The St. Cloud State University women's hockey team found out Saturday evening what happens when you face a team with an explosive ablity to score and a goaltender with a pedigree of composure.



The No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team swept their opening Western Collegiate Hockey Association opponent 8-0 at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. Saturday night. The Bulldogs, who are now 2-0-0, 2-0-0 in the WCHA, had eight players score a goal in the contest, despite having been whistled for 17 penalties.

\"I thought we played fantastic in the first period,\" said head coach Shannon Miller, who improves her run against the Huskies to 32-6-1 all-time. \"It was important for us to come out flying, and we did that in the first and third period. It was a physical game and play becomes difficult when the game is allowed to go on that way. I am proud of how we played. We buried the puck, protected ourselves and played with class.\"

UMD struck first, and often, in the opening period of play, as junior forward Sara O'Toole connected on a pass from freshman forward Laura Fridfinnson for her first goal of the season in the immediate 1:28 of action. Junior defender Myriam Trepanier doubled the Huskies debt at the 7:11 mark off a pass from Elin Holmlov, and freshman forward Iya Gavrilova spotted UMD a three-goal lead when she netted the first goal of her career at 16:19, courtsey of linemates Saara Tuominen and Holmlov.

After a second period of almost 13 straight minutes with one of the two teams short-handed, freshman forward Haley Irwin sprung for her first collegiate goal at 17:10 to add to St. Cloud woes, 4-0.

Holmov got the Bulldogs rolling in the third stanza by netting her first goal of the year just 35 seconds into play. Gavrilova and Tuominen assisted on the goal, while three and a half minutes later, senior Karin Demeule gave the Maroon and Gold a 6-0 lead off a pass from fellow captian Tawni Mattila. UMD muscled in its first power play goal of the young season at 8:56 when Fridfinnson scored her second goal in as many games, with O'Toole and Jocelyne Larocque sharing in the achievement. The Bulldogs struck one final time, as defender Sara Murray made good on a pass from Mattila, finishing the Huskies off with their eighth and final goal of the contest.

Sophomore netminder Kim Martin turned away 29 saves, running her weekend tally to an impressive 56 in the two games to grab her second shut-out of the season and fifth of her career.

The Bulldogs and Huskies traded 21 infractions--the entire total of the Friday's contest--in the third period, with 11 assigned to UMD.

UMD will showcase their high-octane offense at the DECC next weekend when Bemidji State visits for a WCHA series showdown. Game-time for the first conference battle starts at 3:37 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.