What a week in NC Women's Ice Hockey! From Wisconsin and Minnesota Duluth's 12-round shootout to Brown's Monica Elvin making 50 saves in a loss to Colgate, there are no shortage of stories. Check out the best of week 18 below.
[divider]OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK[divider]
Thanks to a strong offensive performance, Colgate picked up its fifth consecutive victory with a 7-3 rout of ECAC opponent Brown.
Scoring began early, with five goals tallied in the first period alone. Colgate got on the board first, with a power-play goal close to seven minutes into the opening frame. Shae Labbe found the back of the net to put her team up, 1-0.
Brown answered with a power-play score of their own just over six minutes later, tallied by Cara Najjar. From there, the proverbial flood gates opened, with three more tallies scored in under three minutes.
Colgate found the back of the net twice more in the opening frame, first on a short-handed conversion by Jessie Eldridge and then, 34 seconds later, on a Megan Sullivan shot. The Bears earned a short-handed goal of their own in final two minutes of the period, and the teams went into intermission with a score of 3-2.
In the second frame, Colgate’s Shae Labbe once again opened up scoring, notching the eventual game-winner at the 7:52 mark. Brown answered just a minute and a half later, but from there, they failed to find the back of the net again.
Colgate’s Shelby Perry scored twice in just over a two-minute span, to help her team enter the second intermission with a three-goal lead on their opponents.
Much of the third remained scoreless, though Colgate continued to pepper netminder Monica Elvin with shots, recording 15 in the final period to Brown’s six shots. Shae Labbe scored again to earn the hat trick, and her team won, 7-3.
Through 60 minutes, Colgate recorded a staggering 57 shots on goal, with 25 in the second period alone. By contrast, Brown never managed to find double-digits in any of the three periods, finishing the contest with 19 shots.
Despite a 50-save performance, Elvin earned a loss on her starting record. Colgate netminder Julia Vandyk made 16 stops in the win.
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[divider]DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK[divider]
Against Ohio State, the Minnesota State Mavericks won their first shootout since 2012, thanks in large part to a dominant defensive performance by goaltender Brianna Quade, who made 40 stops in the tie.
In the first period, both teams recorded double-digit shots on goal, but it was the Mavericks that found the back of the net first, on a man-advantage opportunity late in the opening frame. Minnesota State’s Demi Gardner earned the tally with just under four minutes left to play before intermission.
Quade was perfect through the first, making 10 stops, while Ohio State’s Kassidy Sauve had 12 saves with just one goal-allowed.
After getting out-shot in the first, Ohio State ramped up the pressure, recording 12 shots on goal in the second period as the Mavericks had just six. Despite the Buckeyes’ best effort, however, neither team managed to find the back of the net in the second frame.
It wasn’t until late in the third that Ohio State managed to tie up the contest, finally getting on the board with less than five minutes remaining in regulation. Maddy Field earned credit for the score, which took her team into overtime.
In the third, Ohio State again racked up shots on goal, peppering Quade with 19 shots while Sauve faced just four, all of which she knocked aside.
Neither team managed to score in overtime, so the contest went to the shootout, which Minnesota State eventually took in the 10th round.
Quade’s 40-save performance was the most impressive by far, giving her team, which was outshot 25-41, a chance to grab the extra point.
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[divider]UPSET OF THE WEEK[divider]
Courtesy Northeastern Athletics/Jim Pierce
Behind goaltender Brittany Bugalski’s 46-save performance, Northeastern upset sixth-ranked Boston College on the road in enemy territory and snapped the Eagles’ NCAA-record, 63-game home unbeaten streak in the process.
The contest had a quiet start, with neither team finding the back of the net through the first period. Bugalski started strong early, recording 18 saves through the opening frame to keep the Eagles off the board. At the other end of the ice, Boston College netminder Katie Burt also notched double-digit saves, going 11-for-11 through 20 minutes.
In the second, scoring finally opened up as Northeastern’s Shelby Herrington capitalized on a short-handed opportunity against a team that has allowed three short-handed goals in the past four games. Herrington’s short-hander was her team’s eighth of the season.
Going into the second intermission, Northeastern was on top of Boston College, 1-0. To open the third frame, the Huskies scored again, this time on an Andrea Renner shot. Herrington, who tallied her team’s first goal, recorded a helper on Renner’s score.
Four minutes later, Boston College’s Caitrin Lonergan scored on a power-play opportunity to bring her team within one, but the Eagles were unable to find the back of the net again, and fell to the Huskies, 2-1.
In the victory, Bugalski made a career-high 46 saves, while Burt came away with 30 stops. With the win, Northeastern clinched the two-seed in the Hockey East Tournament, which starts up later this month.
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[divider]GAME OF THE WEEK[divider]
Courtesy David Stluka/University of Wisconsin Athletics
In this weekend’s heavyweight matchup, second-ranked Minnesota Duluth visited La Bahn Arena to take on first-ranked Wisconsin, and the contest lived up to the hype.
A pair of dominant goaltenders held both teams scoreless through the first two periods, though each team had plenty of chances. In the first frame, Wisconsin recorded a total of 19 shots on goal, but netminder Maddie Rooney turned each one aside. Rooney’s own team had just seven shots on goal in the same time.
In the second period, shots on goal were even with nine per team, and again, both netminders stayed perfect.
Finally, with just over 10 minutes left in regulation, the Badgers struck first as Sarah Nurse rifled a top-shelf shot past the previously-impenetrable Rooney. Five minutes passed before Minnesota Duluth’s Sydney Brodt answered with a goal of her own to grab the tie for the Bulldogs.
Neither team was able to score again in regulation, so the contest went to overtime, where once again, Rooney and Badgers goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens were perfect. Wisconsin tallied five shots to Minnesota Duluth’s one, but were unable to capitalize on any of their scoring chances.
With the contest still knotted up at 1-1, the teams headed to the shootout. It took 12 rounds before Badgers freshman defenseman Mekenzie Steffen finally netted the shootout-winner to secure the extra point for her team.
Rooney finished the contest with 43 saves, while Desbiens came away with 21.
So far this season, Wisconsin and Minnesota Duluth have faced each other three times, with one win apiece and now a tie. They’ll play again tonight for the final time in the regular season.