University of Minnesota Athletics
Friday, January 6
6:00 PM
University of Minnesota
15-3-2
9
vs
2
Merrimack
7-14-1
1
2
3
F
Merrimack
0
1
1
2
Minnesota
1
2
6
9
Team Stats
MMC
UMN
Shots
16
42
PPG
1
2
SHG
0
0
Penalties
4
2
Penalty Mins
8
4
Faceoffs Won
17
37
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
3
Goals
3
Sh
6
A
0
+/-
4
Goals
1
Sh
5
A
2
+/-
3
Goals
1
Sh
2
A
2
+/-
3
Goals
1
Sh
1
A
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's HockeyF
/ Women's Hockey
F
/ Women's Hockey
F
/ Women's HockeyD
/ Women's HockeyF
/ Women's Hockey
G
/ Women's Hockey
F
/ Women's Hockey
Photo by: Kelly Hagenson
Heise Nets Second Straight Hat Trick in Win over Merrimack
1/6/2023 9:02:00 PM | Women's Hockey
The Gophers tallied a season-high six third-period goals in the 9-2 rout.
MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 4/5 Gopher Women's hockey team opened the second half of the 2022-23 season with a dominant 9-2 win over the Merrimack College Warriors in the East/West Showcase at the Ridder Arena on Friday evening.
Minnesota (15-3-2) dominated from the start, as they outshot the Warriors 12-5 in the first period with several high-scoring chances. Nelli Laitinen scored her third goal of the season in her first game since early November to put the Gophers up 1-0.
Just four minutes into the second period, Taylor Heise scored her first goal of the game and Abigail Boreen followed suit just seven minutes later with her 13th of the season to give Minnesota a commanding 3-0 lead. Merrimack (7-14-1) found their first goal of the game off the stick of Katie Kaufman during a powerplay at 15:21 in the second period to finally end Skylar Vetter's shutout streak. Minnesota led 3-1 at the second break.
The Gophers opened the third period scoring four goals in 77 seconds. Heise netted her second of the night and Catie Skaja, Grace Zumwinkle, and Madison Kaiser all got on the board as well. The Warriors and Gophers then traded goals as Alexa Pongo slipped one past Minnesota goaltender Skylar Vetter for Merrimack and Peyton Hemp scored her ninth of the season for Minnesota.
On a breakaway with just over a minute left, Heise scored her third goal of the night to secure her second consecutive game with a hat trick.
Vetter started in goal for Minnesota making 14 saves in her 13th win of the season. Senior Emma Gorski started in goal for the Warriors, stopping 22 shots in the loss. She was relieved in the third period by freshman Calli Hogarth who made 11 saves.
Quotable
"First period was a little sloppy," said head coach Brad Frost. "It was our first period in a long time and we obviously got better as the game progressed. We talked about shot volume in between the second and third period after only getting 12 in the first two periods."
"[Skylar Vetter] played really well I thought," added Frost. "It's hard when you aren't getting a ton of action in some of these games and a puck hits you in the shoulder and you have to figure out where that is."
"It was cool to see us come back from a shaky first period," said Taylor Heise. "We made some mistakes that we don't normally make, but we came back much better in the third. We knew after the second period that people were feeling it now."
Notable
• Skylar Vetter's shutout streak came to an end with 4:39 left in the second period. Her final total of 261:30 is the third longest in program history.
• Taylor Heise has now recorded 18 points in her last five games including back-to-back hat tricks.
• Six goals in the third period is the most Minnesota has scored in a single period this season.
• With three points today, Taylor Heise passes Gigi Marvin for ninth place in program history in points (197).
• Grace Zumwinkle's third period goal was the 98th of her career, moving her into sole possession of sixth place in program history.
Up Next
The Gophers return to Ridder Arena tomorrow to face the New Hampshire Wildcats. Saturday's puck drop is slated for 4:30pm.
Minnesota (15-3-2) dominated from the start, as they outshot the Warriors 12-5 in the first period with several high-scoring chances. Nelli Laitinen scored her third goal of the season in her first game since early November to put the Gophers up 1-0.
Just four minutes into the second period, Taylor Heise scored her first goal of the game and Abigail Boreen followed suit just seven minutes later with her 13th of the season to give Minnesota a commanding 3-0 lead. Merrimack (7-14-1) found their first goal of the game off the stick of Katie Kaufman during a powerplay at 15:21 in the second period to finally end Skylar Vetter's shutout streak. Minnesota led 3-1 at the second break.
The Gophers opened the third period scoring four goals in 77 seconds. Heise netted her second of the night and Catie Skaja, Grace Zumwinkle, and Madison Kaiser all got on the board as well. The Warriors and Gophers then traded goals as Alexa Pongo slipped one past Minnesota goaltender Skylar Vetter for Merrimack and Peyton Hemp scored her ninth of the season for Minnesota.
On a breakaway with just over a minute left, Heise scored her third goal of the night to secure her second consecutive game with a hat trick.
Vetter started in goal for Minnesota making 14 saves in her 13th win of the season. Senior Emma Gorski started in goal for the Warriors, stopping 22 shots in the loss. She was relieved in the third period by freshman Calli Hogarth who made 11 saves.
Quotable
"First period was a little sloppy," said head coach Brad Frost. "It was our first period in a long time and we obviously got better as the game progressed. We talked about shot volume in between the second and third period after only getting 12 in the first two periods."
"[Skylar Vetter] played really well I thought," added Frost. "It's hard when you aren't getting a ton of action in some of these games and a puck hits you in the shoulder and you have to figure out where that is."
"It was cool to see us come back from a shaky first period," said Taylor Heise. "We made some mistakes that we don't normally make, but we came back much better in the third. We knew after the second period that people were feeling it now."
Notable
• Skylar Vetter's shutout streak came to an end with 4:39 left in the second period. Her final total of 261:30 is the third longest in program history.
• Taylor Heise has now recorded 18 points in her last five games including back-to-back hat tricks.
• Six goals in the third period is the most Minnesota has scored in a single period this season.
• With three points today, Taylor Heise passes Gigi Marvin for ninth place in program history in points (197).
• Grace Zumwinkle's third period goal was the 98th of her career, moving her into sole possession of sixth place in program history.
Up Next
The Gophers return to Ridder Arena tomorrow to face the New Hampshire Wildcats. Saturday's puck drop is slated for 4:30pm.
Behind the Scenes: Media Day
Tuesday, September 16
Ella Huber Drafted by Boston
Wednesday, June 25
Natalie Mlynkova Drafted by Montreal
Tuesday, June 24
Peyton Hemp Drafted by Ottawa
Tuesday, June 24