University of Minnesota Athletics
Saturday, March 16
4:00 PM
University of Minnesota
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Princeton
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Photo by: Jim Rosvold
Gophers to Host Princeton in NCAA Quarterfinal
3/12/2019 8:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
It's Gophers vs. Tigers with a trip to the NCAA Women's Frozen Four on the line this Saturday at Ridder Arena.
MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 2 Golden Gopher women's hockey team (30-5-1) will face No. 7 Princeton (20-7-5) in the NCAA quarterfinal round at 4 p.m. CT Saturday at Ridder Arena. Fans can follow along via video, audio, and live stats at GopherSports.com.
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About the 2019 NCAA Tournament Field
Syracuse (CHA), No. 4 seed Clarkson (ECAC Hockey), No. 3 seed Northeastern (Hockey East), and No. 1 seed Wisconsin (WCHA) earned the four automatic bids into the 2019 NCAA tournament by winning their respective conference tournaments while No. 2 seed Minnesota, Princeton, Cornell, and Boston College earned at-large bids. Along with Minnesota hosting Princeton, the other three NCAA quarterfinal matchups have Syracuse at Wisconsin, Cornell at Northeastern, and Boston College at Clarkson with four NCAA Frozen Four berths on the line.
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Gophers in the NCAA Postseason
Minnesota is making its 12th-straight and 17th overall appearance in the NCAA postseason. The 2019 WCHA regular-season champion Gophers have won four of the last seven national championships, and Minnesota has only missed the NCAA tournament twice in its 19-year history. Overall, the Gophers are 24-11-1 in NCAA tournament games since 2000-01. The Gophers are 10-3 all-time in NCAA quarterfinal games since the tournament expanded to eight teams in 2005. A year ago, Minnesota fell to Wisconsin in the NCAA quarterfinal round. This season, Minnesota looks to secure the program's 14th overall appearance at the Frozen Four and the team's first since the 2016-17 season.
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Notable Notes
•     Minnesota is 20-0-0 when leading at the first intermission this season, and the Gophers improve to 25-0-0 when leading at the second intermission.
•     When allowing only one goal this season, Minnesota is perfect at 11-0-0.
•     Grace Zumwinkle is tied for second in the nation with seven power-play goals this season.
•     Nicole Schammel leads the Gophers with 13 multi-point games, and she has at least one point in 29 games this season.
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2019 Senior Salute
The Gophers celebrated their eight seniors Tianna Gunderson, Emma May, Kelly Pannek, Jackie Pieper, Nicole Schammel, Sophie Skarzynski, Sierra Smith, and Taylor Williamson during the team's series with Minnesota State (Feb. 15-16). Over the last four seasons, Minnesota has posted an overall record of 115-28-10 in 151 games from 2015-16 to 2018-19. The Gophers went 75-19-10 in WCHA regular-season games over the last four years. The Gophers seniors have hung three banners during the last four seasons as Minnesota won the 2016 national championship, took home the 2018 WCHA Final Faceoff title, and most recently won the 2019 WCHA regular-season championship.
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About the Series: Gophers vs. Tigers
Minnesota owns a 9-0-1 all-time record against Princeton in 10 meetings dating back to November 1997. The Gophers have won seven-straight games over the Tigers. Most recently, Minnesota and Princeton met in the 2016 NCAA quarterfinal round with the Gophers posting a 6-2 win. This weekend's meeting is the third time the teams have met in the NCAA quarterfinal round (2016 and 2006). In games at Ridder Arena, the Gophers are 4-0-0 against the Tigers.
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Last Time Out: Gophers Finish as WCHA Runner-Up
Minnesota fell to Wisconsin by a score of 3-1 in the WCHA Final Faceoff championship game after posting a 4-1 win over Minnesota Duluth in the semifinal round. Nicole Schammel led all players with three points in the WCHA Final Faceoff, scoring two goals including the game-winner against the Bulldogs and recording an assist on Minnesota's lone goal against Wisconsin. Grace Zumwinkle (2g) and Emily Brown (2a) had multiple points for the Gophers over the weekend as well.
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Scoring Leaders
In 36 games, Nicole Schammel (14g-31a), Grace Zumwinkle (25g-16a), and Taylor Heise (13g-22a) lead the Gophers in scoring. Schammel leads the WCHA with 31 assists while Zumwinkle leads the league with 25 goals, and Heise is third in scoring among WCHA rookies with 35 points.
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Spreading the Wealth
Ten Gopher forwards have scored at least eight goals this season and, in total, 19 different skaters have scored goals. Fifteen different Gophers are in double figures for points, and 11 different players have at least 20 points on the year. Fifteen different players have scored game-winning goals for Minnesota led by five from Taylor Heise.
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Nation's Top-Scoring Offense
The Maroon & Gold has the WCHA's top-scoring offense averaging 4.25 goals per game while allowing just 1.81 goals per game. Minnesota's 153 goals for this season is the best in the NCAA. The Gophers had a 14-game winning streak from Nov. 2 to Jan. 12, outscoring opponents 74-24.
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Special Special Teams
The Gophers rank second in the NCAA with a .253 power-play percentage (25-for-99). Meanwhile, the Gophers are third in the WCHA with a penalty kill percentage of .857 (72-for-84).
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Offensive Defense
Two Gopher defense rank among the league's top scoring blue-liners. Emily Brown (4g-23a) is second among WCHA defense with 27 points while Patti Marshall (2g-19a) is tied for fourth in scoring among WCHA defense with 21 points.
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Coaching Milestone
Minnesota's 1-0 win over Wisconsin (Oct. 27) marked the 350th career win for head coach Brad Frost, whose all-time coaching record now stands at 373-69-31. Frost is in his 12th season at the helm of the program.
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Scoring Milestones
Kelly Pannek is Minnesota's active career scoring leader ranked 10th among all-time Gophers with 183 points (71g-112a). She chases Gigi Marvin in ninth place (87g-108a). Pannek's 112 career assists are tied for sixth in program history as well. She recorded her 100th career assist in Minnesota's season-opener. Sarah Potomak ranks 28th in program history with 128 career points (43g-85a), trailing 27th-ranked Brittany Francis with 129 career points (39g-90a) as well.
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First-Career Goals
Six Gopher rookies have scored their first collegiate goals as Amy Potomak (Sept. 28) and Taylor Heise (Sept. 29) scored in Minnesota's season-opening weekend while Catie Skaja found the back of the net against Minnesota Duluth (Oct. 5), and Emily Oden scored her first two career goals against St. Cloud State (Oct. 13). Abigail Boreen netted her first collegiate goal against St. Cloud State (Nov. 17), and Crystalyn Hengler found the back of the net against Ohio State (Jan. 26).
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Up Next: NCAA Frozen Four
The four NCAA quarterfinal winners advance to the 2019 NCAA Women's Frozen Four on Friday, March 22 and Sunday, March 24 at the People's United Center in Hamden, Ct. Tickets for the 2019 NCAA Women's Frozen Four are on sale now at QuinnipiacBobcats.com.
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WCHA Regular-Season Champions
This season Minnesota won the program's 10th WCHA regular-season title and the Gophers' first since the 2014-15 season as the Maroon & Gold wrapped up the regular season with a road sweep at Bemidji State to secure six league points. The Gophers finished with 58 points, two points ahead of regular-season runner-up Wisconsin with 56 points. As regular-season champions, Minnesota won the first-ever Julianne Bye Cup, the new WCHA regular-season championship trophy named in honor of long-time women's hockey advocate Julianne Bye. The Julianne Bye Cup will be awarded yearly to the winner of the WCHA regular season title.
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Gophers Sign Three for 2019-20
Three incoming student-athletes are set to join the Gophers for the 2019-20 season in goaltender Makayla Pahl (Rochester, Minn.), forward Sydney Shearen (Hugo, Minn.), and defense Madeline Wethington (Edina, Minn.). Wethington was named the 2019 Minnesota Ms. Hockey award recipient and led Blake to a Section 6AA runner-up showing while Shearen led White Bear Lake High School to the Section 4AA title and finished with 25 points (14g-11a) in 25 games played. Pahl was a 2019 Let's Play Hockey Senior Goalie of the Year award finalist and posted a .940 save percentage with a 2.50 goals against average in 21 games for Rochester Mayo High School this season.
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Twenty Years of WCHA Women's Hockey
The 2018-19 season marks the league's 20th anniversary season. Throughout the season, the WCHA has celebrated the past, present, and future of college hockey's premier conference. Gopher greats Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Natalie Darwitz, Amanda Kessel, Gigi Marvin, Noora Raty, and Krissy Wendell were among the 20 players named to the WCHA's 20th Anniversary Team.
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Nationwide Gophers
After Minnesota played in the Windjammer Classic (Nov. 23-24), Vermont became the 14th state where the Gophers have competed in program history: Connecticut, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
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Gophers Medal at Four Nations Cup
Kelly Pannek joined Gopher alums Megan Bozek, Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Amanda Kessel, and Gigi Marvin in winning gold with the U.S. Women's National Team at the 2018 Four Nations Cup. Fellow Gophers alumna Noora Raty won bronze with Finland in the tournament, while redshirt junior Sarah Potomak was named to Canada's National Women's Team for the tournament but was unable to participate due to injury.
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Home, Sweet Home
The 2018-19 season marks the 17th season of Ridder Arena serving as the home of Gopher women's hockey. Minnesota enters the NCAA quarterfinal round with an all-time record of 284-46-21 in home games at Ridder Arena, including a 16-4-0 mark in 2018-19, dating back to the 2002-03 season.
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Pannek Serving as Captain
Senior Kelly Pannek is Minnesota's captain this year. Pannek returned to Minnesota for her redshirt senior season as an Olympic gold medalist after helping Team USA to gold at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
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Quest for Eighth National Title in 2018-19
Minnesota has won four of the last seven 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 2018-19.
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About the 2019 NCAA Tournament Field
Syracuse (CHA), No. 4 seed Clarkson (ECAC Hockey), No. 3 seed Northeastern (Hockey East), and No. 1 seed Wisconsin (WCHA) earned the four automatic bids into the 2019 NCAA tournament by winning their respective conference tournaments while No. 2 seed Minnesota, Princeton, Cornell, and Boston College earned at-large bids. Along with Minnesota hosting Princeton, the other three NCAA quarterfinal matchups have Syracuse at Wisconsin, Cornell at Northeastern, and Boston College at Clarkson with four NCAA Frozen Four berths on the line.
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Gophers in the NCAA Postseason
Minnesota is making its 12th-straight and 17th overall appearance in the NCAA postseason. The 2019 WCHA regular-season champion Gophers have won four of the last seven national championships, and Minnesota has only missed the NCAA tournament twice in its 19-year history. Overall, the Gophers are 24-11-1 in NCAA tournament games since 2000-01. The Gophers are 10-3 all-time in NCAA quarterfinal games since the tournament expanded to eight teams in 2005. A year ago, Minnesota fell to Wisconsin in the NCAA quarterfinal round. This season, Minnesota looks to secure the program's 14th overall appearance at the Frozen Four and the team's first since the 2016-17 season.
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Notable Notes
•     Minnesota is 20-0-0 when leading at the first intermission this season, and the Gophers improve to 25-0-0 when leading at the second intermission.
•     When allowing only one goal this season, Minnesota is perfect at 11-0-0.
•     Grace Zumwinkle is tied for second in the nation with seven power-play goals this season.
•     Nicole Schammel leads the Gophers with 13 multi-point games, and she has at least one point in 29 games this season.
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2019 Senior Salute
The Gophers celebrated their eight seniors Tianna Gunderson, Emma May, Kelly Pannek, Jackie Pieper, Nicole Schammel, Sophie Skarzynski, Sierra Smith, and Taylor Williamson during the team's series with Minnesota State (Feb. 15-16). Over the last four seasons, Minnesota has posted an overall record of 115-28-10 in 151 games from 2015-16 to 2018-19. The Gophers went 75-19-10 in WCHA regular-season games over the last four years. The Gophers seniors have hung three banners during the last four seasons as Minnesota won the 2016 national championship, took home the 2018 WCHA Final Faceoff title, and most recently won the 2019 WCHA regular-season championship.
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About the Series: Gophers vs. Tigers
Minnesota owns a 9-0-1 all-time record against Princeton in 10 meetings dating back to November 1997. The Gophers have won seven-straight games over the Tigers. Most recently, Minnesota and Princeton met in the 2016 NCAA quarterfinal round with the Gophers posting a 6-2 win. This weekend's meeting is the third time the teams have met in the NCAA quarterfinal round (2016 and 2006). In games at Ridder Arena, the Gophers are 4-0-0 against the Tigers.
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Last Time Out: Gophers Finish as WCHA Runner-Up
Minnesota fell to Wisconsin by a score of 3-1 in the WCHA Final Faceoff championship game after posting a 4-1 win over Minnesota Duluth in the semifinal round. Nicole Schammel led all players with three points in the WCHA Final Faceoff, scoring two goals including the game-winner against the Bulldogs and recording an assist on Minnesota's lone goal against Wisconsin. Grace Zumwinkle (2g) and Emily Brown (2a) had multiple points for the Gophers over the weekend as well.
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Scoring Leaders
In 36 games, Nicole Schammel (14g-31a), Grace Zumwinkle (25g-16a), and Taylor Heise (13g-22a) lead the Gophers in scoring. Schammel leads the WCHA with 31 assists while Zumwinkle leads the league with 25 goals, and Heise is third in scoring among WCHA rookies with 35 points.
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Spreading the Wealth
Ten Gopher forwards have scored at least eight goals this season and, in total, 19 different skaters have scored goals. Fifteen different Gophers are in double figures for points, and 11 different players have at least 20 points on the year. Fifteen different players have scored game-winning goals for Minnesota led by five from Taylor Heise.
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Nation's Top-Scoring Offense
The Maroon & Gold has the WCHA's top-scoring offense averaging 4.25 goals per game while allowing just 1.81 goals per game. Minnesota's 153 goals for this season is the best in the NCAA. The Gophers had a 14-game winning streak from Nov. 2 to Jan. 12, outscoring opponents 74-24.
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Special Special Teams
The Gophers rank second in the NCAA with a .253 power-play percentage (25-for-99). Meanwhile, the Gophers are third in the WCHA with a penalty kill percentage of .857 (72-for-84).
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Offensive Defense
Two Gopher defense rank among the league's top scoring blue-liners. Emily Brown (4g-23a) is second among WCHA defense with 27 points while Patti Marshall (2g-19a) is tied for fourth in scoring among WCHA defense with 21 points.
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Coaching Milestone
Minnesota's 1-0 win over Wisconsin (Oct. 27) marked the 350th career win for head coach Brad Frost, whose all-time coaching record now stands at 373-69-31. Frost is in his 12th season at the helm of the program.
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Scoring Milestones
Kelly Pannek is Minnesota's active career scoring leader ranked 10th among all-time Gophers with 183 points (71g-112a). She chases Gigi Marvin in ninth place (87g-108a). Pannek's 112 career assists are tied for sixth in program history as well. She recorded her 100th career assist in Minnesota's season-opener. Sarah Potomak ranks 28th in program history with 128 career points (43g-85a), trailing 27th-ranked Brittany Francis with 129 career points (39g-90a) as well.
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First-Career Goals
Six Gopher rookies have scored their first collegiate goals as Amy Potomak (Sept. 28) and Taylor Heise (Sept. 29) scored in Minnesota's season-opening weekend while Catie Skaja found the back of the net against Minnesota Duluth (Oct. 5), and Emily Oden scored her first two career goals against St. Cloud State (Oct. 13). Abigail Boreen netted her first collegiate goal against St. Cloud State (Nov. 17), and Crystalyn Hengler found the back of the net against Ohio State (Jan. 26).
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Up Next: NCAA Frozen Four
The four NCAA quarterfinal winners advance to the 2019 NCAA Women's Frozen Four on Friday, March 22 and Sunday, March 24 at the People's United Center in Hamden, Ct. Tickets for the 2019 NCAA Women's Frozen Four are on sale now at QuinnipiacBobcats.com.
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WCHA Regular-Season Champions
This season Minnesota won the program's 10th WCHA regular-season title and the Gophers' first since the 2014-15 season as the Maroon & Gold wrapped up the regular season with a road sweep at Bemidji State to secure six league points. The Gophers finished with 58 points, two points ahead of regular-season runner-up Wisconsin with 56 points. As regular-season champions, Minnesota won the first-ever Julianne Bye Cup, the new WCHA regular-season championship trophy named in honor of long-time women's hockey advocate Julianne Bye. The Julianne Bye Cup will be awarded yearly to the winner of the WCHA regular season title.
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Gophers Sign Three for 2019-20
Three incoming student-athletes are set to join the Gophers for the 2019-20 season in goaltender Makayla Pahl (Rochester, Minn.), forward Sydney Shearen (Hugo, Minn.), and defense Madeline Wethington (Edina, Minn.). Wethington was named the 2019 Minnesota Ms. Hockey award recipient and led Blake to a Section 6AA runner-up showing while Shearen led White Bear Lake High School to the Section 4AA title and finished with 25 points (14g-11a) in 25 games played. Pahl was a 2019 Let's Play Hockey Senior Goalie of the Year award finalist and posted a .940 save percentage with a 2.50 goals against average in 21 games for Rochester Mayo High School this season.
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Twenty Years of WCHA Women's Hockey
The 2018-19 season marks the league's 20th anniversary season. Throughout the season, the WCHA has celebrated the past, present, and future of college hockey's premier conference. Gopher greats Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Natalie Darwitz, Amanda Kessel, Gigi Marvin, Noora Raty, and Krissy Wendell were among the 20 players named to the WCHA's 20th Anniversary Team.
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Nationwide Gophers
After Minnesota played in the Windjammer Classic (Nov. 23-24), Vermont became the 14th state where the Gophers have competed in program history: Connecticut, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
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Gophers Medal at Four Nations Cup
Kelly Pannek joined Gopher alums Megan Bozek, Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Amanda Kessel, and Gigi Marvin in winning gold with the U.S. Women's National Team at the 2018 Four Nations Cup. Fellow Gophers alumna Noora Raty won bronze with Finland in the tournament, while redshirt junior Sarah Potomak was named to Canada's National Women's Team for the tournament but was unable to participate due to injury.
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Home, Sweet Home
The 2018-19 season marks the 17th season of Ridder Arena serving as the home of Gopher women's hockey. Minnesota enters the NCAA quarterfinal round with an all-time record of 284-46-21 in home games at Ridder Arena, including a 16-4-0 mark in 2018-19, dating back to the 2002-03 season.
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Pannek Serving as Captain
Senior Kelly Pannek is Minnesota's captain this year. Pannek returned to Minnesota for her redshirt senior season as an Olympic gold medalist after helping Team USA to gold at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
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Quest for Eighth National Title in 2018-19
Minnesota has won four of the last seven 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 2018-19.
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