Six different players scored goals Saturday afternoon to lead the fourth-ranked University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team past the University of St. Thomas 8-1 at AMSOIL Arena. The win marks the 20th of the season for the Bulldogs, who improve to 20-9-0 and 17-18-0 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play after picking up their sixth series sweep of the year.
Senior center Naomi Rogge led all scorers with four points on two goals and two assists, while three other players recorded three points – freshman Gabby Krause (2g, 1a), sophomore Clara Van Wieren (2g, 1a) and senior winger Taylor Anderson (1g, 2a). Senior forwards Anna Klein (2a) and Elizabeth Giguere (1g, 1a) added two points – six players in all noticed two or more points.
The Bulldogs offense flowed all afternoon, beginning with Anneke Linser's wrap-around at 2:04 to get the scoring started. Anderson roofed a goal at 10:29, and the Tommies lone tally came with just 28 seconds remaining in the first period to make it a 2-1 game.
UST would get no closer, and the Bulldogs rattled off six unanswered goals, started by red-hot Van Wieren's snipe for her seventh goal of the season midway through the second frame. 24 seconds later, Elizabeth Giguere popped in a rebound and UMD had a 4-1 and a dominant 48-4 shots on goal advantage after 40 minutes on the ice.
Rogge scored her first of two power play goals just 10 seconds into the third period, and Krause netted her second goal of the series at the 6:40 mark to give UMD a 6-1 lead. Rogge added another power play goal at 14:09 and Van Wieren rounded out the scoring with her second goal of the game at 15:26 to push the Bulldogs ahead 8-1.
The contest marked the third game this season UMD has scored eight or more goals, and the Bulldogs buried the Tommies with 54 shots on goal while holding UST to just 10 in the game. In all, UMD outshot the Tommies 92-16 in the series.
Jojo
Chobak
got the win in net for UMD with four saves in 49:38 of action, but freshman Holly Gruber
played 10:10 and stopped five shots for the Bulldogs in her first collegiate minutes. Alexa Dobchuk
had 39 saves for UST in 50:31 of work, while Eryn
Cooley had seven stops over 9:29 minutes in relief.
UMD heads back to St. Cloud State University Tuesday afternoon to finish out its road series with the Huskies. The puck is set to drop in St. Cloud, Minn. at 3:01 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES: In four meetings this season, UMD outscored UST 20-2 ... UMD went 2-of-3 on its power play after not being awarded one Friday night ...Clara Van Wieren has now recorded points in a career-best seven straight games … the sophomore has four goals and five assists for nine points in those last seven skates … UMD's 20th win is the 16th time in program history a Bulldog squad has pocketed that many triumphs … seven players registered two or more points on the weekend, including four with three or more … senior Naomi Rogge led all scorers with five points on two goals and three assists … Gabby Krause added two goals and two assists for four points, while Van Wieren had two goals and two assists for four points … UMD has now scored 109 goals so far this season, one goal shy of the highest total of the Maura Crowell era that came in 2016-17 (110) after 37 games.
