The fifth-ranked University of Minnesota Duluth finished as well as it started Friday afternoon, scoring both early and late and dominating play in between to defeat St. Cloud State University 3-0 at AMSOIL Arena. Just days removed from tying the Huskies on the road, the Bulldogs outshot SCSU 47-14 en route to their 21st win of the season, improving to 21-9-1 and 18-8-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
"I like the way we played a lot, you know whether you're finding the back of the net or not, I think we had a great puck possession game for ourselves and saw some good entries," said UMD head coach Maura Crowell. "A lot of offensive zone time, you know, trying to find ways to score goals against gritty defenses and good goaltending again, you know, so yeah, we're happy with the way we played today."
It was Gabbie Hughes who broke through the Huskies early, reigniting the scoreline of Hughes from Elizabeth Giguere. Hughes played Giguere off the boards from UMD's blueline, and Giguere rushed up the boards before sliding the puck back to Hughes in the slot. Hughes took SCSU goaltender Sanni Ahola on to her forehand and then pushed the puck behind her outstretched left leg with her backhand for her 17th goal of the season at 5:01 of the first period.
That lone goal of the first period was followed by a scoreless second period, despite the Bulldogs putting 14 shots on net to SCSU's two. But UMD was rewarded for the lopsided shot count a little past halfway of the third period.
Anneke Linser dug the puck out from behind the boards to Naomi Rogge, who fed Taylor Anderson in the slot. Ahola made the initial save on Anderson's shot, but Rogge was there to pop in the rebound just out from the left post at 13:56 to make it a 2-0 contest.
St. Cloud emptied its net for almost the entire last two minutes of the game, but with just 10 seconds remaining, Katie Davis atoned for an earlier goal called off due to a high stick. This time, no one could overrule Davis, who took a feed from Clara Van Wieren from center and buried it from the SCSU blueline to stamp the 3-0 win for UMD officially.
Sophomore Jojo Chobak picked up her third shutout of the season, making all 14 saves count. It's the seventh shutout for UMD's goaltending crew – Emma Soderberg – back on the bench after spending almost a month away with the Swedish Olympic team, having contributed four. The seven clean sheets marks the most by a UMD goaltending unit since the 2016-17.
Ahola had 44 stops for SCSU, who falls to 9-20-3 overall and 4-19-3 in league play.
The Bulldogs will put a bow on the regular season tomorrow afternoon at AMSOIL Arena when they face the Huskies for the final time this season. Senior Day will get underway at 3:01 p.m., and will end with an on ice celebration of the 2021-22 senior class.
BULLDOG NOTES: UMD has now scored 113 goals in 31 games, the most in a decade … the Bulldogs scored 121 during the 2011-12 season over 36 games … Naomi Rogge extended her current scoring streak to four games Friday … the senior center has now scored three goals and added four assists for seven points over that span … eight different players recorded points in the win … Anna Klein is just one game shy of tying UMD's all-time games played record … the senior winger has now skated in 156 consecutive games for the Bulldogs … Gabbie Hughes now has 50 points on the season, the second-highest scoring output of her career … Hughes reached 51 during her sophomore season (20g, 31a in 35 games) … the senior center currently has 17 goals and 33 assists for 50 points in 31 games … if Elizabeth Giguere, currently at 48 points (18g, 30a), hits the 50 point mark, it will be the first time since the 2009-10 NCAA title season that two players have reached the milestone … the last UMD duo to reach 50 or more points was Emmanuelle Blais and Laura Fridfinnson … Blais posted 32 goals and 33 assists for 65 points in 41 games, while Fridfinnson had 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 in 39 skates.
