympic debuts.
Alumna Megan Bozek (USA) and current Gophers Sarah Potomak (Canada), and Amy Potomak (Canada) were centralized with their respective national teams in preparation for the Olympic Games but were not selected to the final Olympic rosters.
Road Warriors
Minnesota opened the season with a perfect 10-0-0 road record over the first half of the regular season, earning sweeps at Bemidji State, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State, Mercyhurst, and Lindenwood. The Gophers are currently 11-4-1 in road games.
Career-High Scoring
Sydney Baldwin (12g-17a), Nicole Schammel (14g-13a), Sophie Skarzynski (6g-18a), Caitlin Reilly (9g-16a), Alex Woken (9g-12a), Patti Marshall (1g-14a), Lindsay Agnew (5g-5a), and Kippin Keller (2g-8a) have already reached career-highs for scoring this season.
Notable Notes
- Minnesota is 12-0-1 when scoring at least four goals and 17-2-0 when allowing zero, one, or two goals this season.
- Sydney Baldwin (12g-17a) leads WCHA defensemen and ranks fourth in the NCAA with 0.88 points per game.
- Grace Zumwinkle (14g-20a) ranks second in the WCHA and eighth in the NCAA among rookies with 1.03 points per game.
- Caitlin Reilly leads Minnesota with eight multi-point games, and Nicole Schammel has a team-best three multi-goal games this season.
- Cara Piazza is tied for the WCHA lead with five game-winning goals this season. More than half of Piazza's goals on the season are game-winners as she has 21 points (9g-12a) in 33 games.
Offensive Defensemen
Sydney Baldwin (12g-17a), Olivia Knowles (7g-10a), and Patti Marshall (1g-14a) are among the WCHA's top-scoring defensemen. Baldwin leads the WCHA and ranks fourth in the nation with 0.88 points per game while Knowles (0.52 points per game) and Marshall (0.45 points per game) rank eighth and 11th, respectively, among WCHA blue-liners.
Immediate Impact
All five of Minnesota's freshmen are seeing significant ice time with all four skaters picking up their first collegiate goals and goaltender Alex Gulstene playing in 13 games (7-2-2). Grace Zumwinkle (14g-20a) leads the team in scoring while Taylor Wente (10g-11a), Olivia Knowles (7g-10a), and Emily Brown (3g-6a) have all registered points on the year.
Gophers Among the WCHA's Best Special Teams
Minnesota is second in the WCHA and ranks 12th in the NCAA on the power play, converting on 20.2 percent of attempts at 20-for-99. The Gophers slipped to third in the league and 13th in the NCAA on the penalty kill at 86.7 percent (78-for-90).
Scoring Milestone
Sydney Baldwin recorded her 50th career point with an assist against Merrimack (Sept. 29). She is second on the team with 29 points (12g-17a) on the season, and her career total stands at 78 career points with 24 goals and 54 assists. Baldwin is tied for seventh in career goals among all-time Gopher blue-liners.
WCHA Final Faceoff, NCAA Frozen Four Return to Ridder Arena
Minnesota will once again serve as host of the WCHA Final Faceoff in 2017-18, marking the 11th time the league's postseason tournament has been held at Ridder Arena. All-tournament ticket packages for the 2018 WCHA Final Faceoff, to be held Saturday, March 3 and Sunday, March 4, are now on sale.
The NCAA Women's Frozen Four also returns to Ridder Arena this season, marking the fourth time the national championship will be played on the Gophers' home ice. Ticket packages are on sale now and include tickets to both national semifinals on Friday, March 16 and the national championship game on Sunday, March 18. Single-session tickets will go on sale at a later date, subject to availability. Ridder Arena hosted the NCAA Women's Frozen Four in 2010, 2013, and 2015.
Home, Sweet Home
Including a 9-6-2 mark at home in 2017-18, the Gophers have compiled a record of 119-12-12 in home games at Ridder Arena dating back to 2011-12.
Up Next: WCHA Final Faceoff
The three WCHA First Round series winners will join top-seeded Wisconsin at the 2018 WCHA Final Faceoff at Ridder Arena next weekend. Semifinal games are set for 2 p.m. CT and 5 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 3 with the championship game to follow at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 4.
Gophers Sign Six for 2018-19
Head coach Brad Frost and the Gophers are pleased to welcome six student-athletes for the 2018-19 season. Abigail Boreen (Somerset, Wis./Hill-Murray School), Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minn./Red Wing High School), Crystalyn Hengler (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie High School), Emily Oden (Edina, Minn./Edina High School), Gracie Ostertag (Shakopee, Minn./Shattuck St. Mary's School), and Catie Skaja (New Prague, Minn./New Prague Senior High School) make up the newest class of Gophers.
Johnson Leads U.S. Under 18 Squad to Gold
Associate head coach Joel Johnson led the U.S. Under-18 Women's National Team to its fourth-straight gold medal at the IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship in Dmitrov, Russia, in January 2018. Gopher signees Taylor Heise and Gracie Ostertag won their third-straight gold medals representing the U.S. as well.
Frost Enters Second Decade
Head coach Brad Frost is back for his 11th season at the helm of the program with a career record of 319-53-27 in his first 10 seasons. Last season, the Gophers celebrated Frost's 300th career coaching victory with a road sweep at Ohio State in October 2016.
Duo Serving as Captains
Seniors Sydney Baldwin and Cara Piazza are serving as the Gophers' co-captains this year. The duo was part of back-to-back national championship teams their freshmen and sophomore years at the University of Minnesota, and they have helped the program advance to three-straight NCAA Frozen Fours. Baldwin, a health services management and human resources development major, is a Minnetonka, Minn., native. Piazza hails from Darien, Ill., and is studying mechanical engineering; she is the first Illinois native to captain the team since Megan Bozek in 2012-13.
Gophers in the NCAA Tournament
Minnesota made its 10th-straight and 15th overall appearance in the NCAA postseason last year. The Gophers saw their streak of NCAA title game appearances come to an end at five but made the program's sixth-straight and 13th overall appearance at the Frozen Four. Since 2011-12, the Gophers are 15-2-0 in NCAA games. Minnesota owns an all-time record of 24-10-1 in NCAA tournament games since 2000-01 as well.
Quest for Eighth National Title in 2017-18
Despite falling short of a third-straight national title in 2017, Minnesota has still won four of the last six national championships and has seven national titles overall (2000, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016). The program looks for a historic eighth title national crown in 2017-18.
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