Women’s hockey gets rare double-tie at home
The team tied UMD in both games played at the Verizon Center over the weekend
John Laforest
Staff Writer
This weekend, the Minnesota State women’s hockey squad cannot be referenced in any other fashion than a good ole fashion tie up, with the team coming away with ties against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in both games, 5-5 on Friday night, and 3-3 on Saturday night.
In their first game Friday, UMD went up 3-1 after goals at the 11:53 and 12:58 mark in the 2nd period, after UMD skater Maggie Flaherty scored her second power play goal of the game after MSU attempted to clear and she went top shelf, just across the blue line, and then following up with a goal from freshman forward Gabby Hughes.
The Mavericks were able to capitalize later with a goal at the 15:10 mark as junior forward Sofia Poinar tipped in a shot from junior blueliner McKenzie Sederberg. Poinar has now scored in two straight games for Minnesota State.
Senior winger Rebekah Kolstad scored for the second straight game as well at the 16:07 mark during the 2nd period. Kolstad’s tenth goal of the season came on a rebound attempt on the back side after the opposing goaltender stopped the first two shots.
The third period ended in a tie and the game went into overtime. Both teams had two shots on net in the extra period, but neither team was able to score. The game then went to a shootout and lasted nine rounds.
Senior forward Corbin Boyd scored in the seventh round to extend the shootout before UMD won in the ninth round.
Freshman goalie Abigail Levy saved 22 shots and her record moves to 9-16-6 on the season.
MSU outshot UMD 35-27 and each team went two-for-three on power play opportunities
The Saturday matchup between this tightly contested teams continued as this game also went to extra time before ending in a tie 3-3, although the Mavs were able to secure a point.
The one point moves Minnesota State to the sixth spot in the WCHA standings. This is the first time since the 2013-14 season where the Mavericks did not finish last in the WCHA. Seniors Katie Bidulka, Corbin Boyd, Lena Dusterhoft, Megan Hinze, Leila Kilduff, Rebekah Kolstad and Jordan McLaughlin were honored before the game on senior day.
Head Coach John Harrington expressed great excitement of the way the ladies fought both games saying he loved the way the team competed and came back in both games and how they “did it the hard way”
He also attributes this game to the young guys especially the late goals from the freshman. Coach said, “It just shows our depth and how we can get contributions from different areas of our lineup.”
Minnesota Duluth could stretch out the lead to 3-1 one moment into the third time frame, after junior winger Sydney Brodt got the puck late and chipped a shot over the shoulder of Levy.
The Maverick rebound was on and freshman forward Madison Oelkers scored her second goal of the game and third of the season at the 11:12 imprint. Oelkers made a goal from an awful point and hit a Bulldog skater before it went past junior Maddie Rooney for the goal.
With a little more than two minutes left in the period and down a skater, the Mavericks were able to score their first short- handed goal of the season Freshman winger Claire Butorac got a back tap from sophomore blueliner Tristen Truax and tossed a changeup at Rooney, beating her to the low left corner for her first short-handed objective of her vocation and second objective on the season.
Minnesota State went to extra time for the third straight game and left away with a tie the multiple times against Minnesota Duluth. UMD wound up winning the shootout, 1-0 on the third and last round.
No. 6 seed Minnesota State will make a trip to No. 3 seed Ohio State for the first round of the WCHA competition. A best-of-three arrangement will be played March 1-3 on occasion to be resolved.
Feature photo by Mansoor Ahmad | MSU Reporter.