UMD falls as Gophers, Badgers reach final
Amanda Kessel was stopped by UMD's Jennifer Harss, but her hat trick gave Minnesota a 4-2 victory.
By John Gilbert
Amanda Kessel isn’t all that big, and her listed 5-foot-6 might be a stretch, but she has made a huge impact on the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team by leading the Golden Gophers in scoring in her freshman season. But her biggest impact came in Friday night’s semifinals of the WCHA Women’s Final Faceoff, when she scored three goals in a 4-2 victory over instate rival Minnesota-Duluth.
Kelly Terry, another freshman, got the fourth Gopher goal, prompting coach Brad Frost to admit his early-season concerns about his team depending on freshmen scoring were, at best, premature. “I wasn’t sure if it could last all season,” Frost said. “But Amanda, Kelly and Sarah Davis have all continued to play well.”
The victory thrusts Minnesota (26-8-2) into the WCHA playoff championship game against league champion and No. 1 ranked Wisconsin (33-2-2). The Badgers had their hands full with North Dakota in the first semifinal before getting loose for three second-period goals. Senior right wing Kelly Nash, returning to her post on the third line, collaborated as the pivot with defenseman Geena Proust to set up Carolyne Prevost for the game’s first goal and Mallory Deluce on a power play to start and end the rally. Between those two, WCHA player of the year and scoring champion Meghan Duggan set up Brianna Decker with a slick, 2-on-1 pass for a short-handed goal. Freshman goaltender Alex Rigsby held firmly for a 3-0 shutout victory.
In the Minnesota-UMD game, Kessel, who has 19 goals, 29 assists for 48 points, is a freshman from Madison, Wis., and attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s Prep School in Fairbault, Minn., before coming to Minnesota. Terry, from Whitby, Ontario, has 15-23–38. Their goals against UMD allowed the Gophers to reclaim their home Ridder Arena ice, which UMD had snatched away by tying the Gophers on the final day of the regular season and gaining the No. 2 seed by having gone 2-1-1 against Minnesota. For Kessel, a little payback made the victory special, and also sets up another special opportunity in the final against her hometown Badgers.
“I got a hat trick in an exhibition game,” said Kessel, who plays left wing with junior center Jen Schoullis and junior wing Sarah Erickson on Minnesota’s top line. “But this was a lot bigger, coming in the playoffs. It was pretty unbelievable. And now, there’s no better team to be playing than Wisconsin.”
UMD had also beaten the Gophers in this tournament last year on the way to winning the NCAA title, and brought a 10-game winning streak into the Final Faceoff, while also striving for a victory that might elevate them into the top four in national rankings to gain home-ice for next week’s eight-team NCAA tournament.
The usual intensity level that is always guaranteed when the two play was advanced when UMD, as home team, got to wear the white jerseys while Minnesota wore the road maroons. When UMD properly took the ice first, UMD’s pep band began to play its school song, but the Gophers came onto the ice just a couple seconds later, and the Gopher band immediately broke into the Rouser, as social courtesy gave way to an attempt to out-decibel UMD’s song.
Minnesota freshman Kelly Terry's second-period goal put UMD down 2-1.
The Bulldogs played without Haley Irwin, who has been battling a nagging but undisclosed injury that caused her to miss several games, then knocked her out twice more since she’s returned, most recently getting three assists in the previous weekend’s 5-0 series-clinching victory over Minnesota State-Mankato. That made it mysterious, but still undisclosed, when she didn’t join the team on the trip to Minnesota. Coach Shannon Miller, who installed Laura Fridfinnson at center between top-line wingers Elin Holmlov and Pernilla Winberg, abruptly turned and walked away after the game when she was asked about Irwin’s status.
Fridfinnson, a senior, had moved back to defense when Miller decided to use the aggressive, four-attacker Torpedo system this season. The Torpedo system creates great offensive pressure, and it also yields some open chances the other way, which usually makes a wide-open and highly entertaining game. It did in this game, too, as the determined Gophers outshot UMD 43-31. Still, UMD’s strategy worked to near-perfection — with the exception of the quick and elusive Kessel.
The Bulldogs struck first, when Audrey Cournoyer circled after a right-corner faceoff, passed across the slot to Katie Wilson, then wound up knocking the puck past goalie Noora Raty from the right edge at 7:25 of the first period. Jennifer Harss came up with a series of outstanding saves when Minnesota tried to respond.
Finally, Kessel tied it at 15:54 of the first period, carrying around a defenseman and cutting across the slot. She misfired on her first shot, and as Harss reacted in anticipation, Kessel shot again and scored. “I tried getting the shot off, and when I didn’t get it, maybe that helped give me an opening,” said Kessel.
The game stood 1-1 at the first intermission, prompting Gopher coach Brad Frost to say, “Even though Duluth got the first goal, I was still happy with our first period. I thought our team was tremendous, from Noora on the back-end on out.”
It was still 1-1 midway through the second period, as both Harss, who is from Germany, and Raty, from Finland, came up with big stops in the resumption of the duel they have shared in international play. But shortly after killing a penalty, Minnesota got a break when Terry got loose, sped up the middle unmolested, and scored on Harss at the crease at 10:37. Two minutes later, Kessel moved in from the left circle and made it 3-1.
Minnesota outshot UMD 19-10 in the second period to gain the upper hand at 3-1, but the Bulldogs opened the third period with a furious attack, intensified when Terry went off for tripping. Raty withstood two or three excellent chances, and UMD misfired on a couple more, then Kessel went back the other way and scored short-handed at 8:53 to complete her hat trick and make it 4-1. The fourth unanswered Gopher goal did not convince Frost that the victory was secured, however.
“One thing that has never changed since I’ve been around this league is that whenever Duluth is down coming into the third period, they’ll throw everything at you,” said Frost. “Nothing has changed since the first time we played them this year, so we knew they’d put pressure on us, but that we’d get some 2-on-1s and breakaways, too. Amanda made some big plays, but she’s a big-time player. She was arguably the biggest recruit in the country for this year, and that line plays well. Schoullis is big and strong, and Sarah Erickson has a wonderfully quick release, but Amanda has become the catalyst for that line.”
Minnesota's Becky Kortum was penalized for crashing into Jennifer Harss, leading to UMD's late second goal.
UMD continued to attack, and the game got more intense and a little nasty as the third period went on, with considerable contact, some of which caused Miller to take issue. “I’m proud of how our team worked, for maybe 50 of the 60 minutes,” said Miller. “The only thing I was disappointed in was running our goaltender three times. Yes, they called it once, with three minutes left, but it’s supposed to be a major if you run the goalie in the crease.”
Minnesota’s Becky Kortom went off for a goaltender interference minor, which gave UMD a late power play with 2:51 remaining, just when it appeared they couldn’t get another shot past Raty. With 2:33 left, Brienna Gillanders deflected a Tara Gray shot into the net to trim the margin to 4-2, but Milnnesota regained its edge and the Bulldogs weren’t able to generate anything more.
“We lost to Duluth twice last year, and we wanted to show those guys we’re the better team,” said Raty. “We beat Wisconsin early in the season, too, and we’re much better than we were back then.”
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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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