(cutlines from umd women’s hockey tournamnt…)
CUTLINES:
1/ Minnesota’s Nadine Muzerall, who had scored the first two Gopher goals, celebrated Tracy Engstrom’s third-period game-winner, while UMD goalie Tuula Puputti’s dejection showed after Engstrom’s shot went off the pipe, off Puputti’s back, and in for a 3-2 UMD setback in the national women’s college hockey tournament semifinal.
2/ UMD’s Jenny Schmidgall, who had set up the goals that put the Bulldogs ahead 2-0, was stopped by Minnesota goalie Erica Killewald on the final UMD threat of Friday’s national semifinal game.
3/ Minnesota’s Tracy Engstrom dived after a loose puck as UMD goalie Tuula Puputti tried to cover it, and Bulldog defenseman Jenni Venho tried to stop Engstrom.
Gophers 1-2 power-play punch KOs Bulldogs 3-2
BOSTON, MASS.—It was as if a big bruiser had stomped on Cinderella’s glass slipper Friday night, as Nadine Muzerall and Tracy Engstrom scored power-play goals less than three minutes apart in the third period to lift Minnesota to a stinging 3-2 victory over UMD, ending the Bulldogs hopes for a storybook ending to their historic first season of women’s hockey.
The Bulldogs led 2-0 halfway through the game, but the Gophers came back, before 1,409 at Matthews Arena on the Northeastern University campus, for only their second victory in six tries against UMD. However, it came in the semifinals of the national women’s college hockey tournament, so it sends UMD (25-4-3) against Dartmouth in today’s 3 p.m. third-place game, while Minnesota (31-6-1) takes on Brown University in tonight’s championship game.
“I think this was a great women’s hockey game, and gave people out here a chance to see what we’ve been doing against each other all year back in Minnesota,” said Gopher coach Laura Halldorson. “We never gave up, although we had some calls not go our way. It was a very gutsy performance.”
There were some calls that didn’t go the Gophers way, but after a tightly enforced and evenly called game by referee Krista Young for two periods, during which Minnesota had a 7-6 edge in penalties, she called the only four penalties of the third period on the Bulldogs, even though the big and burly Gopher defense spent most of the third period the way they had spent the rest of the night — knocking UMD’s forwards flat every time they went near the net.
“Both teams are very good, and have good size and strengh,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “When you get two teams so evenly matched, it’s going to be physical. We deserved every penalty we got, including in the third period, but I was disappointed that a lot of things went on in front of the Gopher net in the third period — with our players getting cross-checked and knocked down, physically — and that wasn’t called.
“We played with a lot of heart. When you kill four penalties in the third period and still outshoot them 16-5, it shows you’re playing with heart. We outshot them 42-27 in the game, so that tells you how well we played 5-on-5. But we were in the box too much, and when that happens, you don’t deserve to win.”
Muzerall scored two of the Gopher goals and now leads the nation in goals with 47, but she had to come back after falling hard on her back in Thursday’s practice, which caused her to be placed on a stretcher and carried to an ambulance that was driven onto the Matthews Arena ice sheet. She was OK after x-rays at a hospital, and, while she said she could feel some pain, it obviously didn’t affect her shooting eye.
The Bulldogs were on their heels at the start, mainly because Jenni Venho and Brittny Ralph drew successive penalties at 1:33 and 4:03, meaning UMD had to kill four minutes in penalty time in the game’s first six minutes. Tuula Puputti was nothing short of sensational with three cool and poised saves in the face of some chaotic pressure from the Gopher power play. Having weathered that opening pressure, the Bulldogs turned things the other way. Jenny Schmidgal passed to Maria Rooth moving left to right in front of the net, and Rooth shifted to her backhand to entice goalie Erica Killewald to go down, then stuffed a backhander in at the left edge of the crease at 13:17.
The puck dropped for the second period, and 15 seconds later, Michelle McAteer parked herself in front of the net while Schmidgall eluded a defenseman behind the net, then Schmidgall passed out front and McAteer made it 2-0. It was the 17th goal of the season for the freshman winger from Toronto, and the second assist of the game was Schmidgall’s 90th point of the season. “Shmiggy was behind the net and the defense went after her,” said McAteer. “She cut back and gave me a perfect pass and I was lucky enough to bury it.”
The Gophers, however, didn’t fade at the 2-0 deficit, and midway through the period the Bulldogs got a little careless in finishing the job of clearing the zone. Muzerall got the puck about a foot inside the left point and barged toward the net. Without much room or apparent hope, Muzerall — the nation’s top goal-scorer — was checked down, but fired a shot as she fell and the puck hit defenseman Pamela Pachal’s skate and glanced between Puputti’s legs.
“I thought it was going wide of the net,” said Muzerall. “The next thing I saw was everyone coming at me.”
Still down 2-1, the Gophers were stalled on one power play early in the third period, but when Rooth went to the box at 9:38, Muzerall came around from behind the net and circled wide before shooting between Puputti’s legs at 10:59.
Then came the most controversial call of the game. A whistle stopped play, and during the stoppage, a couple of discussions occured on the ice. After a minute or so, the referee called UMD for too many players on the ice, at 11:54.
“We DID have too many players on the ice, so it was a good call,” said Miller. “We made a bad change. They had stopped play for something else, so I thought they weren’t going to call it. Then one of the Gopher players went over to the ref, but the ref shook her head. After that, one of the linesmen went over and they discussed it, and then they called it. That’s something that should be called right away or not at all.”
On that power play, Engstrom got the puck at the left circle and shot, high and off the far pipe. The puck ricocheted back, struck Puputti on the shoulder or back, and fell into the net at 13:15.
“That’s every player’s fantasy,” said Engstrom. “National tournament, game tied, I thought ‘If I get the puck on my stick, I’m putting it in.’ I got the puck, buried my head and shot it. I heard the sound of it hitting the pipe, then I saw it in the net.”
BROWN WINS 4-2
To the surprise of nobody, top-rated Brown University beat upstart Dartmouth 4-2 in Friday’s first semifinal. Brown (25-3-3), beat Dartmouth (20-12) for the fourth time this season, but the Bears had to erupt for three third-period goals to secure the victory.
Patricia Long scored her second goal of the game as Brown broke from a 1-1 first-period standoff with a pair of goals 43 seconds apart in the third session. Liz Macri’s goal with 4:57 left gave Dartmouth one last hope, cutting the deficit to 3-2, but Emily Sigman scored by one-timing a pass from the end boards by Jill Grant with 2:23 to play, and the Bears were in control.
Dartmouth, the surprise entry in the final four, had gained a spot by upsetting defending national champion Harvard 3-2 in overtime in the ECAC semifinals, and the Green Wave wound up outranking the Crimson, even though they then lost 6-3 to Brown in the ECAC final. Brown also had beaten Dartmouth 1-0 and 6-1 during the season.
UMD’s Schmidgall named women’s hockey All-American
BOSTON, MASS.—UMD’s Jenny Schmidgall, who has been called the
“Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey” and “the best female hockey player in the world,” was named All-America at an awards banquet Thursday night, on the eve of the national women’s college hockey tournament.
Schmidgall was the only western player selected to the elite six,
although she was snubbed by the USA Hockey committee and left off the four-player list of finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, for the best women’s college player.
The Kazmaier Award went to Ali Brewer, a senior goaltender at Brown University. But Brewer, oddly enough, was the only one of four finalists NOT named to the All-America team.
This is what happens when you have two, not one, hockey
organizations running things in women’s hockey, although out of politeness nobody seemed to note that the player one organization named the best individual in the country didn’t make the other group’s list of the best six players in the country. Schmidgall and teammate Maria Rooth were among the 10 candidates, but neither was a finalist, even through Schmidgall leads the nation in scoring points.
An 11-member committee, organized by USA Hockey and comprised of
women’s coaches, print and broadcast media and a USA Hockey
representative, voted Brewer as the best player, above Providence junior goalie Sara DeCosta, Brown junior defenseman Tara Mounsey and New Hampshire senior forward Carisa Zaban — all of whom were also named All-America at the same banquet.
Other All-Americas are a pair of Harvard skaters — sophomore
defenseman Angela Ruggerio, and sophomore forward Jennifer Botterill.
Brewer, who compiled a goals-against average of 1.33 and a save
percentage of .942, will put her talent to the test today when Brown faces Dartmouth in the 4 p.m. first semifinal. Schmidgall will join her Bulldogs teammates in taking on Minnesota for the sixth time in the 7 p.m. second semifinal in the tournament, held at Matthews Arena on the Northeastern campus.
Division III All-Americans also were named: goalie Josie Chapman, a junior from Colby; defensemen Catherine Elkins, a sophomore from Middlebury, and Catherine Pullins, a senior from Middlebury; and forwards Angie Rieger, a junior from Augsburg; Michelle Labbe, a junior from Middlebury; Heather Murphy, a sophomore from Colgate; and Sylvia Ryan, a senior from Middlebury.
Augsburg, the west champion, faces powerful Middlebury today and
Saturday in the Division III championship, a two-game (and mini-game if necessary) format, also held at Northeastern.
UMD’s McAteer savors the last dance at national tournament
BOSTON, MASS.—A trip to the “Big Dance” — the national tournament — is the perfect storybook ending for this historic first season for the UMD women’s hockey team. For freshman Michelle McAteer, however, the whole season has been a big dance.
In fact, if coach Shannon Miller wanted to coax a hat trick out of Mac, all she’d have to do would be to arrange for Shania Twain to sing the national anthem before UMD’s games at Matthews Arena on the Northeastern University campus this weekend.
McAteer is known universally as Mac to her UMD hockey teammates. “Nobody calls me Michelle, except my mother,” she said. She is known even more universally for her uninhibited outbursts of dancing, anywhere and anytime. It has even become a source of controversy in this first year of the Women’s-WCHA.
“I like to dance,” McAteer said. “I dance any time, and it’s sort of become a tradition for me to dance in the dressing room before games. My mother liked dancing, and my brother, Steven, is 25, and he’s touring right now in ‘Riverdance.’ ”
McAteer, who is from the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, especially gets into Canadian country-rock singer Shania Twain’s music. Before a game early in the season, her song “Any Man of Mine” was played over the public address system at the DECC as the teams circulated during their warm-up skate. McAteer spontaneously started dancing on her skates, in an impromptu routine. The crowd noticed immediately and cheered her on.
A short time later, Wisconsin was at the DECC playing the Bulldogs, and the same song came on., having become something of a ritual by then “I started dancing again, and the crowd really got into it,” McAteer said.
UMD had beaten Wisconsin 6-3 in the first game, after a month-long holiday layoff, and they pounded the Badgers 14-1 in the second game. McAteer scored the first goal both nights, and got two goals in the second game, which featured her dance routine.
Later on, when UMD faced Minnesota at Pioneer Hall, the teams were on the ice warming up and the referee came up to me and said: “No. 19, dancing is not tolerated in the WCHA. we’ll have none of that.”
“He wouldn’t even let me wiggle,” said McAteer. “Afterward, Shannon told me that Wisconsin had been offended, and that Julie Sasner, the Wisconsin coach, had complained to the league after we beat them that I was taunting them by dancing to the music. I didn’t mean any disrespect, and I wasn’t flaunting the fact we were beating them. I just like to dance.
“The funny thing is that after that, when we played down at Minnesota State-Mankato, the ref who had worked the Wisconsin series was down there, and he asked if I’d do it again, because he liked it and thought it was hilarious.”
Controlling McAteer’s spontaneous outbursts is a challenge for the Women’s-WCHA, but it fits in well with the “Bulldogs-as-villains” image. They not only seem to win all the time — going 25-3-3 while winning both the league and league playoff titles, outscoring foes 190-54 for an average of 6.13 — 1.74 and outshooting them by an average of 47.8 — 20-8 — but they’re having too darn much fun at the same time.
Fun, as they say, has no place in serious college hockey, eh?
“We always have fun,” said McAteer. “Every aspect of our team this season has been fun. Shannon and the coaches always come with a theme, whether it’s wearing sunglasses, bringing toy guns, or wearing berets or something. Watch us when there’s a time out, most of the time the players all skate away laughing, because Shannon will sometimes gather the team around and tell us a joke during a timeout.
“Our team loves to have fun.”
It isn’t as simple as winning and then having fun, either. This group started having fun before they ever hit the ice. Most of the players attended volleball games in the fall, coming dressed in weird outfits, or finding other ways to show their support for their new school. At one game, the Bulldog mascot stopped by the section where most of the hockey players were seated and started doing a strange little dance. Sure enough, Mac hopped down the steps and danced with the mascot, as the crowd ate it up.
Fortunately, no W-WCHA officials spotted that, or dancing might have been outlawed at volleyball games, too.
McAteer says that playing with such a star-filled cast as the Bulldogs have has been a great experience for her. She has played most of the season with Jenny Schmidgall and Maria Rooth on UMD’s first line. Schmidgall leads the nation in scoring with 39 goals-49 assists–88 points. Rooth has 35-30–65. Next to them, McAteer’s 16-10–26 looks paltry, but unlike her teammates, Mac does not have Olympic or national team experience. She is a true freshman, right out of prep school at Lawrence Academy, which is in Groton, Mass., about a half-hour northeast of Boston.
“I was a freshman in a public school in Toronto, and playing for a Peewee team for girls under 15,” McAteer said. “Our coach took our team down to the Boston area for three exhibition games, and I got invited to go to all three prep schools. We decided on Lawrence. It was tough to leave home at that age, but it was a great experience for me, academically and athletically.”
While at Lawrence, McAteer played soccer and softball as well as hockey, where she was captain of a team that won two straight championships, and she was most valuable player in the league after scoring 70 points last year as a senior. She spent a lot of weekends at the homes of classmates who lived in Boston, so this weekend’s tournament is a homecoming of sorts for her. “I’ve got a lot of friends who are coming down for our games,” she said.
McAteer said the season kicked off in exciting fashion before her senior year. “I got a voice message that Shannon Miller had called,” McAteer said. “I knew she had been the Canadian women’s Olympic coach, and I was so excited I kept her voice message for a long time, to play it for my friends. At first, I had only looked at East Coast colleges. But UMD worked out perfectly for me.
“I think we all were pretty much stars in high school,” she added. “But this has been totally new for me. I’m honored and flattered to be playing with Shmiggy and Maria; they’re two of the best players in the world, and they’re always pushing me. But it’s a totally different role for me, and I’m enjoying it completely. Now I do the little things, like setting picks, creating space, head-manning the puckÂ…and backchecking.
“But the strength of our team is our depth. Everyone looks at our line, and the line with Erika Holst centering Hanne Sikio and Jenny Hempel. But our third line, with Jessi Flink, Joanne Eustace and Laurie Alexander, has really come into its own, and our defense and goaltending have been great.”
McAteer has quickly learned to be a supporting player instead of the team star on UMD’s top line, but there is one role she won’t be giving up: Team dancer.
Before Friday’s national tournament semifinal match with Minnesota, the team exchanged gag gifts. McAteer’s was a t-shirt, with an inscription that captures her passion and the controversy she stirred up: “Two minutes for dancing.”
Ralph looks forward to UMD’s tournament battle with Gophers
[[[[[[[[CUTLINE INFO: Look for “Ralph goal WCHA final” (and “Ralph about to score, if you want a 1-2 sequence):
The entire UMD power-play unit helped Brittny Ralph (14) celebrate her clinching goal in the 2-0 WCHA championship victory over Minnesota. Hanne Sikio (8) and Maria Rooth helped lift Ralph, while Erika Holst and Jenny Schmidgall watched, and Gopher goaltender Erica Killewald and defenseman Kelly Olson watched the linesman retrieve the puck. ]]]]]]]]]]]
Brittny Ralph was perfectly satisfied to play a supporting role on the UMD women’s hockey team this season. Stay back on defense, move the puck up to those fantastic, world-class forwards, defend the net now and then, and watch the victories pile up.
That’s pretty much what happened, too, right up until the Women’s WCHA championship game. Then coach Shannon Miller made an abrupt switch, changing the power play dramatically by moving center Jenny Schmidgall — the nation’s leading scorer — back to the point where Ralph had been playing solidly, and moving Ralph up front, with Maria Rooth and Erika Holst, while Hanne Sikio blasts away from the other point.
It tells a lot about Miller’s that she would dare to make such a bold change on the very day of the most important game in the fledgling program’s history. It also tells a lot about Brittny Ralph that she not only moved up on the power play, but she took a giant step directly into prominence. Not only did she score the second goal in a 2-0 championship victory over the Gophers, but she also played her best game, rushing the puck, passing, shooting, clicking perfectly every time she gambled or made a move, and generating countless scoring chances.
“That’s the way Brittny is,” said Miller. “She and Navada Russell and Pamela Pachal have been our best defensemen from the start of the season. But Brittny has the capability to step up big time in big games.”
Having proven conclusively that they are the best team in the W-WCHA, the Bulldogs were rewarded by an automatic berth in this weekend’s national final four in Boston. And what do they find? Yet another game against Minnesota, Friday at 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena on the Northeastern University campus in the national semifinals. Established NCAA guidelines strive to have teams in the national tournament avoid immediately playing teams from their own conferences, but the NCAA isn’t running this tournament for another year, USA Hockey is directing it, and USA Hockey chose to pair the two western teams in one semifinal and Brown and Dartmouth in the other semifinal.
“I’m surprised Harvard didn’t make it, after being ranked first or second all year, and losing one game, 3-2 in overtime, to Dartmouth in the playoffs, but that’s not my call,” said Ralph, insisting that she feels no letdown running into Minnesota for the sixth time after establishing 3-1-1 superiority during the season. “I think it’s great we’re playing Minnesota again. We know this time it’s on the national stage. We’re not only representing ourselves and the WCHA, we’re also representing Minnesota hockey, and proving we play competitive hockey in the west. Besides, our games against the Gophers have been the most fun games we’ve had, all season. We know it’s going to be tough competition every shift.”
Ralph and Schmidgall transferred from Minnesota to UMD before this season, so they are more familiar with the Gophers than anyone. Both have said how much they’ve enjoyed the skyrocket ride that has carried the Bulldogs into the national spotlight, but for reasons far more important than just success in the standings.
“It’s really been a lot of fun,” said Ralph, a junior from Brooklyn Center. “And sometimes I’ve gotten away from having hockey be fun. It’s a lot better this year. I’m a lot happier in Duluth, both on and off the ice. I love the school, and the people are a lot friendlier. I didn’t realize how big the University of Minnesota was until I got up here; the size of the community is a lot easier to deal with.”
When Ralph stepped onto the ice, Miller paired her with Navada Russell, a freshman from Calgary. The fit was instantaneous.
“It just happened, no real reason, but Nvada and I play a similar game,” Ralph said. “We anticipate what the other is going to do and we always cover for each other.
“With the forwards we have on this team, we knew that as defensemen we weren’t in it for the glory. Defense always is pretty unheralded, but I know when I stop a 1-on-1, or make a big play, and we all appreciate each other on this team. Every player on the team has gotten better during the year. Look at our third line, how it’s come together so well and contributes now. As close as we were, we really came together as a team in the Gopher game at the WCHA playoffs.”
With her size and strength, Ralph made her presence felt by going to the net on the power play, fighting off checks and enriching UMD’s scoring opportunities.
“I love the way Shannon coaches,” Ralph said. “She really knows a lot about the game and she’s got so much confidence. We hit a rough spot, so we just got over it and built back up. I think the two weeks off just makes us hungry to play again. I think we’re at a peak right now — no question. They’re can’t be any question, now.”
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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