Box Score The University of Minnesota Duluth will have to wait at least another week to notch its first Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory of the season. The top-ranked University of Minnesota used a powerful offensive display to make sure of that on Saturday night, upending the Bulldogs by a 6-3 margin to put the finishing touches on the series sweep at AMSOIL Arena.
 
Special teams proved to be the difference in the contest, as the Gophers (6-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the WCHA) cashed in on three of six power-play opportunities while No. 7 UMD (2-3-1; 0-3-1) came up empty in six chances of its own. Entering Saturday, the Bulldogs had successfully killed off all 25 short-handed situations faced this winter.
 
After spotting Minnesota a 1-0 lead less than five minutes in, UMD pulled even on sophomore center Hannah Bramm's first marker of the year. The Gophers responded swiftly, striking back moments later, grabbing a 2-1 edge and taking it into the first intermission. Two straight Gopher goals to open the middle frame made it 4-1 Minnesota before Jenna McParland (who set Bramm up earlier) got the Bulldogs within two on her team-leading fifth tally of the season.
                                                             
The Gophers quickly stretched the gap in the third, burying once at even-strength and again on the power-play to go up 6-2. UMD continued to battle down the stretch, eventually getting rewarded on rookie defender Sidney Morin's first collegiate goal with 14:16 to go in regulation. The Bulldogs, however, would come no closer before the final buzzer sounded.

Despite the setback, UMD head coach Shannon Miller lauded her team's effort for the series finale and on the wekeend as a whole. Miller, encouraged by much of what her 15th Bulldog team proved capable of on the ice, brushed off any concern over Saturday's final score. 

"We played extremely well. I'm extemely proud of my team," UMD head coach Shannon Miller said. "[Minnesota] is a really good team, but we're a really good team. We discovered that tonight. We discovered that we've got some courage, we've got some depth, we've some killer instinct and we've got some hunger." 
 
Minnesota piled up 37 shots on the the UMD net, forcing Bulldog sophomore netminder Kayla Black to make 31 stops. Amanda Leveille made 27 saves on 30 attempts faced on her way to recording the win in net.
 
Next up for UMD is a weekend road assignment at Minnesota State University-Mankato. The puck will drop on that two-game WCHA set next Friday at 7:07 p.m. 

Game Summary