Box Score The Bulldogs may have only come away with one point Sunday, but head coach Shannon Miller is liking what she is seeing early on from her young squad.
The No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team erased a two goal deficit to tie the sixth-ranked University of North Dakota 3-3 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, ND. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association draw puts UMD's overall record at 2-1-1 and 0-1-1 in league play and marks the third time the Bulldogs and UND have gone to extra time in their last six games.
"We played like champions," said Miller, who is now 35-9-3 all-time against North Dakota. "We were clearly the better team. We deserved to win today's game."
The Bulldogs found themselves in an early 2-0 predicament after North Dakota netted goals by Gracen Hirschy at 14:55 in the opening stanza and then Susanna Tapani at 13:06 of the second period.
UMD's response was swift, however, scoring three unanswered goals over a 4:06 span. Junior winger Meghan Huertas started the scoring after tracking down the puck deflected from a UND defenseman, redirecting it into the corner netting from the side of the goal. Â
A minute and 36 seconds later on the power-play, junior winger Zoe Hickel corralled an errant clear by North Dakota for her first goal of the season, knotting the game 2-2 at 17:57. Less than a minute later, Huertas struck paydirt again, skating in cleanly on a breakaway against UND netminder Shelby Amsley-Benzie to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game with just 1:12 remaining in the second period.
UMD held the 3-2 lead until late in the final stanza when North Dakota's Josefine Jakobsen netted a rebound with 3:38 left in regulation.
Neither team would score again, even with the extra five minutes in overtime. UND earned the extra league point by winning the shootout 1-0.
Sophomore Kayla Black made 37 stops for the Bulldogs between the pipes and helped keep UMD's NCAA-leading penalty kill a perfect 23-of-23 on the season by thwarting all seven of North Dakota power-play attempts.
The Bulldogs will host top-ranked Minnesota and its NCAA-record 53 game-winning streak next weekend at AMSOIL Arena. Game-time for both Friday and Saturday is set for 6:07 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES:Â Rookie defenseman Lara Stalder now has a four-game scoring streak after compiling one goal and four assists against North Dakota over the weekend...Stalder leads UMD in scoring and has two goals and seven assists for nine points in her first four skates...Four players recorded two points for the Bulldogs Sunday, including Stalder (2a), Meghan Huertas (2g), Zoe Hickel (1g, 1a) and Tea Villila (2a)...Overall Stalder is ranked the No. 1 scoring rooking in the nation with a 2.25 points per game average...That average also ranks her No. 3 in point scoring and No. 2 among all defensemen...Stalder also ranks No. 1 in the NCAA with seven assists in just four games, a 1.75 assists per game average.
